Ideas in Progress

There is news in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (hattip: Instapundit) that Naveed Haq, who recently murdered one Jewish woman and attempted to murder more during a shooting spree at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, may have been a Christian. As a Christian, I want to announce publicly my condemnation of Naveed Haq's crime. Even if he was a Christian instead of a Muslim, as was first reported, that does not change the fact that his murderous attack was a terrible crime. I hope that the state of Washington is vigorous and effective in its pursuit of justice for the defenseless victims at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Instead of capturing and trying the murderer, however, I think it would have been better if one or more of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle patrons had been armed and able to stop this crime sooner. In addition to saving lives, perhaps they could also have saved Washington taxpayers the cost of a trial.

I do not think that Naveed Haq's act was typical Christian behavior. As followers of Christ I think we should follow his example. I cannot imagine how someone would look at a "What Would Jesus Do?" bumper sticker and decide that the answer is "Walk into a Jewish community center and murder people." We should try to help people of other faiths understand Christ's love for them, but we should not attack them if they don't. We should love our neighbors even when we disagree with them about how best to worship God. Christians should work together with Jews to make our communities better. I hope that other Christians will join me in condemning the terrible attack against the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and in praying for the family of the murder victim Pam Waechter, as well as for the speedy recovery of the other victims: Cheryl Stumbo, Dayna Klein, Carol Goldman, Layla Bush and Christina Rexroad. I hope that Jews will not think that Naveed Haq's horrible and inexcusable actions are representative of Christians or Christianity. If there are any Christian ministers who are preaching the murder of our Jewish neighbors, I hope that they either stop and repent, or else that they are driven out of positions of power within their churches. Lastly, if something like this ever happens again I hope that the murderous nutjob is stopped by police or armed citizens before he has a chance to hurt anybody else.