George,

Since the September 11, 2001 terrorists' attack on the World Trade Center in New York City the media has devoted an unusual amount of coverage that focuses on sacred places. The Muslims' recent anouncement that they plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero has heightened that discussion. Many Americans have designated Ground Zero as a sacred place because they reason that the deaths of nearly 3000 people at that site by terrorists have made it a sacred place.

One might ask. why hasn't New Orleans been designated a sacred place, especially the Ninth Ward, given the fact that during the Katrina man-made attack on that city where more than half as many people died there as in the World Trade Center? Moreover, tens of thousands were displaced in New Orleans and many had to leave the City. This writer will leave that question for readers to answer.

Sacred places are as varied as the human sense of the sacred and as various as the world's many spiritual and religious traditions. Add to that man's political powers. The central question is, "Whose sacred places?"

In the eyes of the Creator everything is sacred. When He observed his own handiwork during Creation He said more than once, "It was good." It is about time for humans to agree with their Creator and accept that the earth and all that is in it, beneath it and above it is sacred. What a difference that would make in the way people relate to each other, the earth and everything in it. There would be less inhumanity, less abuse and less wastefulness of the earth's resources.

Accepting that all is sacred is the most important challenge humans face in the twenty-first century. Their survival depends on it. Each is in all and all is in each. We are caught-up in an inextricable nework of mutuality.

This writer proposes that a constitutional amendment be enacted which declares that everything is sacred. For those who say you can't legislate morality they only need to look at laws governing driving an automobile, including wearing seat belts that have saved many lives. And more importantly, the laws enacted less than a half century ago that have granted African Americans the right to vote and extended to them access to restaurants, hotels and integrated education to recognize the positive impact laws have on morality and ecncouraging the practice of good behavior.

When there is acceptance that all is sacred there will be reverence for everything. And as the song says, "What a wonderful world this will be."

Uriah J. Fields (Electronic mail, September 11, 2010)