Averting Tragedy

October 3, 2017

Every mass shooting in recent history has been followed, usually within hours, by press and commentary calling for more gun control on the one side, and by rebuttal on the other side arguing that criminals don’t obey laws, and that as the NRA says, “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Conflicting statistics get bandied about and politicians posture while real people are still grieving. We struggle to understand why someone would commit such a horrific act, psychologizing and jostling for position in the debate. People inevitably talk about race and religion, but I’ve never heard anyone in a public position of influence address a common thread that almost always winds its way through the narratives. 

The Las Vegas shooter was by all initial indications, older than the usual perpetrator; he was white and apparently rich. His age and economic status contradict the usual profiles, but in one major way, he was just like all the others. He was raised in a fatherless home. He didn’t even have a poor male role model; he had none at all, and apparently in his adult life, moved from place to place, never building real and lasting friendships. 

Our prisons are filled with men whose fathers were absent or abusive. A fatherless child is the one almost foolproof predictor of poverty, social maladjustment, violence and crime that we have, and yet it is the one social issue we as a society are failing to address. In our desire not to stigmatize a child born to an unwed mother, we have inadvertently fostered an entire cultural subset of fatherless children who are for the most part doomed to poverty, dependency, and often crime. Add our welfare state that essentially makes male presence superfluous, and we have the perfect breeding place for the society we have created. 

The Christian Church and Jewish Synagogue are unique institutions that in addition to their religious training, elevate the role of men in the family. To be sure, one doesn’t have to be Christian or Jewish to have healthy family life, but it is in these traditions that our American society has been rooted, to the benefit of all. But even in the Church, the secular worldview is under attack as male leadership in has been seen as oppressive and demeaning to women. An unintended consequence has often been further erosion of the presence of strong fathers in the home. While I do not believe for a moment that this is intentional, even a cursory glance around the typical Christian congregation on any given Sunday morning will bear our my contention that we have emasculated Christian culture to the point where most men see the Church as an institution for women and children. 

I do not usually bring these matters up in public conversation, but believe it is high time that we addressed this issue in a meaningful way. I am grateful for those congregations that have taken seriously the call to our men to stand for righteousness and faithfulness in their homes, and to call them to commitment to their wives and children for the sake not only of the Gospel, but of our very culture. I’ve been privileged to be pastor of such a congregation, and am grateful that our present pastor is taking this kind of leadership even more seriously than I did. I am hopeful that others will do the same, and perhaps even unknowingly intervene and prevent what could be the next national tragedy.