I am not stating anything new to anyone when I say that the murder of Dr. George Tiller on Sunday produced a profound reaction on Daily Kos and throughout the liberal community in general. I am not making a bold claim when I say that, just as after every school shooting and every tragedy, saddened and angry people ask themselves and each other "why?", and "how did this happen?". Just as after so many other acts of terrorism, murder, and violence, many answers are making themselves heard. Just as after so many other tragedies, some of the explanations are insightful, while others are fallacious at best and destructive at worse. Hearing and seeing the fights over these inspired some thoughts about the nature of the American public and our innately conservative desire to place blame anywhere but where it belongs: on ourselves.
To be clear: We did not kill Dr. Tiller. He was killed by a terrorist, in an act of political terrorism, and that terrorist subscribes to a worldview- and politics- that all of us in the liberal community not only reject but actively oppose. He is directly responsible for what he did- and he alone. During times like these, we often hear these words, it's healthy- because the direct blame does belong to him. However, we continue searching for something to blame, for an answer to a question burning in the hearts and minds of the thoughtful: How did we let this happen? We are part of this society, a society that made this possible- where is the justice? What can I do to make sure I never have to think these thoughts again? As a society, we too long have blamed others for our problems: we blame Chinese manufacturing for the faults of the capitalism we pushed, perfected, and planned; we blame video games for behavior exhibited by human beings long before the advent of electricity; conservatives blame "moral decay", loss of the "traditional family", and "godless" ideas such as evolution for the problems of our youth; we blame the excess of radical Islam (itself a political movement as mush as a religious one) for terrorism that could be mostly prevented with a smarter, more practical foreign policy; and the business community likes to peg blame to the government for a collapse caused by and resulting from conservative politics, economics, and academic thinking. So now it is easy to blame Christianity for the death of Dr. Tiller.
The arguments tend to go something like this: Scott Roeder, the suspect, is a Christian and a member of the "Radical Right", "Religious Right", etc., a religiously motivated political bloc of reactionary "traditionalists" fervently and sometimes violently opposed to abortion. Furthermore, Abrahamic religions in general and Christianity in particular have scriptures telling people how to live (and harsh punishments, at times truly absurd, for violations of these "moral" codes). Blamers raise issues such as the long and violent history of the Christian religion, they may cite social theories regarding authority, patriarchy, and religion, and in general point out that the inherent spiritual exclusiveness of the Christian religion (join us or suffer for all eternity). As with criticism of terrorist acts carried out be Muslims, the Blamers have a point- but they miss the bigger picture and in so doing unleash rhetoric that we all may have cause to regret.
I will be open about myself and my own beliefs: I am a Christian and a male. I do not belong to a religious, ethnic, or sexual minority. Even my political views, while passionate and defiantly liberal, are not extreme enough to significantly endanger me. I'm unsure of what more to say on this, but awareness of my unfair privilege in life- and the fact that many of the groups Blamed are ones I belong to- has not escaped me when I write this. I am quite young, and I am proud to be part of a generation that is more accepting of sexuality and personal freedom than the aging powers-that-be. This is my first diary, so I apologize for any mistakes made above or below.
The Blamers are correct that extremist systems of belief have since time immemorial been the spark for countless acts of depravity and the public justification for unknown numbers more. In attacking Christianity, they are often attempting to make legitimate points: yes, it's an act of terrorism, whether a Muslim or Christian perpetrates it, and no, the media is not doing a good enough job about reporting it that way. Yes, Christianity is certainly the excuse by many in the reactionary crowd to call abortionists murderers, and it is a real belief reinforcing that same accusation in most of their foot soldiers. Yes, as everyone on the entire planet is aware, Christianity has a violent, barbaric past totally at odds with our message of peace, love, acceptance, and harmony. Yet their fundamental claim- Christian belief is inherently and necessarily conducive in some to violence, domination, and was a necessary component in the murder of Dr. Tiller is wrong.
The traits so infamously exhibited by Christianity are- shock- the same traits exhibited in nearly every similar group human beings have ever made. The reasons are many- Us vs. Them psychology, Organized bureaucracies capable of moving the views of millions, deep convictions about the nature of the universe; all mixed with individuals who may be on the fringe socially, politically, and economically. Believe it or not, but atheistic and Muslim and Jewish and Pagan nations and elements have all done terrible things to their fellow man, with Christianity's claim to fame being the sheer number of disgraces on it's hands- and as the world's largest religion with nearly 1/3 of the world following it (at least nominally), that's...well...not much of a surprise.
The problems in Christianity are real- I have personally struggled with the idea that people who do not believe as I do will go to hell, and I reject this idea without hesitation. The tendency for Christianity to be used as Islam is used to advance a regressive political value-set is tragic and a problem- but the way to deal with this is not to shun the religion and the abandon the progressive believes. The way is to grab voters of the faith and refuse to let go. Millions of potential voters and potential Democrats in some way subscribe to the Christian faith- do not scorn them. This is not a call for an injection of religion into politics, but to fight the political battle within a religion. If you're not a Christian, then we wish you all the best and appreciate any useful criticism- but please, please, don't abandon us. We are your comrades, and we will not choose between the faith we profess and the politics we practice.
It is important to remember that brave Dr. Tiller was murdered in a church. It is important to remember that for many liberals, including myself, politics and religion are 2 parts of a set of beliefs about how the world should be and how we can help improve it.
As the American hegemony faces the problems built into our society and in the world we have fostered, we are eager to move blame around, to cast around for the invisible enemy that has caused our world to turn out as it has. There is no invisible enemy, there are the ones standing right in front of us. The murder of Dr. George Tiller was the direct fault of his killer, and was influenced by a reactionary political movement with prominent figures such as Bill O'Reilly and others pushing abortion as murder. The fundamental belief that abortion is murder has essentially zero religious necessity: that debate is merely bickering over when a human fetus is human. It is entirely possible to argue from a secular worldview that a dead fetus is murder, and from a religious one that the soul enters the body with the first touch of air. That many Christians do not believe in abortion is a result of conservatives being allowed to control and influence the Christian faith. Liberals today cannot afford to ignore faithful people, and the argument to combat patriarchal regressive reactionaries is not to yell and play blame games, but to combat it directly and culturally. I apologize for the excessive length of this and for any irrelevance, but I felt this needed to be said.