Ground Zero for God

Published: Sept. 10, 2021, 4 a.m.

Jim Giaccone will never forget the day his brother Joe simply vanished \u2013 killed in a blast so forceful that not even a trace of his remains was ever recovered.\nJoe was one of the 2,977 victims of the terror attacks of 11 September 2001 when members of al-Qaeda \u2013 an Islamist extremist group \u2013 flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York. They also crashed into the Pentagon on the outskirts of Washington DC and another plane was downed in a field near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.\nJim not only lost his brother that day, he also lost his faith. With grief came anger and a reckoning with God that continues when he revisits New York\u2019s Ground Zero on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Jim tells his story to Jane O\u2019Brien who discovers that he is not alone in re-evaluating his beliefs. She also hears from others who say the terrible events served to strengthen their faith and a Muslim American who say\u2019s they still face hostility because of their religious identity.