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Religion and School Shootings

Copied from a Facebook post I wrote earlier, because I'm exhausted from reading this same, tired argument, the day after every school shooting.

 Anyone who knows me, knows I'm the least religious person on the planet, but some of you may also know I was minoring in religion in college and I'm fascinated by it. Not so much the fictional tales, but the fact that religion, in most cases, is simply a set of common sense laws, with the threat of punishment, that may or may not exist. It was used to control the masses, in a time when education was lacking, so the idea of judgement was terrifying, so it worked. What is also interesting is that it wasn't viewed so much as a religion, but a way of life. Especially religions like Judiasm, Islam, Buddhism and for devout Christians, their branches.

 In today's America, most devout Christians, especially Roman Catholics, tend to be conservative by nature. We view this as a manifestation of political ideals, but in reality, it's true Christian values, which are inherently good. The real problem is that our world is a violent one, much as the world of Jesus was, and definitely the world of the Roman Empire. Over the years, the idea of dying for your country, your religion and your ideals, has grown into this scare tactic, as if the fight is more important than the sacraments or even the word of God. I have noticed that whenever there is a school shooting, people Christian Conservatives immediately point out that a possible reason is because we don't allow guns and The Bible into our schools. I've always found it fascinating that these people call themselves Constitutional Patriots, but ignore the separation of church and state, and call themselves Christians, but ignore the concept of non-violence, a staple of the Bible, especially in the teachings of the man their religion is named after.

 I respect everyone's belief system, as long as they actually comprehend the religion they claim to practice. I also respect everyone's love of this country, as long as they comprehend this country's Constitution and laws. I respect everyone's opinions about church and state, as long as the two never shall meet. What I don't understand is the need to use religion as a defense of personal infringement, while defending someone who chose, whether mentally equipped to know better or not, to shoot and kill seventeen people. That argument is neither constitutionally sound, or even remotely Christian. In fact, it's the polar opposite of the two most (mis)quoted documents on social media.

 I hope, because I do not pray, that nobody I know, ever loses a child to this type of tragedy, because I can't imagine what it must be like, in this day and age, to read people defending a maniac's rights, let alone to hear and read the leader of the nation enact laws to assist in this occurrence. I hope people on both sides of this argument leave religion out of it. I also hope they realize the Second Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with personal gun ownership, and definitely not an AR-15 or any other type of assault weapons (btw, they are actually called ASSAULT rifles). I hope people look at this from a single argument. Are our children safer with guns or without. It's actually that simple. Ask Australia!

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