Terrorists and Television

While wars and calamity have been part of the human equation since Cain slew Abel, I can't help but believe the global reach of television, internet and print media have contributed to the feelings of 'righteous martyrdom' that the terrorist feel when they kill innocent people.

That they know they will be honored and remembered forever as well as being villified by the families of the people who were killed matters not at all in the balance of their 15 minutes of fame.

Everyone gets to choose their path to heaven, Nirvana, paradise or whatever status they believe they will be eligible to receive. But they don't get the right to murder innocent people to push their agenda forward.

There is NEVER an acceptable way to force someone else to capitulate to your will under the banner of a religion.

No matter the name branded upon the flag and the fervent belief that they are in the right, when people are being killed to forward an ideology of religion, there is a problem.

I am thankful that in the Articles of Faith held dear to me and members of my chosen faith teach that we are to leave open the choice of worship for everyone else and to expect that they will respect my choice to do the same.

Articles of Faith #11 states:

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

If only the respect for choice were extended across the globe, how much violence and suffering could be eased?

But if the media refused to cover ad nauseum the acts of violence that occur, would they decrease because they weren't getting their 'fix'?

I don't know the answer to that, but I have to wonder if there isn't some direct line from the act to the publicity to the duplication.

I wish I could say the world would know peace sometime soon. But I fear that we are in for more of the same until God Himself says that it's been enough and the bloodshed must end.

Maybe that's why I read my news online. I don't want to see the gory videos and I can selectively cherry pick what I want to read.

Maybe that is the antidote. I am not oblivious, but I am not willing to subject myself to nightmarish images that will haunt me for days.

So I'll take a daily dose of choice and refusal.

God bless us, if it is right that He should.