Fort Hood

Oh, good grief. I don't want to be a jerk, but can we please call this what it was? An evil person, misusing Islam, brutally murdered 13 people. There. I said it. The "I" word. How many talking heads are going to say that this was not about Islam? I mean, okay, it wasn't; not only. But had he been a graduate of Oral Roberts University, a teabagger and a member of some cuckoo Christian fundamentalist church, we all would have agreed that his psycho reading of religion was THE REASON for his attack. Why can't we just say the same for our Muslim attacker in this case?

I know. Not the post you expected from fat-headed liberal me. But, really. It does Islam no honor to be danced around in this manner. It does Muslims no honor to be patronized in this manner. This monster of a man used his religion as an excuse to kill people. It happens all the time. (Recall that Yitzhak Rabin himself was killed by a nutjob fundamentalist Jew). So why are we so skittish about saying so when it involves Islam? To my mind, just saying so doesn't dishonor decent Muslims at all. In fact, to pretend that somehow religion was not involved in this attack is the real dishonor, because it implies that Muslims are not full members of American society and somehow cannot be treated like everyone else.

So let's say it together: Nutjob people of all religions do terrible, terrible things to their fellow creatures created by God. Now let's work within and among our religions to root them out, shun them and shame them. Let us not let our religion be defined by the extreme, intolerant, evil, murderous thugs who inhabit our communities. Let's stand up, call them out, and--as President Obama so deftly said in his remarks at Fort Hood yesterday--ensure that they face justice:

"It may be hard to comprehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do know - no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice - in this world, and the next."