January 13th: Drawing Conclusions

Sometimes, in our attempt to comprehend a tragedy that is utterly inconceivable to most rational, mentally healthy humans, we work ourselves into corners. The world is struggling to understand why 12 members of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were murdered execution style by ISIS sympathizers in France. Along the way, the public can come up with some sad and often frightening comments.

The knee-jerk reaction to a horrible hate-crime like the one that hit Paris last week is a mixture of sadness and confusion. That confusion manifested itself on Wednesday with select few analyzing the reason that the attackers gave for their actions. In this case, the killers were looking for those involved in political cartoons that portrayed the prophet Muhammad, which were offensive and sacrilegious to many Muslims. That led a select few to attempt the argument “It’s absolutely unacceptable that these people were murdered, but what they were drawing was very offensive and wrong.” Or “I don’t support violence at all, but if you insult an entire religion, you are running the risk of backlash.”

To hear these things were, quite possibly, the most unpatriotic thing I’ve ever heard from Americans. Yes, the drawings had the ability to be offensive. Yes, the magazine was known for being, at the very least, insensitive and, at the very most, Islamophobic. But that should mean nothing now. In these moments, these people were killed for their drawings. These people were killed because extremists have been taught their entire lives to kill the traitors. These people were killed because they represented an “other” to a group that refuses to acknowledge their right to exist. There are days to argue about when free speech borders on hate speech. That day was not last week, or at the very least did not belong in the same breath with men and women who were executed for exercising their rights, whether politically correctly or otherwise. Using a qualifier when expressing condolence is simply unacceptable.

The day after the mass murder, the attackers stole the world’s attention again, this time holding hostages in two locations, one of them a Kosher grocery store. The inherently Jewish nature of this location added a level of antisemitism, only further causing strife, especially in my especially Jewish social media circle. Within hours, the proud declaration “Je Suis Charlie,” French for “I am Charlie” in support of Charlie Hebdo, became “Je Suis Juif,” or, “I am Jewish.” The hopes of bringing solidarity to the Jews of France injected just another element of religious fervor to an already complex situation involving Islamic extremism and the complexity of Islamophobia.

It was right about then that I saw the following post:

“Dear Atheists,

Once again, just gotta say, you’re doing a great job of not committing any acts of terrorism. Keep it up!

Love,

God”

Sure, the post is clever. But what really gets me upset is that religion is becoming a bad thing. Because of the actions of these select few, all of a sudden it is wrong to be religious. Religion is now synonymous with extremism, conflict, terror, and hate. Which is the exact antithesis of what religion is supposed to be.

The attacks on Charlie Hebdo attempt to rock the very foundations upon which we, as Americans, have grown comfortable. They attacked our freedom to express ourselves. They attacked our sense of security in public spaces. Most importantly, they have hijacked our ability to use faith as a meaningful part of our lives, for fear that relating to a religious identity will instead cast us as zealots or extremists.

I refuse to give them that power. We cannot let religion become a symbol for hate. Faith could be the one thing that saves us from this kind of destruction. Sometimes the greatest forms of medicine, when taken incorrectly, can make us terribly sick. We must not abandon our values, simply because others choose to use it for their own battle cry.

God didn’t get us into this mess. People did. But people will also be the ones to save us. Maybe then we’ll feel a little closer to God.