I, like everyone else, am horrified by the Connecticut school shooting. It is an unspeakable tragedy; all I have to do is look at my 6 year old nephew or see the smiling pictures of the victims and my eyes fill with tears.
There are many responses to this event: heartbreak, anger, remorse, vindication. They're all valid. Rachel Held Evans writes beautifully of the patience and grace we need to have with one another as we all grieve differently.
But there have been two things floating around Facebook that make my blood absolutely boil and I need to write about them. I try to avoid making political and religious opinion statements on Facebook because the firestorm debates it triggers are rarely useful and tend to be damaging to relationships. So I'll write here.
This might just be some of the worst theology I've ever seen. It also reeks of Christian self-righteous indignation - an "I told you so" that is neither helpful nor necessary. A childhood family friend wrote a brilliant rebuttal to this notion. Read what he says - I can't write coherently on the topic because my blood pressure rises too quickly.
This ridiculous meme perpetuates the popular opinion that gun control laws could prevent massacres. Let's stop and think about the scenario: an individual with a plan for a mass murder stops to think "oh wait, I can't legally acquire a gun...I guess I can't go shoot up a mall food court today." Absurd, yes? Whether or not the weapons are legal are a rather inconsequential part of the equation.
I think the important cause to focus our political lobbying toward is better access to health care for mentally ill individuals. Mental illness is the common denominator here, not weapon accessibility. Read this mother's plea, if you don't believe me.
So, my dear Facebook friends, please stop sharing and re-posting these ridiculous, ignorant, and vile inaccuracies. Stop and think before you click that stinking button. Please, just stop.
