The Rt. Rev. Kirk Smith, Bishop of Arizona, wrote Jan. 10 that Christians “can go behind the rhetoric of blame and name the root cause of acts of violence like these ”” fear. Whether the young man was rational or not, he certainly was influenced by the escalating violent language which seems to characterize our political discourse these days, when anyone who disagrees with you is labeled as an ”˜enemy’ or as ”˜evil.’”
Bishop Smith added: “We fear others when we are afraid. There has to be someone or some group to blame for our anxiety about our economy, our social breakdown, our drug culture and our institutional collapse. And so we find a scapegoat ”” our problems are all the fault of ”˜liberals’ or ”˜tea-party members’ or ”˜illegals.’”
The Rt. Rev. Dan Thomas Edwards, Bishop of Nevada, wrote that the weekend’s violence reflects wider societal problems.
Our problems are our problems. All we, like sheep have gone astray. Each one to his or her own way.
Solution?
[blockquote]Whether the young man was rational or not, he certainly was influenced by the escalating violent language which seems to characterize our political discourse these days, when anyone who disagrees with you is labeled as an ‘enemy’ or as ‘evil.’â€[/blockquote]
But in fact we don’t know that. Maybe, maybe not.
Good headline: Episcopal Bishops SPECULATE.
We do know that he was influenced by Hitler and Marx. Why not blame them?
This is too good to pass up.
I FEAR that I BLAME emasculated, politically correct, heretical bishops for what has happened to the Episcopal church into which I was baptized on this day in 1945. The mitigation is that said church is largely irrelevant today. Perhaps, if the church were to return to Christian teaching, it could help to restore our disintegrating society.
Or not. [/rant]
#5–I was thinking the same thing. Why not let bishops spread the Good News of Jesus Christ for a change, and see what happens.
Most TEC bishops haven’t got a clue. How can you spread something you no nothing about?
A Profound and Deep thought:
“We fear others when we are afraid” [Bishop Smith]
Not! But sounds good!
“Whether the young man was rational or not, he certainly was influenced by the escalating violent language which seems to characterize our political discourse these days, when anyone who disagrees with you is labeled as an ‘enemy’ or as ‘evil.’â€
Sort of like when TEC liberals referred to my spouse as a “bigot” when he invoked Biblical teachings and refused to perform gay blessings or “marriage”?
9. Sort of like that.
no, no, no, Bookworm. When they call you bigot and homophobe, they are educating you. When you call them names, you are participating in the escalation of violent language and dehumanization. See the difference?
Thank you, manna. I get it. I am now more intellectually developed.
Maybe they should consider that the way they have destroyed institutions like TEC actually creates more monsters like the assailant in AZ.
“We fear others when we are afraid†a tautology. Nonsense.
We have 300+ million people in this country. A certain percentage will always be whacked and I’m not sure how you stop them from doing randomly nutcase things. Certainly you can always count on Episcopal bishops to contribute eccentric commentary. But, the shooting in Arizona is a tragedy and the victims are dishonored when people use junior psychology and speculation to try to leverage their sorrow to advance a political agenda.