We know a lot about the characteristics of gods from incidents such as the Tucson massacre (and "acts of gods" such as hurricanes, famine, earthquakes, etc.). Either gods do not know what is going on or don't care or are powerless to be of any help, or they wanted tragedy to happen or, most likely, gods are fictional.
It's more rational to view humans as evolutionary animals with all our pluses, minuses and illnesses. Mentally disturbed people goaded by aspects of the free media can produce mayhem. It is rather common. From a psychiatric standpoint, the management of such people can require infringements on their privacy and freedoms, in the name of protecting our community. It is often a difficult balance, one that evidently tilted the wrong way in Tucson.
We are all on our own, together, to seek the best outcome that nature and our natural minds can devise. Effort, time and money for prayer and the like is wasteful and distracts from useful activity. Community commiseration and support are beneficial if they do not advance the superstitious religious-media-government complex.
William van Druten
Duluth
ADVERTISEMENT
The writer is a member of the
Lake Superior Freethinkers.