OPINION

Mental health issues, extremism and assault weapons contribute to mass shootings, but an increasingly godless culture is the deeper underlying cause.

Thomas A. Tarrants | Opinion contributor

The mass shootings last month in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, remind me of an era I would rather forget. The 1960s were a time of virulent and violent racism, when homegrown terrorists committed acts of cold-blooded barbarism out of the misguided belief that they were rescuing America from racial, ethnic and social trends that were destroying the country.

I was one of them.

Racist populism in the South was my undoing. I was a patriotic American and a nominal church-goer, who as a teenager was seduced by the racist, anti-Semitic, far-right ideology of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. I became filled with anger and hate and took up arms to fight against what I mistakenly thought were the enemies of America, Christianity and the white race. The consequences were disastrous, and I deeply regret having done so. Tragically, the same kind of seduction is going on again today.

A sign of turning away from God

Since the time of my capture, imprisonment, conversion to Christ, and ultimate release, I've had a long time to think about the conditions that breed this kind of violence — the kind that led me to try to bomb a Jewish leader's home and, unrepentant, attempt a prison escape. Those conditions appear to be with us again.

How I thought about mass shootings: I grew up a white nationalist. We never blamed ourselves for mass shootings like El Paso.

Why do these shootings continue to plague our country? A number of factors have been cited by people across the political spectrum, including mental health issues, racist/anti-Semitic/extremist ideology, easily available assault weapons, social media run amok, and a toxic political climate.

Sandy Huffaker, Getty Images

Most Christians I know would see at least some of these as important contributing factors, but would go on to say that mass shootings are ultimately symptoms of a deeper underlying cause. That cause is the fallenness of human nature and the consequences of living in a culture where more and more people are turning away from God, thereby eroding the spiritual and moral foundations of society.

I suspect even secular people would find it hard to dispute that if there is no transcendent creator to whom people are accountable in a future life, and if human beings are simply the product of time and chance, without inherent value or purpose, then meaning and morality are a fiction, and there is little internal restraint for those who seek fame and vengeance through a murderous rampage.

Moral nihilism replaced biblical values

Obviously, this does not mean that every secular person is going to become a violent extremist; far from it. But the combination of a godless worldview with either mental issues and/or extremist ideology and readily available assault weapons certainly goes a long way in explaining why America is experiencing extremist shootings.

The Bible’s worldview and moral principles have long influenced American culture, providing a kind of stabilizing consensus about spiritual reality, truth, and right and wrong. (This has been true in spite of the fact that a large percentage of professing Christians were Christian in name only, and even those who were genuine believers did not always live as God required — supporting slavery is just one example.)

Relevant in a secular world: Jesus doesn't need Christianity. His example is powerful without any religion at all.

But that consensus began to unravel in the 1960’s, as other worldviews started gaining traction and have now come into full bloom. As a nation, we have sown the wind and we are reaping the whirlwind. Growing moral nihilism is one result.

In America today, the consequences of turning from God are becoming increasingly obvious. Social critic Os Guinness says we are living in a “cut flower" society. Like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, we have been severed from the source of our spiritual and moral life and the many social and cultural fruits it produces.

Support the FBI, restrict weapons, pray

We are living on the legacy of the past, which is rapidly fading, and with it the vitality and stability we once enjoyed. In its place a new barbarism is emerging as the dark impulses of the human heart find no restraint to their expression. This has a long history — just read the Old Testament.

Where are we headed? Over the past 10 years, nearly three-quarters of the deaths in domestic terrorism incidents were perpetrated by the far right, and there’s good reason to think this will continue. But this group does not have a monopoly on terrorism. And at some point, those on the far left may well increase the tempo of their terrorism, as they did in the 1970s. The increasing political polarization in America suggests that we are on a collision course with even more serious internal conflict unless something changes.

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What can the ordinary person do? A good start would be to recognize, reject and expose the ideologies on the right and left that exploit prejudices and stimulate anger and hate. Examine ourselves to see if our own fears and biases, however unconscious, have blinded us to the idolatry and power of these ideologies. Seek to build bridges of friendship across the racial, ethnic, and political barriers that divide us. Support the work of the FBI and local law enforcement in their efforts to protect us. Support the restriction of assault weapons to where they rightly belong: in the hands of the military and law enforcement. And most importantly, pray for spiritual, moral and cultural renewal in America.

Thomas A. Tarrants is president emeritus of the C.S. Lewis Institute. His book, Consumed by Hate, Redeemed by Love: How a Violent Klansman Became a Champion of Racial Reconciliation, was published last month.

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