Agence France Presse reported today on a Church shooting in Knoxville.
One person was killed and several wounded on Sunday when a man armed with a shotgun opened fire in a church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
One person died and five were in critical condition after a man with long blond hair who appeared to be in his 40s indiscriminately opened fire on parishioners at a Unitarian Church service Sunday morning.
Some will suggest that the shooting is more proof that religion is violent and a danger to society.
In truth, many religious people do seem rather dangerous world wide at the moment (just look at current Fatah-Hamas tensions in Gaza, both sides being, at least in theory, religious).
Such a view is, while plausible, wrong. In the specific tragedy in Knoxville the killer seems to have been a stranger to the Church (and may have been a deranged atheist). In broader terms some religious people are indeed dangerous, but the danger is generally not really religion based (yes, in some cases it is; as Elizabeth I realized some do kill over religious 'trifles'). But usually religion is merely a cover for something else.
Thus the current battles with radical Islam are not so much religious wars as cultural wars. The St. Bartholomew's day massacre was political. The unrest in Ireland was only nominally religious (a joke illustrates -- a Jew is grabbed by an armed gang while walking in Belfast. He is asked, and his life will depend on his answer, 'are you Protestant of Catholic?' The Jew replies 'I'm Jewish' to which the gang members say 'well, that's fine but are you a Protestant Jew or a Catholic Jew?').
All that said, there is an element of some religious beliefs that can instill violence -- if my god is a jealous god then my god better be treated right or else. Perhaps caring over much about religion is dangerous -- it may be the best we can do is accept we can never judge what is truly important but that G-d knows and that's enough.
2 comments:
I wonder why you focused on Gaza but did not mention Jewish tensions?
Could it be your bias showing?
I mentioned Gaza because it was in the news today but fair enough, there is plenty of intra-faith tensions to go around. And indeed, it's not too hard to find examples of Jews using religion as a cover for greed or intolerance -- I wish that wasn't so but wishing doesn't change reality. What's more, I may indeed be biased here -- not intentionally but truly -- it's easy to overlook the mote in your own eye ... .
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