Preacher in Perry, IA, Take God Off the Hook


A few years ago, a former preacher who had left the faith said he was relieved not to have to run through the usual rituals that go with being a preacher. One was that after a local or national disaster he needed to prepare a sermon telling his congregation the tragedy was not God's fault. He called it his "Take God off the Hook Sermon."

I didn't think I would encounter close up this political/marketing part of Christianity. It happened today.  

Probably most readers have lost interest in the latest school shooting, there are so many of them. It happened in a small city of 8,000, Perry, Iowa. A high school boy shot a principal and four students. One eight-year-old student died. 

I live 30 minutes from Perry and it has been sort of my second home. One of my hobbies has been flying a little airplane. I have since sold the airplane and retired from the flying hobby. It was located in Perry and I went there regularly and know many local people. The boy who committed the shooting crime was the son of the airport manager. The boy committed suicide. 

I, like everyone else, am saddened by this tragedy. All those in Perry trying to help their town deal with this thing need support also. I'm sure each of them is trying to say and do the right and helpful thing. Nevertheless I could not stop myself from seeing the less than helpful role Christianity has inserted into the mix. 

In this morning's paper a Perry Methodist preacher is quoted as saying he is trying to help people by explaining God was not responsible for this tragedy. God did not want it to happen, he said. He knows every rational person would reason that if God IS all powerful God could have stopped it from happening. The only conclusion has to be God WANTED it to happen. 

This is not the preacher's fault. It is the fault of the entire Christian enterprise which thinks it has some role to play in peoples' minds during times of celebration and tragedy. The world would be a better place if Christianity would not play with peoples' heads by inserting itself into marriage, death and all the other places where it does more harm than good.

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