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But works of reason can be more than contemplative; they can be creative. Consider the object of the terrorists rage; the World Trade Center. A triumph of the human mind, the WTC was the most recent of the series of astonishing feats of civil engineering New York City has shown the world over the past 118 years.

These architectural marvels have their uses, but their value goes much deeper. The creator of the first of them, Johann Roebling, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, said it well; “No one will be able to look at it and not feel prouder to be a man.”

Some of the most cherished and profound moments of my life were experienced on the top and in the observation deck of the south tower of the World Trade Center. The buildings themselves were, to use a seriously devalued word in its truest sense, awesome. But they were only the cherries on top of the cake, which was to see the surface of planet Earth curving away, as the lights of the Metropolis slowly came on during a crystal-clear sunset.

It was an achievement-worshipper's religious experience.

I have no doubt that, at some point, the plan to destroy those particular towers was hatched when someone connected to the event went where I went, saw what I saw, felt what I felt, and hated it. When the towers were destroyed, I knew immediately why they, of all things in the world, were targeted. They were an embodiment of human greatness, and a vantage point from which one could see further greatness, still. Of course they had to be destroyed. Anyone going up there was put face to face with the irreducible truth of the greatness of mankind.

Well, the buildings are destroyed, but the truth remains.

From the article:
But then the fundamentalists took over. The philosophers were made into fugitives. Scientific inquiry was banned. Libraries that were found to contain scientific works were burned.

That's one of the principle reasons I hang out in the evolution threads. Fundamentalism is a major problem in the West too, potentially. But it's not in power at the moment.

Some of the most cherished and profound moments of my life were experienced on the top and in the observation deck of the south tower of the World Trade Center. ...
It was an achievement-worshipper's religious experience.
I have no doubt that, at some point, the plan to destroy those particular towers was hatched when someone connected to the event went where I went, saw what I saw, felt what I felt, and hated it. When the towers were destroyed, I knew immediately why they, of all things in the world, were targeted. They were an embodiment of human greatness, and a vantage point from which one could see further greatness, still. Of course they had to be destroyed. Anyone going up there was put face to face with the irreducible truth of the greatness of mankind.

Eloquent-defense-of-reason BUMP!