Atheism/Christianity Behind Arizona Shooting

What were the greater factors in our society leading to the killing of six people and injuring of 13 others, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in Tucson, Ariz. on Jan. 8?

Democratic commentators have implied that it was the over-the-top Republican rhetoric. Among other examples, Sarah Palin last year posted a map of key elections that had crosshairs over Giffords’ district, an extension of Palin's pre-election slogan “Don't retreat, reload.”

Did Palin’s website contribute to the shooting? Or is it a “blood libel,” as Palin said in response? Neither.

Palin’s original tone, implying violence against a political candidate, was tasteless, and the shooting in Arizona only made that apparent. It is unlikely that she will do something that stupid again, I hope.

However, suggesting Palin in any way caused the shooting is yet more tasteless politicking. Our culture is so permeated with unnecessarily enhanced violence and rage in movies, television, sports, literature, and music that you might as well take the Academy Award for Best Picture away from the violence-laden and fictional “No Country for Old Men,” which won in 2008.

When I look at the shooting in Arizona, I see the nihilism and self-proclaimed atheism of Jared Lee Loughner. If a man frustrated with life feels that he has no real soul and that he faces no real judgment from a higher force, then he is capable of any sick thing under the sun.

Feeling there are few options, Loughner and many other Americans have fled what at times feels like force-fed Christianity in our country for the seemingly sweet safety of nihilism and atheism. Thus, the problem is actually two-fold. We have been force-fed both Christianity and nihilism/atheism in our country.

To best serve the country, our leaders should broaden their perspective beyond this spiritual dichotomy and look at the ideas that can unite us.

They can start by looking at the Declaration of Independence. Based on this potent document, the rights we have as Americans are entitled to us based on the “Laws of Nature” and “Nature’s God” and given to us by the “Creator.” While this document was written by Christians, there is no mention of Jesus, the Bible, or any other exclusive concepts that are not held universal across most traditional religious and spiritual systems.

In an America where Nature’s God, not necessarily a Christian God, is given credence, the reality that good and evil do exist takes center stage, replacing the economic narrative that has proven amoral.

What would such an America be like? Let’s take Chinese leader Hu Jintao’s upcoming visit as an example. Given its mammoth size and continuing persecution of individuals for their spiritual, political, and ethnic backgrounds and for the mere desire for freedom, the Communist regime in China is easily the most evil entity on the planet.

Will the Obama administration make evil an issue? Most likely not because the narrative we are working with is an amoral one given to us by economics. Trade is an overpowering number one item on the agenda. National security is a concern to some extent and somewhere in the way back, in the talk-but-no-action area, is good and evil slapped under the quaint heading “human rights.”

Yet, if our trading partner is now continuing to butcher thousands of people for their spiritual beliefs, like Falun Gong practitioners, then what sort of moral integrity is left with which our government can seriously say you can’t kill people just because you don’t like them?

That’s the scary moral reality behind Jared Loughner and it is what our nation is now facing.

Full disclosure: I am a Falun Gong practitioner. If I was a Chinese citizen, I would probably be arrested and tortured, possibly killed.