This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
What has the nation learned in the decade after the Sept. 11 attacks? That although people turn to God at times of tragedy, they forget about him once the wounds heal.
So says LDS President Thomas S. Monson, who penned a blog for The Washington Post about the resurgence of faith that came after 9/11 and the decline that has happened since.
"There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to him for solace and understanding," Monson writes. "Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference."
The Post included the Mormon prophet's comments as part of its "On Faith" blog that called on spiritual leaders such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Rabbi David Wolpe to share lessons learned from the attacks.
While the nation has drifted from God in the years after 9/11, God hasn't drifted from his children, Monson writes. God's commitment to his children is "unwavering."
"If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that he gives to us," writes the leader of the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving him our faith and trust."