Photo courtesy of Trek Earth. Taken by gravatar.
In the aftermath of the horrible events in Orlando on Sunday, I’ve become aware of a potential problem for our future. The pain of the event is very real for what seems to be a large swath of our country. As we hear the stories of the survivors, learn about lives of the dead, and try to unearth the motivations of the shooter, opportunities to externalize our pain and anger are beginning to emerge. So much of the discussion of what has happened and how we might respond to it has shifted to focusing on the faith of Omar Mateen. Social media is awash with discussions about how “we have to name the evil of radical Islam,” or “we must respond to his act of international terrorism by ISIS.”
I’m not an expert in international relations and so I’m sure our government must examine its choices concerning how to interact with the dangers from abroad. However, what about us?
Is this external focus really helpful to our communal psyche?
As Christians, is focusing on a group within another of the world’s religions truly going to help us?
I remember coming home from church that day and speaking with a friend who is a member of the LGBT community. As we talked, it was obvious how much these events were effecting her. The pain and fear were clearly visible in her eyes, and as I hear from my other friends, I am aware of those same feelings in them. It has caused me to ask another question.
How responsible are we, the American society, for this massacre?
I saw a meme that listed a number of injustices that have been suffered by the LGBT community in America, and it was really painful to read. From the silence during the AIDS crisis of the 80s to the passing of HB2 in North Carolina, this community has suffered a lot of neglect at the hands of American society. And as a Christian, I have listened to, and at one time said, some hateful things about them. I carry guilt about that personally, and one of the things I feel most guilty about a statement to the effect, “I love gay people, but I don’t accept their sin.”
If God is going to punish people for their sins, and hates sin, as I was told growing up in church, then how are you going to love people despite of their sin?
Are you implying you are more loving than God?
While the collective conversation is shifting to describe the shooting as an international act of terrorism, I’m afraid for our future. As the church learns to externalize its pain by focusing it on some group over there, we neglect to see that we may have had some responsibility in this. Omar Mateen was an American citizen. He was born in Queens and not the Middle East. He spent his entire life interacting with and trying to immerse himself in American society. If he did fully identify with a radical religious element, which hasn’t been fully proven yet, then it would seem that he couldn’t find a place in the country where he was born.
What does it say about American society that instead of feeling like a part of the whole, he decided to attack a group that has experienced so much pain?
How does our language about the LGBT community say about our understanding of God?
Could those two things have worked together?
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