Remembering murder rampage.
Murder rampage challenges thoughts about natural goodness
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I used to hear people talk about “evil people” and “enemies” and I couldn’t relate.
In an abstract sense, I knew there were evil deeds in the world, because we’ve all read about terrible atrocities perpetrated by humankind through history. So, I could accept there is evil in the world — but evil people? Spiritually, that is a hard concept for me to accept.
The anniversary weekend of April 18-19, 2020, looms large in the hearts of Nova Scotians. That murderous weekend shook every Nova Scotian to our very cores. How could this happen in our gentle province to 22 such precious souls?
Their names, the hope and promises of their lives, their dreams for their future are seared on our hearts. People of all ages were killed by an angry denturist who owned guns he shouldn’t have had. And as time goes on, we learn of so much more that raised red flags in this story that might have had a different outcome if acted upon.
There’s enough blame to go around, but let’s not forget there is one man at the centre of it all. And so, for the first time in my life, I am struggling with wondering about the existence of “evil people.”
THEOLOGICAL DEBATE
Until April of last year, my innocence about the depravity of human beings refused to allow me to believe that there are evil people in the world. As a United Church clergyperson, I could easily accept that people undertook evil deeds in the world, but I stopped short of calling people evil. Yet now, it’s a theological debate I struggle with almost daily.
In Halifax, Atlantic School of Theology academic dean Rev. Dr. Rob Fennell, responded to my questions about evil in the world.
“I believe that it is naive to think that sin and evil are not real. We don’t want them to be. And we don’t like to judge people. But we are only sticking our heads in the sand to think otherwise," said Fennell.
“It is also from a place of privilege that we could ever think that sin and evil are not real. Those who are subjected to the many horrors of this world know, for a fact, that they are real. Yes, people do bad things, from minor hurts to terrible, terrible crimes. But that is not the whole story of the human race. And God asks us to be part of building just, fair, equitable societies, and to forgive, and to seek reconciliation. None of that is easy, or even instinctively what we want to do. But it is God’s way."
I struggle because this tragedy that began in Portapique, Colchester County wasn’t some deed undertaken far away or long ago. It was here.
In my province of one million people. And it was the worst mass murder ever perpetrated in this country.
The devastation in terms of grief and loss has been indescribable. Evil is no longer an abstract concept. It visited here. In fact, it lived among us.
The definition of evil is so much more than the standard explanation of the absence of good.
Carl Jung famously called it “the dark side of God” in his book, “Answer to Job.” He wrote that the story of Jesus is actually an account of God facing his own shadow.
Many a theologian has pondered the question of why bad things happen in God’s good world. This is no longer a discussion and argument in the abstract. This particular act of a fellow child of God makes no sense and is so tragic, terrible and inhumane, that it defies all logic.
Fennell agrees that to claim people are evil is problematic.
“It suggests that evil is all they are,” he said.
He says it is too simple to believe that people are evil and it negates our belief that second chances are possible. And here stands, in the form of a mass murderer, one of the greatest challenges of myself and the faithful of any recognized religion — that everybody is open to redemption through the Grace of the God known by many names.
COMPLICATED PEOPLE
“People are more complicated,” Fennell said. “All of us are mixtures of good and bad impulses and actions. I believe people are given free will — that is part of our human makeup, the way God designed us. What we do with free will is where we can get into trouble.”
And so, that brings me back to my struggle about why bad things are allowed to happen in God’s good world. I always default eventually to: “it just is.” Some things cannot be explained away.
“People do evil things,” Fennell said. “People sin. People miss the mark. And some of us do that a little, and some of us, again, do just terrible things. The deeper into sin we go, the more we resemble evil.”
Still, I find comfort in what Fennell concludes. He says that in terms of Christian thought, evil doesn’t get the last word.
“Evil tries to kill off the goodness that was in Jesus, but God raised Jesus to life and overcame the power of death. So, it is not an eternal power that will someday conquer us. It causes terror at times, but we band together again as a human family and rebuild, seeking goodness, trust, hope, love and mutual care. That’s how we’re hardwired.”
Yes! We are hardwired to care about each other. Our collective hearts go out forever to the families and friends of the victims. There are no words. And our hearts also go out to the emergency services personnel who responded to the calls that weekend.
Every day and night, as we go about our lives, they are out there walking around in the midst of potential evil.
May this never happen again.