A reminder to be kind amid the mourning
What can anyone say about a mass murder in a mosque that is not trite, obnoxious or both? I think “Peace be upon them” is where we start.
It is first and foremost a personal tragedy. Six lives were suddenly and cruelly taken and others are still at risk. Families and friends lost loved ones, in some cases before their eyes. And the reason we deplore mass killings, genocides and other such atrocities is not because a group is killed but because many individuals are.
G.K. Chesterton once said “The fascination of children lies in this: that with each of them all things are remade and the universe is put again upon its trial ... within every one of these heads there is a new universe, as new as it was on the seventh day of creation. In each of these orbs there is a new system of stars, new grass, new cities, a new sea.”
By the same token, every time someone dies a universe vanishes, at least from this world. And yes, we all must die. But in God’s time not ours. The terrible thing about murder is that the killer, taking a life for convenience, pleasure or sanctimony, puts a dreadful, inexcusable exaggerated importance on his or her own experience of reality.
So, second, the shooting is not just a tragedy. It is also a terrible crime. And in addition to expressing grief and outrage we must try to understand why it happened and how to reduce the possibility of similar crimes in the future.
Reduce, I say. Not prevent. Humans have always done murder and we will never be free of it. But just as we look for signs of domestic violence that may escalate in deadly ways, and identify and jail violent criminals before they kill, so we concern ourselves with that specific category of murders motivated by hatred of a group, religious, ethnic, sexual or otherwise.
Many people certainly have in the wake of this shooting, often without a suitable pause to acknowledge the core human tragedy. I do not condemn those political and community leaders and ordinary citizens who spoke out promptly in compassionate consolation. I praise them. But others have rushed to rather pointed judgment that we live in a climate of Islamophobia, bigotry and intolerance.
Seeking to tread gently here, let me acknowledge that anyone who has been warning that harsh speech can legitimize violence has a right to draw attention to their warnings. But there is a question of tone. Any “I told you so” under such circumstances should be sorrowful not gloating.
In one vital sense the person who entered that mosque and opened fire is entirely responsible for the murders. We do not accept “I was just following orders” as a legal defence, let alone “I was just following suggestions.” But promoting a climate of intolerant anger does increase the danger. There can be more than 100 per cent responsibility in such cases.
In saying so, I do not advocate state censorship of “hate speech” generally or “Islamophobia” in particular. I believe open debate is the best way to defeat error and malice. Nor do I suggest selfcensorship on the substance of sensitive topics f rom whether a pious Muslim can consistently advocate separation of mosque and state, and whether it matters, to whether we should vote in sharia law to fulfil God’s wish for all mankind.
What I do suggest is that we should all watch our tongues so as not to contribute to the increasingly abusive tone on all issues from all sides. Including hanging a banner on Kellie Leitch’s constituency office saying “Hate puts us all at risk” and naming the victims, or blaming Donald Trump for the shooting.
We should hate the sin not the sinner. Indeed, we should hate the sin because we love the sinner. Clearly someone who opens fire in a place of worship should immediately be shot or bludgeoned into unconsciousness if necessary to end the danger; concern for their redemption must wait. But in policy disputes, we should regard adversaries as people to be guided back to the light, not blasphemers to be cast into the darkness with smug righteousness.
We are all prone to sin here, definitely i ncluding newspaper columnists, whose job includes painting error in a suitably unflattering light. But it is too easy to be angry, scornful and smug toward those whose ideas we consider misguided, cold- hearted or dangerous, to address them as trolls not fellow flawed human beings. And it does make things worse.
Six people are dead in Sainte- Foy, others may die, and many survivors have had a jagged hole torn in their lives. As their bell tolls for all of us, let us seek compassion in our hearts for everyone including those wrong in public debate.
WE SHOULD ALL WATCH OUR TONGUES. — JOHN ROBSON IT IS TOO EASY TO BE ANGRY, SCORNFUL AND SMUG.