The Christian response to Sandy Hook

When New York Times bestseller, Susan Jacoby, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times called The Blessings of Atheism, I was surprised to see it reprinted in the Dallas Morning News, which is where I first saw and read it. When it started getting around the internet and media worlds, I think we were all expecting major backlash from the religious right. Lo and behold, it happened. My favourite so far has been from WND’s Dennis Prager, who wrote The Atheist Response to Sandy Hook.

Amid the copious amounts of strawmen and atheist-bashing in his piece, Prager claims, “…[the] atheist message offers no consolation at all when compared to the religious message that we humans are not just matter but possess eternal souls.” Prager reiterates this a paragraph later with, “[Atheists] would have to acknowledge that, in terms of consolation, there is no comparison between ‘The dead do not suffer’ and ‘Your child lives on, and you will be reunited with her.’”

He then goes on to build his biggest strawman of all, which is what he thinks the atheist response to the tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary should be, “As atheists, we truly feel awful for you. And we promise to work for more gun control. But the truth is we don’t have a single consoling thing to say to you because we atheists recognize that the human being is nothing more than matter, no different from all other matter in the universe except for having self-consciousness. Therefore, when we die, that’s it. Moreover, within a tiny speck of time in terms of the universe’s history, nearly every one of us, including your child, will be completely forgotten, as if we never even existed. Life is a random crapshoot. Our birth and existence are flukes. And you will never see your child again.”

The atheist is made out to be a nihilist, which is not the same thing, not at all. The atheist is made out to be this cold, emotionless person that has no tact.

If the atheist must be this heartlessly rational being that can offer no secular solace to those affected by tragedy, then the Christian must have this response, “As Christians, we truly feel awful for you. And we promise to do nothing about gun control (because guns don’t kill people, people do). But the truth is God watched this man walk into an elementary school with an assault rifle. God watched this man burst into that first grade class. God watched this man open fire and kill twenty children in a matter of seconds. God watched this man, and God did nothing. And you will see your child again, whether in Heaven or Hell, and you will be in the presence of God, who let your child die a senseless death, and you will be forced to worship Him for all eternity.”

If the atheist position can offer no solace to the parents who lost their children at Sandy Hook, or to anyone who experiences a tragedy for that matter, then it is still far more comforting than the revolting thought that an all-powerful and, more importantly, all-loving being did nothing to stop it.

Guns in Colorado Massacre Purchased Legally

Most people are probably aware of this by now, but a man by the name of James Holmes allegedly opened fire in a crowded movie theatre during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises, the latest and final ‘Batman’ movie directed by Christopher Nolan, killing twelve people and injuring about fifty others with four guns, including an assault rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun, and two handguns. Holmes was captured outside the theatre and told police that he had booby-trapped his apartment, which police are currently dealing with.

This is obviously a tragedy, but people who are caught up in the hysteria are looking past something. The guns that Holmes allegedly used to caring out this heinous act were purchased legally. The same was the case for the Arizona shooting last January, including the extended clip that allowed for more people to be killed. All of these guns were given to men, who had passed background checks, and they were used to kill innocents.

Background checks are clearly not enough to stop these kinds of things. Regulations and outright bans have to be put in place to stop these things from occurring more and more in a nation that has some of the least restrictive and regulatory gun control laws in the industrialised world. Yes, they will not stop every tragedy, but they will certainly save many lives.

Quick tangent. A lot of people around the interwebs don’t like that Batman photo I used. I don’t know why. Batman is a character immersed in tragedy. Even if he isn’t real, he’s a symbol of hope for real people in dark times.

I digress.

It is suspected that Holmes also had extended clips for the weapons used in the theatre shooting, no one can confirm or deny that at this time, but even if he did not, why is it legal for people to carry weapons that are used by military forces around the world? Why is someone allowed to own an AR15 (which is what was used in the Colorado shooting), M16, AK47, or any military grade weapon? People do not need those kinds of things to defend themselves.

The sentiment amongst people who don’t like gun control laws is, “If more people were armed and allowed to carry weapons around, this would not have happened.” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asked during an interview with The Heritage Foundation why no one in the theatre had a gun to take down the shooter. A man in Arizona actually did have a gun on him during the shooting and almost shot other innocent people.

Someone else having a gun is not going to solve anything but have more bullets in the air causing more harm than good, even if they are licensed and fully trained to carry a concealed weapon, especially when the gunman in the Colorado shooting had military grade armour, including a ballistic vest and helmet, ensuring tactical superiority to anyone who may have had any kind of gun on them, which is mostly going to be a handgun of some kind and not something that can pierce armour. Even police officers who are trained to handle weapons on a daily basis and are trained to kill people with their weapons in high stress environments end up shooting and injuring or even killing innocent people all the time.

Why is it though that when a tragedy occurs, such as a plane crash or tainted food, people immediately call for government action and more oversight to prevent more of these things, but when it’s guns, no politician dare touch that American sacred cow?

President Obama, when he was not the president, used to be all in favour of stricter gun control laws, but he has yet to say nearly anything on it, other than “let’s discuss this” basically after the Arizona shooting, since taking the Oval Office. This also destroys the right-wing paranoia-driven propaganda and lie that Obama is out to take your guns.

Why has he said nothing of it? Why are people so afraid to go anywhere near it? The NRA? They are one of the most powerful lobbyist organisations in the US. Indeed, a valid concern. The constitutional right to bear arms as laid out in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights? That indeed is in there.

Well, the NRA is in decline (hopefully), so one day maybe we can have an open and honest discussion about gun control in America without being called commies or unamerican. As for the Second Amendment, I don’t believe the Founding Fathers intended for Americans to have their have cannons or warships when they wrote that. Nor do I think they meant people could possess weapons that can dispense rounds faster than Mitt Romney can contradict himself.

Even with the Second Amendment, that does not end the discussion. Just because something is in the Constitution does not make it right or better, such as the American Prohibition. Guns need to be regulated more. Guns do not make us safer. They do not make us feel safer. Personally, when I am around firearms or weapons of any sort, I feel very unsafe. Knowing that more people might be carrying guns would only exacerbate my fears and possibly the paranoia of others who are actually armed.

Gun control, contrary to popular belief, actually does decrease gun violence. Japan, who has some of the strictest gun control laws in the world, also has some of the lowest homicide rates due to firearms in the world. The opposite is true of the United States with its very lax gun control laws. It has one of the highest death-tolls due to firearms in the world, only beaten by poverty-stricken African and Latin American countries.

As for the people who say it’s wrong to exploit this tragedy for political gains, just remember this. If it weren’t for the severe lacking of oversight from the government as to who can buy guns, which guns they can buy, and how they can modify those guns, this probably would not have happened. But no, we can’t point fingers and blame it on something. We can only look at this at face value. No politics or trying to figure out a solution to the problem at hand. Only sorrow and grief.

My heart really does go out to the people who lost loved ones. I may be a heartless bastard that exploits a massacre for political points, but… No, I think I’ll stop there.

On an atheist/secularist note.

That Texas representative I mentioned earlier, he also claimed, along with other outrageous statements, that the shooting was because we don’t fear and love God enough and because of the constant attacks, I’m assuming by the liberal media and those commie secularists, on Christianity and Christian values. Christian values, like stoning gays and killing six-million Jews.

As well, all day on the radio and television, people, including the president himself, said we should send our thoughts and prayers to those in Aurora who have been affected by this. Because that will definitely do something to help those affected. Let’s pray for these people instead of actually doing something about it, like, I don’t know, enacting gun control laws to prevent more of these tragedies.

Every disaster, “They’re in our prayers. I’m praying for those in [area affected]. Pray for them. Pray. Pray. Pray.” It really is just a way for people who feel like they are helpless to do anything can feel like they are still somehow contributing. Mental masturbation and nothing more.