On this anniversary of 9/11, this is what I have to say to religious extremists who believe that violence advances their religion’s cause.

1. Because I, like you, am strongly religious, and strongly at odds with much that passes as acceptable behavior in my society and in the wider world, I feel a kinship with you. If we were to have a conversation, we would probably both learn something useful. This is an invitation.

2. What I would not learn from you—what I would not listen to you on—is how-where-when to use violence in advancing my cause. The Bible and the Qur’an preach persuasion for the advance of religion, and condemn violence as a means of promoting one’s religion or demoting the religion of another. In religion, violence is not power; it is the unwitting admission of rhetorical weakness.

3. I would listen in hope of hearing your deepest voice, the voice of your hurting and caring and loving and hoping. And if I could help you hear my deepest voice, we just might hearken together to a third Voice—the Voice always calling us to hear that we are brothers and have work to do together for the glory of God and the good of humanity and of the good earth.

4. Finally, as a Christian, I would want to remind you that Jesus chose to suffer violence rather than to become violent--and he did not lose out for his choice. His was not the love of power but the power of love, love (he said) even for enemies. Violence—though it may assuage one’s thirst for vengeance--is a shame rather than an honor to one’s religion, and a danger to one’s destiny. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us not to expect God’s forgiveness unless we are ourselves forgiving; we have offended God, who will forgive us only if we forgive those who have offended us. (Gospel of Matthew, 6:12-14) To believe that violence against the innocent will earn you paradise—that blasphemous notion of murderers imagining themselves to be martyrs is repugnant both to Islam and to Christianity.

5. While I must participate in the forces resisting your violence, I pray that your confidence in the sword of violence will diminish, and your conviction of the power of the word will increase. If you can manage that reversal to the tipping point, the potential for peace on earth will be less remote.