The hijackings of the four airliners that caused so much devastation on Sept. 11 were the culmination of the ultimate "faith-based initiative."

The terrorists who boarded those planes that morning were programmed just as surely as a cruise missile headed toward a Taliban airstrip.

But instead of wires and circuitry, their minds were filled with images of heaven and a will to do what they believed was God's work.

Religious faith can be a source of great consolation for many people in times like these, but it is also the cause of many of the world's troubles, since the recent terrorist attacks and before. Let's take a look at some of the top world news stories in the weeks prior to Sept. 11.

In Nigeria, hundreds of people were being killed as the result of Christians and Muslims fighting each other. In Northern Ireland, Protestants hurled rocks and bottles at Catholic school children.

And, of course, in Israel, hundreds of people had been killed in the latest Palestinian "intifada," which began when Ariel Sharon had the audacity to set foot near a certain mosque considered especially sacrosanct.

And now, right here in America, Christian fundamentalist leaders such as Jerry Falwell spew hatred behind a smile in their quest to establish a Christian version of the Taliban.

Perhaps the greatest danger to human civilization will prove not to be global warming or nuclear war between nation-states, but instead a rising tide of zealotry that may threaten to destroy our freedoms and our lives in the name of varying interpretations of God.

It's time all people let go their ancient superstitions and started acting on behalf of each other.