When I heard about what happened in Aurora, Colorado, last night, I couldn\u2019t help but think about how I would have responded to a tragedy like this in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n First, I would have seen it as evidence of sin and evil in the world. I would have imagined the presence of pure evil that must have pervaded that movie theater as demons and perhaps even the devil himself goaded the perpetrator on. The presence of evil so dare you could feel it.<\/p>\n Second, like many fundamentalist leaders have done today, I would have blamed the secularism and \u201cgodlessness\u201d of our society today, including the lack of prayer in schools and the teaching of evolution. I would have argued that without the presence of God, it\u2019s only natural that man should give in to despair and commit atrocities like this one.<\/span><\/p>\n Third, I might have seen this as part of God \u201cremoving his protective hand\u201d from America. See, I believed that this nation had been subject to God\u2019s blessing, and that God had placed his hand over it, placing a damper on Satan\u2019s ability to wreak havoc. I believed that America\u2019s public turn toward secularism represented a rejection of God and his blessing, and that the (seemingly) increase in evil and tragedy in the nation were a natural result. And I believed it would only get worse<\/span><\/p>\n I would also have seen this occurrence as a call to dependence, both individually and as a nation, a reminder that we must turn back to God.<\/span><\/p>\n Today? I no longer see people\u2019s tears as a lesson. I no longer see people\u2019s pain as a warning.<\/span><\/p>\n I no longer believe that people are inherently evil. Rather, people are just\u2026people. People have a great propensity to do good, and, yes, evil. But it\u2019s just us. There are no demons whispering in our ears. We just\u2026are.<\/span><\/p>\n I no longer believe that the restraining hand of God is necessary to keep people from going on murderous rampages. I have seen people do great good regardless of whether they believe in a God, and I personally believe I am a more moral person today than I was when I believed.<\/span>I am not a psychologist, but I generally chalk\u00a0this kind of atrocity up to a disturbed mind. What part is genetic or environmental, I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not trying to make excuses for the shooter \u2013 he did make a conscious choice to do what he did. All I\u2019m saying is that normal people don\u2019t do this sort of thing. This isn\u2019t something that, as fundamentalists would have you believe, is something any of us could do \u201cbut for the grace of God.\u201d If mankind were intrinsically evil, you would think you would see this sort of thing more often.<\/span><\/p>\n Rather than simply blaming this sort of thing on \u201cevil,\u201d we should be working to identify and prevent it. Fundamentalists always simply point to God as the solution, but I want real world solutions. I\u2019m a humanist, after all. The more work that is done on identifying and preventing this sort of thing the better. And I\u2019m NOT talking about metal detectors.<\/span><\/p>\n My heart goes out to the victims, but I\u2019m not going to say that this is \u201call part of God\u2019s plan\u201d as I might have in the past. And I\u2019m not going to blame secular society or the teaching of evolution for what happened either. The truth is, we humans have the ability to do great good or commit great evil. And sometimes, shit happens. But mankind also has great potential for good, and it\u2019s at times like this that we need to tap into this as we pull together.<\/span><\/p>\n I grew up hearing that God can bring good out of tragedy. Today I believe that WE can bring good out of tragedy. You know those parents who lose children and then set up foundations to make sure other parents won\u2019t have to go through the same thing? That\u2019s the sort of thing I\u2019m talking about. And it\u2019s a whole lot more effective that telling survivors and victims alike how much God loves them and that God has a plan for them.<\/span><\/p>\n As I sit here looking at my sleeping infant son, I am reminded that the Aurora shooter was once someone\u2019s infant son as well. In the past I would have responded by praying that God would protect my son and help me raise him to be a godly man. Instead, as I sit here, I am simply resolving to do my best to raise him to be an ethical and compassionate individual. As I hold him close I feel the great potential of humanity. And on a day like today, I need that.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I heard about what happened in Aurora, Colorado, last night, I couldn\u2019t help but think about how I would have responded to a tragedy like this in the past. First, I would have seen it as evidence of sin and evil in the world. I would have imagined the presence of pure evil that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-6543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","tag-sin"],"yoast_head":"\n