As the nation continues to cope with the tragedy in Texas and its horrific rising death toll, much has been written about those who have tried to politicize and racialize the death and destruction. While there has been no shortage of people who have sought to blame Trump, DOGE, and all things and people conservative, there was also an uptick in those who took issue with people who posted messages of faith. Granted, the phrase “thoughts and prayers” can seem a little trite given the magnitude of the tragedy, not to mention overused. But those who said they were praying and expressed hope and the belief that those who had perished were with Jesus were doing all they could do.
That was not good enough for at least a portion of the secular contingent, who felt the need to twist the knife of the tragedy just a bit more by mocking faith. Here is a sample from just one news story from the weekend:
Um how do you know these weren’t sinful little harlots that are being burned for their sins?
God may be all merciful. But he just killed a bunch of people.
God is already punishing the Red States for electing a rapist who just took away healthcare form the sick and needy.
Fully agree. This is God’s handiwork. Just look at the suffering within any children’s hospital across the country. All “God’s Plan.” The God of Children’s Cancer strikes again.
What they needed was come parental common sense. Not religious nutbaggery. (sic)
But isn’t this gods plan?
Jesus failed.
God caused this tragedy.
Is God like Trump? Create a problem, then fix it?
GOD MADE IT RAIN. WHY ARGUE WITH GOD?
Your God allowed this to happen.
Technically, "god" wanted them to drown....part of "his plan"
your god "blessed" lots of them with death-
Why did your god not spare them?
Grow uip. There are no great wizards. (sic)
Maybe lord Jesus shouldn’t have flooded a camp full of children?
Of course, there was at least one person who did not consider themselves an unbeliever and took the opportunity to let everyone know that those who died were punished not for their unbelief, but for their wrong belief: “God spoke when he washed the kids away. There are consequences for believing in false prophets.”
Much like facemasks, balaclavas, and keffiyehs, the anonymity of the internet gives some the courage to do and say things that they might otherwise avoid were their identities impossible to hide. There is no way of knowing precisely who was behind these posts.
That said, one would think that an atheist, who has attained a level of self-awareness and intellectual prowess that dwarfs those of superstitious believers in the Sky Fairy, would take the opportunity to offer a more nuanced response as an alternative to what they saw as empty sentiment, thereby displaying their superiority. They could have said something along the lines of “This is a poignant reminder that life is all too brief, so let us live every day as if it were our last.” Or something like that.
To be completely fair, there are plenty of atheists out there who peacefully coexist with those who hold to the existence of a higher power and are content to live and let live. But what about those who are not happy to go their merry way? I am familiar with the argument that religious people have been responsible for many atrocities throughout history. Still, those who make that argument are quick to gloss over the crimes and the body counts of atheists such as Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, and the dictators who ostensibly embraced some faith during their rise, only to replace it with their own doctrines as soon as possible.
It is perfectly normal to question the Almighty in the midst of or in the wake of a tragedy. To some degree, it is even healthy, since faith is often a thing to be wrestled with. And it is often more annoying than comforting to hear someone say, “God is in control,” or “It was His will, we just don’t understand it.” Sometimes, phrases like that are not only trite but also painful or even offensive.
But I don’t think the commenters above are acting out of existential angst or a spiritual crisis. Well, maybe, but they have no idea of why. They don’t know what is driving them.
In Matthew 19, we read:
And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Many modern Christians have erroneously interpreted this passage to mean that the rich people will not go to Heaven. Far from it. Notice the young man’s question: “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” He is not interested in how he can build the kingdom, how he can serve “the least of these,” or anything other than how to get eternal life for himself. It isn’t his money or his possessions keeping him out of heaven; it is his desire to put himself first.
So it is with those who posted those responses in the comment section. They have been indoctrinated into a life of anger, and with it, a sense of great self-importance. There are wrongs to be righted, and in their minds, they are not just moral arbiters but also avengers, rebels, and heroes. Anger and narcissism make for a perilous combination, and in that sense of self-importance, it is easy to burn the world down under the misapprehension that you are saving it by doing so. They experience a sense of satisfaction and a degree of self-actualization by creating chaos and adding to the misery of others. And there are those out there who say hurtful things for the twisted joy of doing so.
Faith is hard, and as a mentor once said to me, it is often like hiking with blisters. There are things we cannot understand, but if our faith is mature, we know that although we may not comprehend why tragedies great and small happen, we realize that we are to push through them, grow because of them, and allow them to spur us forward to build the kingdom. While faith can be frustrating and seem futile, one of its chief components is a desire to continue searching for answers, rather than abandoning the quest and giving in to nature, which is red in tooth and claw. Adversity can tell us much about ourselves.
The commenters above have been marinating in their rage for so long that they cannot comprehend anything else, and would rather, like Ahab astride Moby Dick, cry with grim humor, “Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering whale; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee!”
And lest we deceive ourselves that such a destructive attitude is endemic only to the Left, it lurks outside our own doors, too. The comments sections can serve as a warning to us all.
