在世贸废墟上:信仰和怀疑 1

今晚看了PBS的FRONTLINE纪念911的节目: Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero (在世贸废墟上:信仰和怀疑).



作者采访了很多人: 各大宗教的神职人员, 911遇难者家属,学者,纳粹犹太大屠杀遇难者亲人等. 讨论这次震惊世界的事件引起的思索. 建议大家有机会观看,或者通过上面的连接阅读访问记录.

节选一些翻译一哈子,方便不爱看E文的朋友(能力有限, 大家将就一哈子).

下面这段背景: 911事件12天后, 纽约(NEWYORK) Yankee 体育场举行的大型祈祷集会, 参加者有各种信仰, 也包括无信仰者; 参加者中遇难者家属众多. On 2001-SEP-23, less than two weeks after the terrorist attack on New York City, Oprah Winfrey hosted "Prayer for America." It was a meeting of New Yorkers of all faiths -- and none -- in Yankee Stadium. The prayer service was simulcast on large television screens at stadiums in Staten Island and Brooklyn, NY. It was televised on four national networks. It was at a time when attendees at the service, the rest of the nation, and people worldwide were still trying to come to terms with the tragedy. The prayer service naturally had a strong religious tone. Rev. Dr. David Benke of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod called Yankee Stadium a "field of dreams which has now become a House of Prayer."

体育场中心讲台上是各宗教的代表,Reverend Dr. David Benke 是路德派的代表(Lutheran Church). 他参加这次多宗教的集会,引起了他自己教派内对他的批评, 指责他不应该和别的宗教共同出现, 下面是他在片中访谈记录:

Rev. David Benke
Lutheran minister


The Yankee Stadium day was a pivotal day in my entire life. It was a day when everything that I had stood for as a human being, as well as a person of faith, was going to be on the line. ... When I shared the podium with representatives of all the major faiths and prayed, that prayer became the center of a major controversy.

Yankee Stadium体育场的那一天是我整个人生的转折的一天. 那是我做为一个人,一个有信仰的人所拥有的一切将遭遇危机的一天…当我和所有主要宗教代表们共享讲台祈祷时, 那个祈祷成为了一场重要争论的中心.

The very next day, I began to get messages filled with hate. They were messages not from people outside of my tradition, but from within my tradition. And they were messages that nailed me to the floor, frankly, emotionally. They just said, "You were wrong to be there. You never should have gone to Yankee Stadium. You are a heretic. You have dishonored your faith."

就在第二天, 我开始收到充满仇恨的信息. 这些信息不是来自我的教派外的人, 而是我的教派中人. 这是些将我钉在地板上的信息, 坦率而激动的信息. 他们说:”你出现在那里是错误的. 你根本就不该去那体育场. 你是异端. 你令你的信仰蒙羞.”

One man said genuine terrorism was me. He said, planes crash and people die, nothing big about that. Genuine terrorism was me giving that prayer. I just want to say that I have not gotten over that and I can't get through that. Because I lived through the real terrorists driving the planes into the real buildings. And I've talked to people whose loved ones were murdered. And for me to be put in that same category is just not tolerable to me. I can't take it. I can't bear up under it. It doesn't make any sense to me.

一个人说真正的恐怖分子是我. 他说飞机坠毁, 人们死亡, 没什么特别的. 真正的恐怖主义是我去给出我的祈祷. 我只想说我还没有想通也不能释怀. 因为我经历了真正的恐怖分子驾机撞楼. 我和被谋杀的死难者的亲人谈过话. 对我来说被划为同一类人是无法容忍的. 对我来说这根本就不合理.

Within two months, a number of those people put together a petition and filed charges of heresy, saying that I am not part of the Christian Church because of what I did on that day and should not be part of my denomination anymore, should not be allowed to preach, should have my collar removed.

两个月后, 一些人一起请愿并控诉我异端, 说由于我那天的行为我不应该再是基督教, 不应该再是我的教派成员, 应被禁止讲道, 应被革去神职.

People who brought the charges against me are clergymen from my denomination. And their belief is that the doctrine of the church does not allow a Christian to stand at the same podium with someone of another faith or everybody is going to get the same idea that all religions are equal, and we have made absolute claims, exclusive claims about our faith.

控诉我的人们是我教派中的神职人员. 他们相信本教派的教义不允许一个基督徒和异教徒一起站在讲台上, 否则, 人们会认为所有宗教是平等的, 而我们曾宣称我们的信仰是绝对而唯一的.

If religion leads people to make these kinds of accusations at exactly the worse moment in American history, then what's underneath religion? Is religion really part of a lust for power and control in people's lives? Is it a desire for absolute security so strong that people cannot see the need to reach out and help? If that's true, then I've got a lot of wrestling to do with my own religion.

如果宗教让人们做出这样的谴责, 恰恰在美国历史最糟糕的时刻, 那么, 宗教表面下是什么呢? 难道宗教真是对权利, 对人生活的控制的渴望的一部分? 难道宗教是一种对绝对安全的渴望如此强烈以致人们不能看到需要伸手去援助? 如果这是真的, 那么我对我自己的宗教有很多反思要做.