Let’s talk about
religion.
Let’s also talk
about mass murderers.
They’re topics with
no obvious commonalities. And yet, there’s a connection here,
although there shouldn’t be.
I was raised a
Methodist, which in the ice cream store of religions is basically
the equivalent of vanilla.
Mainstream. Safe.
Unadorned and nonthreatening. Vanilla blends well with just about
anything — and ideally, so do Methodists.
It’s a peaceful
religion. Theoretically, they all are. People who observe the
tenets of any actual faith are invariably reminded to be
unfailingly kind to their fellow man.
But sometimes, those
tenets get twisted.
Ted Bundy, a
sadistic psychopath who confessed to murdering 30 women, was raised
a Methodist.
John Wayne Gacy, the
“Killer Clown” who murdered at least 33 boys and men in his home,
was raised a Roman Catholic.
Jeffrey Dahmer, who
murdered at least 17 boys and young men in particularly grisly
fashion, came from a family deeply involved in the Church of
Christ.
David Berkowitz, the
“Son of Sam” killer who murdered six people, calls himself a
born-again Christian and is now a member of Jews for
Jesus.
The members of the
Islamic State group would have you believe they’re on some sort of
Islamic religious mission as they blow things up and lop people’s
heads off.
And there’s a
commonality in all of these horrific cases: They have
nothing to do with the beliefs of their associated
religions.
They’re all violent
perversions of those religions.
Bundy isn’t
representative of Methodists and Gacy isn’t representative of
Catholics any more than the lunatics in the Islamic State group are
representative of Muslims.
These crimes against
humanity didn’t happen because of religion. They happened in spite
of it.
It can be awfully
easy to blame atrocities on religion, particularly when it’s one
you don’t understand. That’s often the case with Islam, which is
presented as synonymous with the Islamic State group in certain
segments of the American media.
But that’s
fallacious logic — unless, of course, you’re also going to blame
the Church of Christ for Jeffrey Dahmer, or Jews for Jesus for
David Berkowitz.
None of those
religions advocate killing people. There’s not a legitimate
religion that does.
That isn’t a
uniquely religious concept, of course. Atheists and agnostics are
ideally just as accepting of their fellow man, and just as
disinclined to murder him.
Respecting others
knows no religious boundaries. Religions around the world are very
different, but the legitimate ones have this commonality: They
advocate for followers to do good things — for themselves, and for
others.
That holds true if
you’re Methodist or Muslim, Catholic or Buddhist, Jewish or
Baptist. Religion is intended to be a foundation for positive
interaction.
All of these madmen
lacked that foundation, even though they all had religion as a
backdrop in their twisted lives. Sometimes, it gets used as a
rationale instead of an inspiration.
But religion isn’t
to blame for what Bundy or Berkowitz did, what Gacy or Dahmer did,
what the Islamic State group is doing.
That’s not religion
— that’s a sickness. It also comes in a variety of
flavors.