25 Years After 9/11: Americans Gather In Prayer And Reflection
NEW YORK – Americans across the country on Friday commemorated the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, honoring the dead and remembering the shock of the al-Qaida attacks on the U.S.
The anniversary brought with it a series of memorial rituals — including vigils, moments of silence and the annual readings of victims’ names — in tribute to a day that half of U.S. adults remember as the most historic event of their lifetime.
For many, it was also an occasion for private reflection about the attack, when terrorists used four jetliners to kill nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
READ: 9/11, 25 Years Later
People across the country also marked the day with their own rituals of remembrance, including with interfaith prayer services. For many congregations, the anniversary has become as much a fixture of the calendar as any holy day — an occasion to collectively grieve, pray and reaffirm values of compassion and unity.
At the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan, those killed were remembered with the reading of names. The poignant and somber hours-long event also featured seven moments of silence, which this year included one to honor first responders, rescue workers, survivors and residents who have since died from 9/11-related illnesses.
Former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Joe Biden attended the event. Vice President JD Vance was also in New York, while President Donald Trump opted to attend an observance at the Pentagon.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump listened as the names of the 184 people killed here on 9/11 were read one by one, a bell tolling between each.
“In those harrowing days after the attacks, we saw the authentic spirit of our nation,” Trump said. “We were all New Yorkers that day. Every one of us. We were all New Yorkers. We were all family.”
Trump said the United States today “is stronger than it has ever been before. It has never been as strong as it is right now.”
‘Radical Islamist hijackers’
The event, typically devoid of politics, featured comments about Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the attacks. Terry Strada, widow of 9/11 victim Tom Strada, followed up her portion of the reading of victims’ names by attacking Saudi Arabia.
“How can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?” Strada said, adding that the Middle Eastern kingdom “fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe and then sent its agents to support radical Islamist hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones.”
Strada received loud cheers from many in attendance. Fifteen of the 19 men who hijacked the planes were Saudi nationals.
“For 25 years, administration after administration, including leaders in front of us here today, chose to protect the Saudis instead of standing with the 9/11 families,” she said.
While official investigations found no proof the government of Saudi Arabia directed or backed the 9/11 attacks, ongoing civil lawsuits and declassified records show that some Saudi nationals and officials provided logistical help to the hijackers.
The Saudi government has long denied any involvement in the attacks.
The reflecting pool at the 9/11 Memorial in New York. (Unsplash photo)
Never Forget?
Despite the melancholy ceremonies, there are many who were not even born when the attacks took place. In fact, relatively few Americans marked 9/11, according to a recent Ipsos poll.
Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults, the poll found, said they planned to do something to commemorate the milestone anniversary. Among those who planned to mark the day, about 7 in 10 said they will take a moment of silence, while 56% will display an American flag.
About 2 in 10 said they planned to visit a memorial or volunteer.
More than 100 million Americans alive today were not born yet when the 9/11 attacks happened, roughly a third of the U.S. population.
Kevin Noel, 51, told the Associated Press he remembered watching the attacks unfold as he headed to work near the World Trade Center that morning in 2001.
“It’s a traumatic day for me where I just go silent,” he said.
Clemente Lisi serves as executive editor at Religion Unplugged.