by Randy Walker

The senseless massacre that took place in a Connecticut elementary school is a tragic travesty of human behavior. There is little need to try and explain it because it was the act of an illogical, rage-filled human being. Trying to make it fit into a template of rational thought is futile.

What is even more futile and absurd are some of the Facebook posts I have seen claiming that because prayer is not allowed in schools, deranged mass murderers are permitted to murder children like shooting fish in a barrel! In essence, such untrained logic suggests that God is using innocent children as pawns to punish mankind. Give me a break! Then again, if religious fundamentalists cling to their rigid beliefs, maybe they really DO believe God is using innocent children as pawns.

Based on the logic of religious fundamentalists, God is omniscient and omnipotent, meaning: God is all-knowing and all-powerful. Stated plainly, God knows it all and can do anything God wants to do at any time. If so, then God must act in a twisted, morose manner sometimes when sick people are allowed to murder innocent children. But wait, this same God is also loving and merciful, and loves us unconditionally—except for maybe the children who die at the hands of insanity. Is anyone besides me getting dizzy on this merry-go-round fallacy?

I understand that human nature demands definitive explanations for tragedies like the one that happened in Connecticut, but spewing platitudes and blaming benign circumstances, such as the lack-of-prayer in schools, is nearly as absurd as the travesty itself. In fact, prayer is not strictly prohibited in schools. Students can pray as often as they desire; only organized, state-sponsored prayer is regulated. 

I am appalled as anyone at what happened in Connecticut that horrible day, nor do I claim to have any definitive answers or reasons for what happened, but I cringe when I see posts blaming the lack of organized prayer in school for such horrifying events. I don’t see how anyone can give God the credit for all the good in this world, but excuse God for all the evil, bad things that happen. If God is truly all-knowing and all-powerful, then God played a part in what happened as inexplicable and shattering as it may seem. In other words, you can’t have it both ways!