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termath of the tragedy. In Washington,C., churches, synagogues, mosques,nd temples are joining in the fourth 9/11nity Walk, which has been televised andown in other countries. In Los Angeles,ousand of youths are meeting for a

eace Jam conference to launch a decadeservice projects.Presidential contenders Barack 

bama and John McCain – at the urginga coalition of families of 9/11 victims

MyGoodDeed.org) – have agreed to ampaign moratorium for the day, includ-g a halt in advertising. The candidatesill visit ground zero together and speak a ServiceNation summit in New York,signed to expand America’s commit-ent to national service. (See story below.)

But for some individuals, 9/11 rep-sents much more than a tragedy call-g for annual commemoration: It hasshaped their lives.

abbi Hirschfeld, bridge builderSept. 11 “changed everything” for

abbi Brad Hirschfeld of New York.“It forced me to reconnect with, reex-

mine, and take responsibility for the waywhich radical religion, fanatic faith,

solute certainty had dominated my owne for certain years,” he says. Durings late teens, he had been involved withtranationalist religious Zionists inebron in the Holy Land. Living within“self-justifying system,” he remembersewing violent behavior as redemptive.

Now president of the National Center

for Jewish Learning and Leadership inNew York, Rabbi Hirschfeld says all reli-

gious people have to ask themselves thehard questions about how faith functionsin the world. “The issue of 9/11 is notIslam; it’s fanatic faith.”

Since 9/11, “I’ve committed every wak-ing moment of my life to these issues ... tothe new and emerging roles religion hasin the 21st century, and how to allow thatto unfold without it becoming fanatical,hateful, or triumphalist.”

That journey has taken him to remark-able places. At the invitation of AmericanMuslims, for instance, he is beginning histhird year as host of a program on BridgesTV, the American Muslim TV Network (oncable in several cities). On the “BuildingBridges” show, Hirschfeld discusseseveryday concerns and contentious issues

 with Christian and Muslim leaders.“9/11 made me realize there was no  way for me to do the work I was doingin the Jewish world without also makingmy connections and work with people of other faiths an equal priority,” he says.He’s written a guide: “You Don’t Haveto Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: FindingFaith Without Fanaticism.”

 Arsalan Iftikhar, ‘clash’ dispellerFor Arsalan Iftikhar, Sept. 11 is indel-

ibly marked as “the most important dayof my life.”

  A second-year law student at  Washington University in St. Louis theday the planes hit, the articulate youngMuslim American realized immediately

 what was at stake.

“I knew that getting the messageout was of paramount importance, andI drafted a condemnation of terrorism[op-ed] to send to every major newspaper

in the country,” he says. Several published

it, and his role as a public spokIslam was launched.

Upon graduation, the humlawyer joined the Council on A

0  Thursday, September 11, 2008 THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

 By STACY TEICHER KHADAROOSTAFF WRITER

Service. It’s one concept that every-ne in the United States can rally around,en amid partisan election battles. It’s aay for people to mark the 9/11 anniver-ry, triumphing over tragedy one gooded at a time.But how can that desire to serve be

hanneled more effectively into meetingmerica’s challenges? Organizers of the

erviceNation campaign, andrelated summit in New York ept. 11-12, hope to answerat and inspire millions more

Americans to step up theirlunteerism.Sens. John McCain and

arack Obama plan to appeara presidential candidates’

rum on service and civicngagement at Columbianiversity Sept. 11. Theublic can submit questionsr the candidates at tinyurlom/6jmhd5. Several newshannels intend to broadcaste 8 p.m. forum.

About 61 millionAmericans volunteer eachear. ServiceNation – backedy a coalition of more than0 groups – aims to bump

at number up to 100 milliony 2020.

It’s “a grass-roots move-ment unlike any before,”says John Bridgeland,

CEO of Civic Enterprises,a public policy group in  Washington that is organiz-ing ServiceNation along withCity Year, Be the ChangeInc., and the Points of LightInstitute.

  Americans of all ages“clearly have this appetite toserve … and we want to cre-ate more choices – whetherit’s traditional volunteeringor full-time service or mili-tary service – more oppor-tunities to step forward anddo something big for theircountry.”

More than 600 summit

participants are expectedfrom nonprofits, govern-

ment, business, and the arts, notables such as Sen. HillaryClinton (D) of New York , T  America founder Wendy KCalifornia Gov. Arnold Schwar who recently created the first snet position to oversee service.

 A policy agenda will be unvesummit, including proposals focorps focused on areas such as edisaster response, and commun version to clean energy.

“We’re not trying to grow sservice’s sake … [but] becausolve problems,” says Tim Zimm

spokesman for Be the ChangeCambridge, Mass.Lawmakers on both sides of

on Capitol Hill are also promotiexpand national service opportu

On the heels of the summitnational “Day of Action” Sept. organizers have planned more tevents, including a “Graffiti WiGresham, Ore., and cleanup ofhabitat in Miami (see eventstion.org).

Students at Wheaton College iMass., will spruce up parks andreational activities for a local special-needs kids.

“Every class [of incoming stueven more dedicated to service

ing,” says Sarah Mielbye, a senior who interned with Service

Nonprofits launch effort on9/11 to boost volunteerismTHE CAMPAIGN hopes to increase the ranks of American

 volunteers from 61 million to 100 million by 2020.

ontinued from page 1

9/11:Moved by the tragedy, someurned their lives in new directions

FRONT LINES: CouCowart (above, at rArchbishop of CantRowan Williams wethronged by childrefrom St. Luke’s EpisHomecoming Centan event last year inOrleans’ Lower NintAt left, Arsalan Iftikhin March on BBC Wo Television about thfor Muslims to do mcombat extremism

usa

COURTESY OF ARSALAN IFTIKHAR

GEORGE LONG/THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH DIOCES

Continued on n

 A TEAM EFFORT:

Volunteers of the nonprofit, Rebuilding Together, fixup a school in Providence, R.I.

ALFREDO SOSA/STAFF/FILE

8/9/2019 CS Monitor Profile (Arsalan Iftikhar)

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HE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR   Thursday, September 11, 2008 

amic Relations, in Washington D.C., asnational legal director, and interacted

ith government agencies on hate crimecidents, as well as the USA Patriot Act

nd other law-enforcement initiatives.His mission, he says, is to dispel the

eory of a clash of civilizations in US and

obal venues and to play a part in “mak-g a better world for all.”In March, Mr. Iftikhar participated in

e BBC Doha Debates in Qatar, arguingat “Muslims are failing to do enough tombat extremism.” (He and his partneron the debate.)

At home, he’s seen peaks and valleysAmerican attitudes toward Islam. The

whisper campaign against Sen. Barack bama as being “some sort of a crypto-uslim” shows how entrenched somegative attitudes are, he says.Now a contributing editor for Islamica

agazine and a commentator for Nationalublic Radio, Iftikhar is marking the sev-nth anniversary by launching his ownebsite, “The Muslim Guy,” to help take

e discourse away from extremists.“I want people to know we are not onlyart and parcel of American society but ate forefront of trying to make it a betterace,” he adds.

ourtney Cowart, service visionaryCowart, for her part, has becomegrass-roots proponent of “service

tivism.”After hurricane Katrina, Cowart, a

holar of church history, joined otherpiscopalians in the first wave of volun-ers heading south. She opted to stay on.rawing on her experience after 9/11 at. Paul’s, she created a 50-person disastercovery team for the Episcopal DioceseLouisiana, which has marshaled thou-

nds of volunteers.Heartened by the tremendous influx of oung helpers to the Gulf Coast, Cowartnvisions a new generation of servicetivism.

Yet her experience of the disparityhow the two catastrophes have been

alt with has led her to write a book. “Anmerican Awakening: From Ground ZeroKatrina” will be published next month.New Orleans had many heroes of the

orm who did not receive the same levelsupport or media recognition as thoseNew York, she says.For example, “some inner-city youths

ove off the I-10 overpass through toxicaters to save people’s lives,” she says,

nd other youths who saved elderly peo-

e trapped in their homes were mistakenr looters, and their lives threatened, foreking medicines to help them.But Cowart is hopeful that just as thereas a transformation in class relation-ips after the New York tragedy, a paral-change is under way along racial linesthe Gulf Coast recovery.Cowart had hoped to attend the

erviceNation summit to mark this year’snniversary, but her responsibilities inew Orleans made that impossible.The annual commemoration of 9/11 is

sential, she says, “to help reclaim thealues that surfaced in its wake: compas-on, recognizing there are people in thisuntry that are counting on you to act,jecting the notion that people brought

w are on their own, treating every singlerson with dignity and respect.”

Oct. 1, Congress has yet to pass a singleappropriations bill, he said. “So essen-tially the business of operating the

government from day-to-day has beenabdicated by the Democratic leader-ship,” he added.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D) of NorthDakota, who chairs the Senate BudgetCommittee, shot back: “[Republicans]are the architects of the economic fiascothat has brought us to where we are atthis moment,” he said.

“Under their watch and under theircontrol, we have a housing crisis, anenergy crisis, a health care crisis, and afiscal crisis,” Mr. Conrad said. “This is acombination of mismanagement that willtake years to undo.”

   What’s driving deficitsis “an unusual amountof turbulence” in the US

economy this year, includ-ing depressed housingmarkets, fragile finan-cial markets, and soar-ing prices for energy andfood, along with the costof war, according to theCBO. But the biggest long-term threat is rising healthcare costs and the retire-ment of the “baby boom”generation.

“As we have said overand over in the past, thenation is on an unsustain-able long-term fiscal coursedriven primarily by risinghealth care costs,” said

CBO director Peter Orszagat a briefing on Tuesday.“And that does need to beaddressed before a crisis hits,”

One of the first decisions a new presi-dent will have to make is whether or notto extend President Bush’s tax cuts, now set to expire in 2010.

CBO projections are based on the

assumption that all expiring tax provi-sions will be allowed to expire and thatCongress will not again pass legislationto curb the impact of the AlternativeMinimum Tax on millions of middle-

class families.If these tax cuts are not allowed toexpire – the CBO’s “Alternative BudgetScenario” – the deficits get worse.

Both major party presidential con-tenders, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, have proposed tax plans thatcut taxes significantly over the next 10 years.

The nonpartisan Tax Policy Centerestimates that the Obama plan wouldcut taxes by $2.9 trillion over 2009-2018;the McCain plan would reduce taxes bynearly $4.2 trillion.

  Although Washington’s capacity toignore fiscal warnings is well estab-lished, budget analysts say that the newsis now sufficiently alarming, especiallythe fallout from the housing crisis, that itcould set off a national wake-up call.

“You’ll hear a lot of excuses‘It’s a slow economy, so thering we can do about it.’ It’s cfor politicians to find reasons can’t possibly do anything, pa

in a campaign season,” sayBixby, executive director of theCoalition, a public interest gcalls for fiscal responsibility.

But the fiscal fallout of ernment takeover of Fannie Freddie Mac could grab public– and force politicians to take n

“It has the potential to wakup, because it could get bad,”Bixby. “That gets the public saware of the government’s pfinancial situation that people the government to do somethin

Politicians and toften ignore expecton the budget tha  worse. But a jolt t

tem, such as the saloan crisis in the lacan change things p

“It linked the bucit with their daily that’s the sort of tcan get politicianmore attention,” say

CBO director Orit’s not possible tohow much the Faand Freddie Mac   will add to governmcits. The key questihow Congress and House Office of Maand Budget meacompanies’ assets a

ties when releasing early next year.“Politically, it ma

difference that in the first year president is in office we’re goina deficit that is somewhere overlion,” says Jim Horney, directoeral fiscal policy at the Center oand Policy Priorities.

Deficit: Next president faces tough political choicContinued from page 1

ontinued from page 1

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1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018

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Base line

Scenario with

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extended

Actual

US budget defcit widensCongress’s ailure to pass appropriations bills coincides with a dramaticrise in the ederal defcit this year to $407 billion – about 2.9 percent o 

gross domestic product.

SOURCE: Congressional Budget Oce RICH CLABAUGH – STAFF

Base-line projection

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-$407billion -$431

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