Just when I believe that I’m beyond outrage a story like this hits the news.

What kind of animal would attempt to assassinate this girl?

The Taliban has claimed credit, as if credit is a word that can be applied to such an insane and cowardly act as the murder of a child in the name of some supposed deity or a half baked system of religious law.

Taliban, al Qaeda, KKK, Holy Rollers of the Purple Sage, it doesn’t matter who. They’re all delusional authoritarian cowards, ever poised and ready to commit the unspeakable in the service of their imagined gods.

I guess every religion has its extreme nut cases. In the last several days I’ve read several stories about deranged religious zealots right here at home:

Charlie Fuqua, an Arkansas republican who advocates (in his book “God’s Law”) the death penalty for rebellious children. This meat head also wants to deport all Muslims from the United States. He claims that liberals and Muslims are the “anti christ.”

Jon Hubbard another Arkansas legislator asserts that slavery was a “blessing” for blacks as it was a free ticket out of Africa and into a new life in the land of opportunity.

Yet another Arkansan, (Maybe they should check the water?) Loy Mauch had this to say about slavery and the civil war:

“Nowhere in the Holy Bible have I found a word of condemnation for the operation of slavery, Old or New Testament. If slavery was so bad, why didn’t Jesus, Paul or the prophets say something?” “This country already lionizes Wehrmacht leaders. They go by the names of Lincoln, Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Custer, etc. These Marxists not only destroyed the Constitution they were sworn to uphold, but apostatized the word of God. Either these depraved infidels or the Constitution and Scriptures are in error. I’m more persuaded by the word of God.”

It’s been said that if you talk to god you’re religious, but if god talks to you you’re hallucinating. We have far too many people hallucinating in public and using their hallucinatory delusions as a basis for public policy.

We also have far too many people casting votes for, or otherwise meekly following these spiritual witch doctors and con artists.

In Texas the state board of education is instituting a program which requires students to carry electronic IDs so that school authorities know where they are if they are absent from school. Their excuse is to achieve better attendance thereby increasing revenue. Fuqua might prefer to drag hooky players out to the playground for summary execution. That’ll stop ’em.

Isn’t it bad enough that we lay waste to our children’s lives with a dozen or more years of indoctrination and outright brainwashing to ensure that they believe our chosen myths, religious and historical? Must we now kill them when they resist our attempts at mind control, when they rebel against our false, unlicensed authority, when they have dreams of their own?

The Taliban, radical Islamists, say yes, kill them, as do many radical Christians in so called positions of responsibility in this country. They fear what they see as Sharia so much that they want to institute the “Christian” version of it.

Meanwhile an innocent young girl lies at the edge of death in a Pakistani hospital, the momentary focus of much of the world’s attention. I weep for her and for her family. I hope she can recover and move through her life among us with that charming smile, bright eyed intelligence and independent spirit.

The talking heads of cable news are urging me to pray for her. I can’t, because I’m afraid that’s what got us into this mess in the first place.

Related stories:

Malala Yousafzai’s Courage

Malala Yousafzai in critical condition in CMH

Pakistani girl shot by Taliban defied threats for years | Reuters

Arkansas Republicans Distance Themselves From Slavery, Muslim, Child Death Penalty Comments