Tuesday, July 29, 2003
God Told Them
Deanna Laney beat to death her 2 sons telling the police that god told her to do it. Many people wonder how this could happen in a family of faith. We like to think of religion as mostly benign and certainly not one that could espouse violence to anyone let alone your own family. We, of course, realize that this woman is certainly unbalanced and god couldn't possibly have told her to kill her own sons. But something similar happened to the very model of Christian faith, Abraham.
Genesis 22:2
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Abraham is often held up as the pillar of faith for Christians. Of course Abraham didn't kill his son as god apparently stayed his hand. To present this as an example though to me implies that true faith requires an irrational element if not a bit of lunacy really. So how much really seperates Deanna Laney and Abraham. In a similar case as mentioned in the article , Andrea Yates drowned her five children two years ago. Of course we know she's nuts because she said the devil told her to do it.
(with special thanks to Crispin Sartwell)
Deanna Laney beat to death her 2 sons telling the police that god told her to do it. Many people wonder how this could happen in a family of faith. We like to think of religion as mostly benign and certainly not one that could espouse violence to anyone let alone your own family. We, of course, realize that this woman is certainly unbalanced and god couldn't possibly have told her to kill her own sons. But something similar happened to the very model of Christian faith, Abraham.
Genesis 22:2
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Abraham is often held up as the pillar of faith for Christians. Of course Abraham didn't kill his son as god apparently stayed his hand. To present this as an example though to me implies that true faith requires an irrational element if not a bit of lunacy really. So how much really seperates Deanna Laney and Abraham. In a similar case as mentioned in the article , Andrea Yates drowned her five children two years ago. Of course we know she's nuts because she said the devil told her to do it.
(with special thanks to Crispin Sartwell)
