On Saturday morning, a man entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and shot and killed 11 innocent people. The single suspect reportedly targeted the victims solely because they were Jewish.<\/p>\n
A former FBI agent who leads\u00a0Pittsburgh\u2019s\u00a0department of public safety described the crime scene as \u201chorrific.\u201d Said Wendell Hissrich, \u201cIt\u2019s one of the worst that I\u2019ve seen, and I\u2019ve been on some plane crashes. It\u2019s \u2014 it\u2019s very bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. District Attorney involved has since stated that he is working toward soliciting approval to pursue the death penalty\u00a0in this case.<\/p>\n
(Deep breath\u2026)<\/i><\/p>\n
This is hard, friends\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As is often the case, I find myself sitting with silence\u2026 shocked\u2026 with more questions than answers, and somehow, simultaneously, feeling both abhorred and appalled\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n How could someone do such a thing?<\/i><\/p>\n I ask more questions\u2026<\/p>\n First, in regard to the victims\u2019 families\u2026 so hard to grasp\u2026 I cannot imagine the gut-wrenching grief…<\/p>\n How will the families\u2019 faith change in response?<\/i><\/p>\n Will it prompt them to rely on God even more?<\/i><\/p>\n How do you forgive for such a heinous act?<\/i><\/p>\n Is forgiveness healthy?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n What does it change within us?<\/i><\/p>\n \u2026<\/p>\n Then, in regard to the shooter\u2026 what an awful thing to do\u2026<\/p>\n What\u2019s the appropriate consequence?\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Is the death penalty ever ok?<\/i><\/p>\n Is it ok to take a life because someone else took a life?<\/i><\/p>\n Does the horror of the crime scene matter?<\/i><\/p>\n Do we treat consequence differently because of the who\u2019s involved and why they did it?<\/i><\/p>\n \u2026<\/p>\n And lastly, questions perhaps to all of us, living amidst a society that struggles to love all <\/i>people well\u2026<\/p>\n Why do some hate the religious faithful?<\/i><\/p>\n Why do some hate others simply because they\u2019re different?<\/i><\/p>\n How do we contribute to the hate?<\/i><\/p>\n Do we recognize when we fuel hatred?<\/i><\/p>\n And do we ever attempt to dress up our own anger, rage, or hatred as something more virtuous than it really is?<\/i><\/p>\n \u2026<\/p>\n I wish this was an easy post today; it is not. I keep coming back to the historic psalmist who wrote \u201csuch knowledge is too wonderful for me\u201d \u2014 with \u201cwonderful\u201d equating to \u201cincomprehensible\u201d\u2026 meaning simply unable to be understood.<\/p>\n Hate is incomprehensible; it\u2019s awful. Sadly, there seem to exist pockets of hate all over the place. May it never be celebrated. May we never fuel it. May we each have more respect for what others believe.<\/p>\n Sadly this day\u2026<\/p>\n AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On Saturday morning, a man entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and shot and killed 11 innocent people. The single suspect reportedly targeted the victims solely because they were Jewish. A former FBI agent who leads\u00a0Pittsburgh\u2019s\u00a0department of public safety described the crime scene as \u201chorrific.\u201d Said Wendell Hissrich, \u201cIt\u2019s one of the … <\/p>\n