Church attendance rose following 9/11

By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Religion & Ethics Writer

Mary Ho has found that there is no magic to help her deal with the pain of losing her daughter in the World Trade Center attack.

Heather Malia Ho lost her life in the attack on World Trade Center last year. Advertiser library photo

Ho, who lives in San Francisco, isn't the only one who looked to faith to answer the larger questions raised by Sept. 11.

A Gallup Poll conducted Sept. 21-22, found 47 percent of respondents had attended a church or synagogue the week before, a level rarely seen since the 1950s.

But by November, Gallup reported, attendance had dropped to pre-attack levels of 42 percent, raising the presumption that in a crisis, people turn to religion for comfort but soon return to routine.

In the long run, local religious leaders say church attendance may not have changed much, but people's sense of spirituality did. At Holy Trinity Church in East Honolulu, the Rev. Hal Weidner said he saw a full house the Sunday after Sept. 11 but a quick return to normal levels by October, when churches in the Roman Catholic diocese calculate average attendance.

While this year's figure won't be available until the end of the year, Weidner suspects attendance has not changed dramatically in the ensuing year. What has changed, he said, is how we view our world.

"A lot of Americans want to move on, treating it as trauma, a natural disaster," he said. "... Wanting to get past it is not healthy. The situation it came out of is still going on."

Weidner said there's a tendency, even at church, to use psychology or to talk about coping and moving on.

"Certain things, you live through. ... You don't move on," he said.

Ralph Moore, senior pastor of Hope Chapel Kane'ohe Bay, said those who came to church looking for easy answers went home with only tough questions.

"The initial rush, people were looking for comfort on (their) own terms," Moore said. "When they realized they were not going to get that, it melted away."

But after the first rush of those seeking solace, Moore said he saw more "thinking" people, "not so much saying 'Comfort me,' but, 'Equip me so I can face life in the day in which I live.' "

Mary Tanouye, president of the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin's board of directors, saw no swell in attendance, though the temple did open its doors after-hours to offer a place of solace immediately after Sept. 11.

"There was intense interest in spirituality and a real perceptible interest in trying to understand the Muslim community," Tanouye said. "(The Muslim) profile zoomed forward, and we gained a deeper appreciation of Muslim beliefs. It's nice to know they share the same values."

The higher profile for Muslims brought about a lot of soul-searching for Hakim Ouansafi.

"Muslims have been called on to defend oneself and educate the people about Islam," the Muslim Association of Hawai'i leader said, noting that more than half of American Muslims reported feeling some discrimination in the past year, but even more report being on the receiving end of acts of kindness.

"There's been a lot of progress in inter-religious and intercultural understanding, due to the willingness of the Americans who are open-minded, and the Muslims who are willing to go and talk."

The increase in Muslims' profile had a ripple effect on conversions. In addition to a total of 67 people converting to Islam in the past year, attendance at the compact Manoa mosque has risen, too, Ouansafi said.

"It's packed," he said. "We're trying to secure a bigger space."

Before Sept. 11, Ouansafi was asked to speak at forums, maybe once a month. Since then, the invitations have been nonstop.

"Countless. I cannot keep up with it," he said. "More than once a week. Immediately after (the terrorist attacks), in the first three months, sometimes three, four times a day."

But Ouansafi has found that being in demand to participate in panel discussions, lectures and the like is a double-edged sword. "For ignorant people, they're even more hateful to our religion," he said. But those who are open-minded learn more about Islam and sow seeds of a greater understanding and tolerance, he added.

Sam Cox, who coordinates the Interfaith Open Table, agrees there is a hunger for information about other religions and interfaith dialog since Sept. 11.

"We're getting requests all the time ... to have a Muslim speaker at Sunday school," he said. "I'm personally very encouraged."

Immediately after Sept. 11, he saw a lot of "wrapping oneself in the flag," Cox said. "Not so much this year. It's more subdued.

"We're thinking more introspectively, and that's good. ... Not to belittle that, but it's going beyond that. There's lots of good occurring, even in the midst of evil, reaching out and understanding each other. For the first time, we're becoming more aware of each other's point of view, and realizing (there's) not much difference after all. We have more in common than in disagreement."

Any decline in church attendance did not come with a corresponding drop in donations because of several factors, including fear of economic fallout. The Rev. Robert Fitzpatrick of the Episcopal Church in Hawai'i, checked with five congregations on O'ahu and the Neighbor Islands and found they remained on budget.

"Those that were growing, were still growing," he said. "Those holding their own or in decline saw nominal effect. ... It hasn't seemed to have a total effect."

Attendance grew over the year at Honolulu's First Presbyterian church. Senior pastor Dan Chun, who counseled some Hawai'i victims' families at public functions in the weeks after the attack, attributes that to the church's willingness to address the theological and philosophical issues.

"I think it's because we concentrated the next five Sundays on issues that came from 9/11," he said. "People wanted hope and handles ('how do I handle fear, anxiety, worrying?') and answers to deep-seated questions, like 'Why do bad things happen to good people?' "