Conspicuous by its absence is the reporting on the religious preferences of the shooter. In practically every other instance of a shooting, the press cannot resist the opportunity to inform us that the shooter was an immigrant, likely brown-skinned, and definitely a MUSLIM. This, they reason, means that Islam is a dangerous ideology that can only be adhered to by broken and evil people. We must shun all Muslims before they infiltrate our neighborhoods and subject us all to Sharia Law. If you haven't seen any such reporting this time around, it's because the shooter was a Christian Pastor. Imagine for a moment if the shooter had been a Muslim Imam. In fact, I suspect that much of the lack of reporting on this shooting, in addition to the relative lack of bloodshed, is due to the religion of the shooter. It simply doesn't jive with the narrative. Those outlets that are reporting it are making sure to clarify that his Christianity had nothing to do with the shooting, that he was a "lone wolf" or "depressed", but he is certainly not a representative of overall Christendom.
I'm not here to be a Muslim apologist and demand that we start treating Islam with the same public relations kid gloves we treat Christianity. I'm here to tell you that both approaches are wrong. Religion is a scourge; an absurd, destructive machine that is worthy of derision. We should be condemning all religions as the sources of so much violence, bigotry and misery. Sam Harris said that the Koran was the "motherlode of bad ideas", but you could quit easily apply that same critique to any religious text. It is religion that is motivating people to deny equal rights to homosexuals. It is religion that creates bone-crushing guilt in its adherents by convicting them all of thought crimes. It is religion that insists there is a giant, omniscient, omnipresent, Santa-figure in the sky who loves all his creations, but not enough to stop cancer in children, or to convince his followers to stop throwing women off buildings for not covering their faces in public. It is religion that teaches us that the planet is only of use to us in the present, we should exploit it for every single drop of resources that we can, because Sky Santa is going to come back and make it all right in the end. One religious creed is not better than another. They are all heinous.
However, this piece of human waste school-shooter and his ilk aside, we shouldn't dismiss the people who adhere to this obscene ideology. Most people who consider themselves religious are genuinely good people. People who have bad ideas are not bad people. Ideas can be discussed and changed. In much the same way that a religious adherent says they will pray for God to touch our hearts (or whatever stupid crap they say these days), we can hope for their eyes to be opened. The thing is, we can't just pray and wash our hands of it. We have to actually take action. We have to demonstrate that morality is not simply the domain of the religious, but we have to be even better. We have to hold ourselves to higher standards. As easily and deservedly mockable as religion is, we should keep that stuff to ourselves and just live correctly: free, without guilt, and most importantly, showing the kindness that they are so very quick to deny us. I know that I was deeply afraid to finally admit that religion wasn't working for me; the consequence of eternal damnation was deeply entrenched on my psyche. I clung to my beliefs long after they stopped making sense to me, reasoning that God's ways are beyond my comprehension. It was f'ing scary when I realized that I absolutely did not love God at all, and in fact I wasn't even sure he was real. I suspect there are many, many more just like me, and I hope I can demonstrate to them, by living my life, that everything is gonna be alright.
Imagine there's no heaven
it's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
