What America Needs

Predictably, the Right Wing of this country is trying to politicize the theater massacre in Colorado, and to accuse others of doing the same.

It is true that a lot of people are asking, "Shouldn't we have laws that outlaw ownership of assault rifles and 100-round magazines" as a start of ending the serial mass murders afflicting us.  Some even call for some kind of ban on manufacturing any weapons in America that are designed to kill human beings.  Others question why our society does not spend more on mental health resources.

However, these are not "political" statements, in the sense of scoring points for a particular "side" of partisan politics or ideology; they are honest questions and rational thoughts addressing this terrible problem.

On the other hand, the Right Wing does, indeed, react to such ideas as an attack on their political ideology and agenda which must be aggressively defended, and are using their verbal and written counter-attacks as a way of "stirring up the base" of Right Wing supporters in their quest for political power.  When they attack their more rational opponents for "politicizing the tragedy," it is mere projection of their own prejudices on others.

The Right Wing is interested in protecting gun ownership.  Many of their spokespeople hold gun ownership and their interpretation of the Second Amendment as something sacred, something that the God of the universe intends--at least for Americans.  Many even, particularly lately, openly proclaim that it is a "Christian duty" to own guns and to become proficient in their use--in other words, their function as killing tools.  This near-deification of guns blinds and deafens them to any rational arguments against their belief system, or even honest questions that might expose the errors of their position.

"The best defense is a good offense" is a concept deeply rooting in the Right Wing mind.  What they mean by a "good offense" is always, in some form or another, involves violence, deception, and the use of logical fallacies, particularly ad hominem and ad ignorantiam arguments, and arguments from authority.(see http://www.theskepticsguide.org/resources/logicalfallacies.aspx)

The past few days have seen the Right Wing blame everything for the massacre except the one thing that most made it possible and so horrific--the assault rifle.  Right Wingers have blamed it on the fact that not every American is armed and trained to kill, or the theater, which did not allow guns inside.  Gun regulations in general were scapegoated.  One even blamed the fact that the shooter, James Holmes, was receiving unemployment benefits and had had a federal grant; the argument is that the Federal Government (i.e., Obama) facilitated Holmes.

But the part of their "blame game" that is most galling, comes from their deep self-righteousness.  What they assert is that because so many Americans are not Christian in the way that the Right Wing conceives it, implying that the massacre was God's punishment.

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said the attack was the result of an attack on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and that the killings might have been avoided if the country returned to the ways of God.   "You know what really gets me, as a Christian, is to see the ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs, and then some senseless crazy act of terror like this takes place," Gohmert said.

Mike Huckabee, the sanctimonious ex-Arkansaw governor, was even more explicit.  He was quoted as saying that  we don't have a gun problem or a crime problem, but a "sin problem" and blames--what else--a mythical encroaching secularization.

“Ultimately,” Huckabee concluded, “We don't have a crime problem or a gun problem – or even a violence problem. What we have is a sin problem. And since we ordered God out of our schools and communities, the military and public conversations, you know, we really shouldn't act so surprised when all hell breaks loose.”

Of course, the United States DOES have a problem with guns and violence, as described in the previous post.  And what an odd god it is that could be "ordered" out of our public life.  Muslims are supposed to know--as are true Christians--that Allah (SWT) is everywhere, throughout the Universe He created, and gives the orders to us, not the other way around.

Further, Huckabee and the others are correct when they talk about the sins in this country, but they have as inadequate understanding of sin as they have of the Creator and Lord of All."  They see sin only in terms of personal morality, everything from premarital sex to homosexuality to having Liberal ideas.

Allah knows that level of sin, surely, but there are other levels.  In Allah's (SWT) message to us in the Old and New Testament, and certainly the Quran and the Sunnah, of even more significance is placed on what the Right Wing sneeringly call "social justice."  Submitters to the Will of Allah (SWT) are expected to protect the poor by creating economic justice, helping the oppressed by defeating tyranny, and ending war and militarism.

Another Right Wing leader from Liberty University began an e-mail today with the words, "America needs God...now more than ever!"  Instead, what America--and the world--needs is for Muslims (and People of the Book) to ACT, to put into practice, to DO the things our Rabb commands.  The world has too much religiosity; what it needs is for people to allow Allah (SWT) to work through them to defeat social AND personal sins.

In other words, America needs Islam...now, more than ever!