We Worship at the Altar of Death

People are shocked that the New York state legislation erupted into a standing ovation when they passed a law protecting the right to murder babies right up to the moment of birth. People’s reactionary defense tends to concentrate on a woman’s right to do what she will with her body, ignoring the rights of the children they are opting to murder. (If you are offended by that term, consider what happens to a person who murders a pregnant woman. They are charged for two murders.)

People are numb to the fact that nearly every day in our country (every 25.76 hours on average) a mass shooting occurs. People’s reactionary defense in this case is to talk about their right to kill people if those people have an evil intent. The problem there is, what constitutes evil intent? A man last year fired a gun multiple times at a kid who rang his doorbell to ask for directions to school!

The fact is, as a culture if not individually, we worship violence.

Just look at our top choices for entertainment and escapism. In 2014, for example, two movies were successful enough to generate sequels and even a TV spin off.

I heard at the time that “John Wick” was a waste of time. A friend of mine said that it was merely two hours of people being shot in the head. But, when it generated two more films and counting and a spin-off TV show, I wondered if he had missed something. Nope. The first John Wick film has the barest of plots: guy has his car stolen and dog killed, so he kills dozens of men in revenge. It is just enough of an excuse to generate the two hours of people being shot in the head. The second film is not much more complicated, but it has many more people being shot in the head.

The other film that came out in 2014 was “The Equalizer.” It tried harder to make the hero/killer conflicted and a reluctant killer, but it is clearly his calling and gifting. It is possible that more story and character exposition makes it an even more problematic film. Because it is merely an exercise in creating a justifiable massacre.

In our culture of violence, it is hard to distinguish between righteous men and monsters… because we love and worship monsters.