Dumbing down religious belief

It is always a struggle for me to keep clear in my mind that people who say really dumb things out of their (mis)guided religious beliefs are not representative of all religious believers -- and therefore I should not disparage religious belief per se based on the worst examples.

After all, I abhor it when conservatives use worst-case (and often false) anecdotes to disparage what they don't like ("welfare queens" to justify cutting welfare benefits;   "voter fraud" to justify voter ID laws that inhibit liberal voting).

This one today tests my resolve to keep an open mind about the overall effect of religion in our society.

In a Heritage Foundation radio interview, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) was asked why he thinks acts of senseless violence happen, such as the mass shooting at a Batman movie premier in a Denver suburb.

Gohmert had a ready answer, ready because it is a well-rehearsed, conservative talking point:   the weakening of Christian values in the country from the ongoing attacks on religious expression in our public life, like "threatening people with jail" if they say prayers at high school graduations.   "People say ... where was God in all of this? . . . What have we done with God? We don't want him around. I kind of like his protective hand being present."

But I thought they believed God was around all the time, whether we wanted Him or not, and that he knows everything, sees everything, and can do anything he chooses.  Well, see, that doesn't fit with the blame Gohmert's trying to place on those "bad, anti-Christian Americans" who "attack religion."

Then Gohmert morphed into gun control.   "It does make me wonder, with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?"

So his answer to why such massacres occur:

We need more God, and we need more guns.   

Two questions for Rep. Gohmert:   (1)   Then how do you explain bad things happening to good people -- like when the most pious, god-fearing Christians lose a child to illness?   (2) If God is all powerful, it means that he also is responsible for the senseless shooting.   So why not just as logically blame God for letting it happen -- or even, for making it happen?

If God is all powerful, then Judas was as much part of the crucifixion plan as was Jesus.   People want an all powerful god, but they want to select which acts they give him credit for.

Someone needs to tell God (or those who speak for him) that his puny creation, Man, has evolved and used his God-given brain to figure out that positive reinforcement is more effective than negative reinforcement in shaping behavior.   If God wants us really to believe and be devoted, He should cause more miracles and fewer mass shootings.

Or would that spoil the plan?

As to gun control, my questions for Rep. Gohmert are:   (1)  If an armed citizenry is the answer to our violence, why is it that statistics show that, when a gun is present in the home, one of the family members is the most likely one to die from that gun?  (2)  Why is it that some countries (like England and Japan), where very few citizens own guns, have such a low rate of violent deaths in comparison to ours?

By the way, this same Rep. Gohmert was one of the signers, with Michele Bachmann, of the demand to investigate Muslims in our government, citing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's top assistant, Huma Abedin.

Ralph