Nickel Mines

The Religious Response

From the television news this morning, Bush, two glimpses of different religious responses to the murder of those children in the Amish community. They are revealing.

One, a ten-second shot of a church meeting of evangelical Christians, an overflow congregation, a public display of ostentatious mourning, congregants leaping from their pews with cries of "This too shall pass!" and "Praise Jesus!" None of them, at a guess, even vaguely related to the victims, but joining in the collective grief with barely disguished enthusiasm. (Okay, there's judgment in those words, and more to come.)

The other, the brief excerpt from an interview with a member of the killer's family. He reports with astonishment that representatives of the Amish community sought out the family of their childrens' murderer in order to offer their forgiveness and sympathy.

Okay, my judgment: the former was a loud, sanctimonious, self-serving exploitation of the tragedy of others, a pretentious expression of moral--no, moralistic--piety in the service of their own "family values" agenda. (I don't suppose those same people will be out there lobbying for stricter guns laws for the "protection" of our families.) The latter, in my view, offered a rare manifestation of the true spirit of Christianity. I don't suppose the Amish would be out on their streets, had the killer survived, loudly demanding his execution.

I recognize these to be my very own judgments, Bush, and that I risk being accused of that same moral rectitude I attribute to others. But I'd be interested to hear what your judgments might be.