An Unexpected Line in the Sand

There has been talk for millennia about the wheat and the tares and the eventual separation of the two that Jesus foretold. I don’t know if that separation is happening in the ultimate sense right now, but something is happening and it is significantly unsettling. I admit, I thought any major, society-wide division would be on more nuanced grounds. The brashness of the current situation surprises me.

There seems to be a division arising between those who endorse murder and those who do not. I’m not talking about taking someone’s life in self-defense. I’m talking about murder in cold blood.

Perhaps this has been brewing for years, but since the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and now the murder of Charlie Kirk, murder seems to be gaining ground.

Rule by Murder?

It appears that a disturbingly high number of Americans now view killing as an acceptable avenue for settling political differences. Glenn Beck noted recently that 55% of “left of center” Americans say it is “somewhat justified” to murder a sitting president.

How can this be? Democracy has not traditionally been a rule by murder project. It is supposed to be just what Charlie Kirk presumed it to be: A place where people can vigorously debate problems and vote on how best to solve them—without killing each other.

The Founding Fathers of America must be looking earthward with furrowed brows witnessing what is becoming of the land of the free and the home of the brave. Murder is not brave; it is cowardly. It is an admission that you cannot win on your own merits and must therefore muzzle someone else with the permanence of death in order to win.

This does not constitute winning. This is simply suspending the contest in the middle and running away to hide. At present, it is still illegal to kill someone in cold blood, so the murderer must always try to escape or conceal himself. A true victor steps into the limelight and graciously accepts victory and general applause. A charlatan who attempts to win by eliminating the other participants must hide in shame and exile. (For a tamer but infamously hideous example of this, recall the Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding figure skating scandal preceding the 1994 Olympics. Using a hit man to knock off your competition used to be the pinnacle of odium and disgrace.)

But now that cheering for the death of a perceived enemy and in some cases literally dancing on the grave of the murdered is now going mainstream, I wonder how long it will be until the murderer himself is lauded. Some cultures already celebrate those who seek to take out political or religious opponents on behalf of a group identity at large. This dark practice seems to be spreading.

Culture of Death

The term “culture of death” has been swirling through society for some time now, largely in reference to abortion, refusing to bear and raise children, euthanasia, war, etc. The culture of death seems to be widening its reach like a cancer seizing upon the core organs of society.

During a national prayer breakfast in Washington in 1994, Mother Teresa famously got to what may be the heart of the matter. She said, “If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?” She continued, “By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems … So, abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love one another, but to use any violence to get what they want.”

If we accept and even celebrate the killing of the smallest and most helpless among us, how much of a stretch is it to expand the scope of acceptable killing to innocent and open-hearted people like Charlie Kirk?

So, are we approaching an epic “wheat and tares” moment? If the dividing line is whether or not someone endorses murder, the bar has been set exceedingly low. Any civilized person should be able to pass this test. And yet, here we are.

Celebrating murder rather than grieving for the dead is a late-term symptom of a society in the throes of catastrophic collapse into chaos. If there is a great division happening in society right now, I want to be found on the side opposite to the culture of death. I want to be found cheering free discussion, ferociously forging common ground, and embracing LIFE at every step, in every possible way.

This is the only sane way forward.

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

The post An Unexpected Line in the Sand appeared first on The Daily Signal.