People of many faiths gather to remember 9/11 attacks

On the 10th anniversary, the Catholic archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, called the attacks in 2001 battles in "a war between sin and grace," a war mirrored within every human soul.

In his homily to the packed St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan on Sunday morning, Dolan concluded that God won "as temptations to despair, fearful panic, revenge and dread gave way to such things as rescue, recovery, rebuilding, outreach and resilience."

At the official memorial service in Lower Manhattan, where no clergy were assigned to speak, President Obama recited Psalm 46, which concludes: "The Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge."

A group of 50 conservative evangelical pastors and supporters organized by the Family Research Council knelt in prayer and song by the fence surrounding the Ground Zero site on Saturday to protest their clergy's exclusion from the official event in New York and from an interfaith service in Washington.

Washington National Cathedral, home to the capital's interfaith service in 2001, held its vigil Sunday in a borrowed sanctuary at the Washington Hebrew Congregation. The massive Gothic cathedral was damaged recently by an earthquake, Hurricane Irene and a week of heavy rains.

The voices were Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh -- from the call to prayer in each religion to the concluding call by Rajwant Singh of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education: "Oh God, embrace anyone who reaches to you from any door."

The Rev. Samuel Lloyd III, dean of the cathedral, called the interwoven prayers and chants in the sanctuary a symphony to "the hidden oneness within the human race." He said, "God yearns to see us like this."

Jews and Muslims worshiping on Friday also addressed the national tragedy.

Temple Emanu-el Rabbi Jonathan Miller's sermon was written to connect the 9/11 anniversary to Jewish traditions of mourning and to tell the Birmingham, Ala., congregation why acts of evil might be forgiven but never forgotten (www.ourtemple.org).

"If we want to destroy the evil, we have to live into our better selves and make sure these terrorists, like the terrorists before them, have no place in the things that are holy to us," Miller said.

At Friday afternoon prayers, Imam Mohamed Magid, leader of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, recalled in his sermon the deep pain he felt as an American and a Muslim.

"As Muslims, we stand against hate and bigotry and the actions they can lead to. The action of terrorists is not Islam. … We need to fight hate and extremism with love, compassion and kindness," he said.

He put that to work on Sunday. He spoke at the cathedral service, then joined in his mosque's service project to feed the homeless and participated in a unity walk through the city streets.

Contributing: Kara Rose in Washington