My thoughts and prayers are with the family of murdered aid worker David Haines at the moment. When the reporters have moved on to the next story David’s family will be left to rebuild their lives. It is a disgusting and terrible thing that goes against everything that Christians (and Muslims, etc) believe in.
One of the things that has also upset me is how so many atheists have used this incident as another reason to bash religion. Not only is it crass and insensitive to use such an event to further one’s own ends, it is also a remarkably ignorant thing to do.
If there is no God and hence no meaning to life and no way of determining values (this is what atheists believe) then we have no right to be appalled at what anyone does to another person. According to the atheist world view we are nothing more than animals in a universe that has no purpose. In such a world view we have no right to be upset or appalled at anything.
However, I for one believe that this murder was an appalling act and that the murderers should be brought to justice. I believe this because I believe in God who brings meaning and value to life and who enables us to have objective values, the kind of objective value that gives me the right to be upset by what has happened. Without religion we have no reason to be upset.
Of course, I deplore those power mongers who use any philosophy or religion for their personal gain. Those who use violence on others to aid the propagation of any philosophy are wrong – but then I can say that because I believe in God.
When will atheists finally understand that they don’t have any right to be upset about anything and certainly no right to pass moral judgements, and that they should not use such a terrible tragedy to push their meaningless agenda.