The Aftermath

I have been ensconced in a profound sense of grief, emptiness and unease ever since I started following the terrible and senseless tragedy at the Sandyhook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut - a tragedy that claimed the lives of 20 innocent children, as well as 7 adults, including the lone gunman. As concerned folks - the families of the victims, the survivors, the administration, and the public at large - try to make sense of the incident, several pertinent lines of dialog have already emerged - on the issues of gun control legislation and mental health. Some ugly-arse craziness has inevitably surfaced, too, like the suggestion that school children be allowed to carry guns. However, I won't get into those discussions in this post.

As seems to be mandatory in the United States, there is an over-abundance of piety in the public sphere after any tragedy of this scale. Although I find no comfort in meaningless religious platitudes, the believers seem to - and in any event, it shows that at least people are thinking about the tragedy and feeling an empathy towards the grieving families and friends of the victims and survivors. However, oftentimes, the overly-religious folks fail to understand where to draw the line between expressing commiserations and behaving odiously by trying to shove a dollop of religious myths and superstitions down the throats of the unwary vulnerable. Blogger Hemant Mehta (Friendly Atheist) indicated an instance in a post today, where some deluded Christian schmuck has framed the vile murder of those 20 children as them receiving the "Best Christmas present ever - the presence of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ". I almost puked. Or this, what the Monsignor Robert Weiss, of the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, told the folks congregated for a vigil in memory of the victims: "I think about these children ... and I know we have 20 new saints, 20 new angels..."

To me, it appears rather insensitive, this propensity for falling back on religious mythology in the wake of such a terrible tragedy. But I can perhaps still understand their feelings - them trying to cope with the grief in the only way they know, as believers. However, if you want really despicable and repugnant, take a good, long look at these two yesterday - Bryan Fischer of the loathsome American Family Association, and erstwhile Republican Presidential contender, Mike Huckabee - two ghouls who lost no time in utilizing yesterday's tragedy to advocate reversing the Constitutional separation between Church and State. Both Huckabee and Fischer claimed that restrictions on school prayer and religious materials in the classroom were responsible in part for the mass shooting. What wonderful epitomes of Christian love and charity, no?

I was perhaps naive to think that common people, even Christian folks, would not pay heed to this utter idiocy. Was I wrong!!! This morning, I got to learn from my Facebook feed that there is a photo of T-shirt graffiti being shared on Facebook (I shall NOT post that photo), especially by American Christians, including those on my friend list. It says this:

"Dear God, why do you allow such violence in our schools? Signed, A Concerned Student
Dear Concerned Student, I'm not allowed in schools. --God"

Notice anything familiar? I held myself back from saying a lot - especially since many of the folks sharing this abomination are my friends. So, I left them with 3 thoughts:

1. In the scriptures of any religion, god is considered to be omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. Do you, my believer friends, really believe that “not allowed in schools” is a good enough reason for the said god not to intervene to prevent this senseless tragedy?
2. By this "logic", schools in the irreligious Scandinavian countries should have been decimated by now, but they are doing fine.
3. If absence of god was the cause of this massacre, how would you explain the shooting death of 7 folks in April, 2012, in an Oakland, CA, Christian university?

I don't even want to go into the logical inconsistency of asking for intervention from a god who allegedly sent two bears to maul 42 children to death for making fun of some dude's bald head (2 Kings 2:23-24).

Please, my Christian friends, many of you are parents, and I am sure, loving, compassionate human beings. I know you, like all of us, are trying to deal with immense grief and make sense of this horrendous tragedy. Keep the victims and their bereaved families in your prayers. But please, for goodness’ sake, don't follow the footsteps of utterly despicable fools like Bryan Fischer and Mike Huckabee.