Church in America

Legitimizing Murderers

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Rev. R. J. Rooney
Senior Pastor, Verona (MS) UMC
September 27, 2001

Weeks have passed since the shameful attack on unsuspecting civilians by mindless cowards who believe that God rewards people for slitting women's throats and slamming jumbo jets into buildings instantly killing, incinerating, disemboweling, and burying thousands of hapless men, women, children, and babies. It is simply mind-boggling that any mature and civilized human being could rationalize such wanton slaughter much less consider themselves heroic for doing it.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor the world was already in a state of war and the attack was on a strategic military target manned mostly by military personnel. That is certainly not a defense of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor but it puts the attack on the World Trade Center's Twin Towers into perspective.

Despite what many are saying, the perpetrators of such carnage have no militaristic aim or objective. To assume or say such ascribes a measure of reasoning, intellect, and noble cause that simply does not exist. Their one and only objective is to kill for the sake of killing. As many as can be killed as often as it can be accomplished.

Since the attacks on the Twin Towers we have learned that bin Laden disciples may have been planning to use crop dusters to spray thousands more civilians with toxic chemicals.

These people are murderers; not soldiers for Allah. They do not even deserve to be called terrorists because terrorists at least have a political or economic goal. They are no different than the John Wayne Gacys', Richard Ramirez', Theodore Bundys', and Jack the Rippers of the world. They crave murder and find a reason to legitimize it. And then they do it and relish the attention their deeds garner. And like any other psychopath they find that they have no conscience and indeed like the mayhem.

Until the murderers are stopped the carnage will continue. The death toll will mount. Hearing about the recovery of body parts will become commonplace.

This is not about religious fundamentalism or extremism. This is not about advancing the Muslim cause. This is not about retributive justice or even vengeance.This is about murder plain and simple.

Adolf Hitler was a murderer. He used his peculiar brand of racial ideology (Aryanism) to legitimize his hate and the Nazi war machine to carry out his lust for killing. But he was nothing but a murderer.

Most serial killers have no reasoning behind their murders but are simply motivated by hatred to carry out their brutality against the weak and the unsuspecting. They are just murderers looking for an excuse to kill.

Osama bin Laden is no different. He is a murderer who is using religion as a pretext and mindless zealots who are apparently incapable of thinking or living for themselves as the means by which to carry out his lust for killing. He is just a murderer. Nothing less but nothing more.

Al Capone was nothing more than a glorified thug and his minions a well dressed street gang. Osama bin Laden is nothing more than a glorified mass-murderer and his followers empty-minded and ranting Renfields. Jihad is just as much a smokescreen for murder as was/is Aryanism, Inquisition, or "Choice."

For the most part murderers have in common cowardice. They prey on the weak or the unsuspecting. They are intoxicated with the fear their cowardly acts produce and therefore perceive themselves as somehow dominant. However, they know in their hearts they are cowards and loathe themselves for it. Hatred is their passion and evil their source.

Cain was the first murderer and his self-loathing and jealousy towards Abel compelled him to kill his unsuspecting brother. His cowardice and hate were so evident, however, that he cried out to God "whoever finds me will kill me" clearly demonstrating the transparency of hate and the weakness of those who give themselves over to it.

Since that time murder has sought for a cloak of protection or a shield of legitimacy as a defense. Hitler hid genocide as long as he could and when the cloak of secrecy evaporated he attempted legitimacy through racial ideology. Abortion rights advocates have for many years attempted to hide murder through their obfuscated arguments about how a fetus is not a viable human being. Science has clearly refuted that claim and society has by and large accepted that just a few cells resultant from a fertilized sperm and egg are human (i.e. stem cell research). Therefore, the abortionists are relegated to trying to legitimize their actions on the basis of such shaky grounds as personal freedom and a right to privacy.

Supported by the likes of the Taliban, who kills women for showing their face in public or aspiring to be teachers, and Sadam Hussein who gassed untold numbers of his own citizenry for opposing him in Iraq, Osama bin Laden and his followers should not be allowed by governments or religions (and in particular Christianity) to get away with legitimizing their cowardly acts of murder by claiming to be religious zealots or even terrorists.

The Menendez brothers were murderers, not abused sons who had no recourse but to kill their parents to survive. They put a shotgun in their mother's face while she begged for mercy and pulled the trigger. Murderers. Andrea Yates systematically drowned all five of her children one by one and had to intentionally chase down the last and oldest before drowning him. She is not a victim. She is a murderess.

Hitler had no loyalty to the "Fatherland." He liked to gas unsuspecting Jewish men, women, children, and babies while they stood naked waiting for a shower. His insistence that every German should die for him and subsequent scorched earth policy of his own country near the end of World War II demonstrated that his love of Germany was merely a façade for his hate and cowardice. Murderer.

Osama bin Laden is not a religious fanatic. If he really thought Allah would glorify suicide bombers he would have been in the cockpit of one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center or strapped a bomb to his chest and killed some Jews or Christians in a shopping mall. Don't tell me he has not had the opportunity. No. He is just a seedy murderer who gets others to kill themselves and others for him and like the coward he is runs to his cave while basking in the glow of being recognized as a "fundamentalist," "extremist," or "zealot." To do so only feeds his hate and adds some measure of credence and legitimacy to a man who is nothing more or less than a mass murderer.

I have been carefully watching all of the press releases from various church leaders and denominations and can only shake my head in sadness. While many are rightfully calling their adherents to prayer and cautioning against revenge they make it appear as if we are supposed to at best have good feelings towards those who murder women and children and at worst be merely ambivalent.

When Pilate murdered several Jews who were worshipping in the Temple the news was brought to Jesus. When told, Christ used the occasion to speak about the need for universal repentance: "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? I tell you no, but, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:2-3). No call for prayer vigils (although I am certainly not opposed to that and did so). No sermon on forgiveness. No teaching on loving your enemies (at this particular occasion). News about senseless mass murder was followed with a call to repentance for all.

I have heard about being filled with love and not hate. I have heard that this is not a time to be consumed with a desire for retribution and justice. I have heard that I should lead my congregations in experiencing healing. But I haven't heard a single word from any of my spiritual leaders about calling anyone to repentance.

We must stop legitimizing murderers and become preoccupied with repentance; our own and those who are, unbeknownst to them, the murderers next targets.

"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15 NASB).