Written by Don Byrd
I suppose it’s too much to ask that we make it through 24 hours of national grieving over the Boston Marathon bombing before Pat Robertson couldn’t resist suggesting religion was behind the attack.
“[T]o think that somebody would be so vicious, so evil as to want to kill little children, and maim families who were there rejoicing in a sporting contest on a beautiful day in Boston, it just makes you sick at your stomach. Don’t talk to me about religion of peace, no way.”
(Emphasis added). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know who he is targeting with that jab. Robertson has previously claimed that referring to Islam as a “religion of peace is nonsense.”
Others including the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer have been eager to place the blame on Muslim jihadists.
Can we just stop? And remember that we have no idea the motivation, nationality, or religion of the culprit or culprits. And even when we do, it will not be their religion that is responsible. Jumping to conclusions regarding a suspect is bad enough without impugning an entire faith in the process. Comments like Robertson’s and Fischer’s tell us more about their own intolerance than about that of any religion.
