If you’ve caught any headlines lately, you’ve probably heard about the tension and anger building in New York City over the past few weeks. The government is concerned enough about what will happen this year on 09/11 that  the FBI has issued a warning about suspected hate crimes to come.  In light of this, we’re looking for people to join us in sending a positive and peaceful message of goodwill via blogs, facebook and twitter on the anniversary of September 11th. (**How you can help and links for blogging included below.**)

SOME BACKGROUND

The problems started because a group of Mulsims announced they planned to build an Islamic community center about two blocks away from Ground Zero. This triggered some violent statements and acts from people who didn’t want muslims to build so close to a place where extremist, radical Muslims had staged an attack on September 11th, 2001. (Read about this here.)

SINCE THEN, SOME BAD STUFF HAS BEEN HAPPENING:

• This pastor in Florida planned a protest to burn Korans on the anniversary of 09/11. This caused Muslims in some part of the world to threaten jihad (attacks in the name of religion). Yesterday, he cancelled this protest, but there are still some sketchy details about him: Read the latest here.
• A cab driver was stabbed for appearing to be Muslim.
• Some people are taking out anger by burning, defacing mosques around the country: Mosque set on fire in Tennessee; Other crimes being investigated by the Dept. of Justice, including brunings and vandalism.

WHAT I AM DOING

Part 4 of my book, Picking Dandelions, retells my account of being at Ground Zero following the attacks as I served as a disaster relief team leader. Because  New York City and the victims of 09/11 are close to my heart, I’ve asked my publisher to give away my book for free during the week of September 11th. DETAILS BELOW.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

• Join our campaign to spread peace and goodwill. Post a blog post (it can be brief), status update or tweet expressing peace and goodwill for the situation in New York City.
• Ask your blogging, facebook and Twitter friends to join our campaign to spread peace and goodwill across the internet in the name of Christ.

SOME RESOURCES TO LINK TO IN YOUR POST  (OPTIONAL:

• We’ll be giving away free paperback copies of my book on 09/11 as a gesture of goodwill. Point people to this link on 09/11 for more info:
  http://www.sarahcunningham.org/uncategorized/beyond-the-rubble (this post won’t be visible until 09/11)
• We will be giving away unlimited downloads of my book FOR FREE on Amazon during the week of September 11th. Free downloads begin 09/13.
• All U.S. rescue workers can get a deeply discounted copy of my book by going HERE and entering the DISCOUNT CODE: 980763.

An audio clip where I talk about this issue with Pete Kaliner:
http://www.sarahcunningham.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/News-Talk-1110-WBT-Pete-Kaliner-Archive4.mp3

Link to my article on this subject at Q:
http://www.qideas.org/blog/a-christian-response-to-the-ground-zero-mosque.aspx

Link to my article on this subject at Relevant:
www.relevantmagazine.com (article will appear on September 11th)

Link to my book which describes my experiences leading a disaster relief team at Ground Zero: http://amzn.com/0310292476

Excerpts from Part IV of Picking Dandelions which tells the Ground Zero story, to be copied and pasted from the Word Document linked here. (Click here for word document and copy and paste as you desire.)

OTHER DETAILS

If you have any questions or ideas for alternative posts, let me know and I’ll be happy to accommodate you. Please don’t feel like you have to reference me or my projects if you want to post something along these lines. Just providing content if you want it.

Grateful for each of you and what you’re contributing to the voice of faith in our generation,
Sarah