Driven to Madness by Christian Taliban
Earthside Comments: This commentary is about lamenting intolerance and non-acceptance and advocating for more patience and understanding.
We're talking about the murder spree that occurred this past Sunday here in Earthside's home state, Colorado.
Sadly, up till now, the emphasis from the news media, politicians and radical Christian clerics has been on the other shooter -- the guard that shot Murray. We're not so sure about this woman's 'hero' status, so quickly conferred upon her by the NRA-types, the Second Amendment Foundation and other 'get tough' conservatives. (The last hour of a local radio program conducted an interview with a former police officer who was hired to investigate the Colorado Springs church after the Ted Haggard scandal. Listen here. His questions could lead one to wonder if New Life Church leaders suspected Murray was coming and were, in effect, laying in ambush for him.)
Why did Matthew Murray go crazy and kill four people and wound others at churches in Colorado Springs and Arvada, Colorado?
For each of these kinds of horrendous crimes (Columbine, Virginia Tech, the Omaha mall, etc.) circumstances for the perpetrator are different; there does not seem to be an obvious, consistent explanation for what sends these killers over the edge. But occasionally the reason appears obvious -- we believe this is the case for Matthew Murray.
As more is reported, we may get enough information to infer that Matthew's parents drove him into madness. This individual's parents home schooled him, isolated him and indoctrinated him with an extreme, fundamentalist Christian ideology and lifestyle.
One of the great flaws of fundamentalist religion, be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, etc., is the notion that their laws, rules, doctrine, theology is "non-optional", that it is absolute for everyone. It appears that Matthew Murray was raised inside a kind of Talibanic totalitarianism of Bill Gothard-style Christianity. You can read plenty about this extremist form of Christianity below.
But what if this poor kid was unique (as, of course, are all people), what if he was a 'square peg'? He was pounded -- by his home schooling, fundamentalist parents -- into a round hole. Any observer of human nature knows that under this kind of regimen, something eventually is going to break. In other words, this child, because of nature or nurturing influences that we do not necessarily understand, may have been completely healthy and normal, yet his own particular uniqueness was brutally suppressed by a religious radicalism that demand complete conformity. Something in this human being was going to splinter ... or explode.
The link below to some of Murray's internet blog postings, even if containing exaggeration, demonstrate how psychologically devastating the Bill Gothard Christian curriculum was to this young man.
It has been reported that Matthew Murray became involved with an occult group in Denver, then was baptized a Mormon, and sent away for Rosicrucian pamphlets ... adolescent-type searching and rebellion that should be seen as just that. Of course, it is this (and the rock and roll he listened to) that the radical clerics are latching onto to as the sole devilish cause of everything that subsequently occurred. If only his anguished had been limited to fairly innocuous offbeat pursuits.
Our plea for tolerance is to those who say that 'god' orders the realm of human existence to be lived in black and white, absolutes, zero tolerance, good and evil -- when it is self-evident that there are as many different views of reality as there are people on this earth. Especially children, while needing parental guidance, also need support and acceptance for characteristics that make them unique, special persons.
Whether in Afghanistan, Arvada or Colorado Springs, fanatical, unthinking religion always begets violence and destruction. It is possible that inside the Murray household radical Christianity eventually fostered misery and death.
Acceptance of people for who they are, for the good that is inside them, even if it is different that what we might prefer breeds love and understanding. This is the lesson we need to learn from the events of Sunday, December 9, 2007 in Colorado.
Link: The Shooter's Lessons Strict, Rule-Driven | Denver Post
The ultra-religious home-school curriculum that Matthew Murray ranted about in Web postings before he opened fire at two Christian centers forbids dating, rock music and "wrong clothes." It advises young men and women to live at home until their parents release them and counsels parents to choose marriage partners for their offspring.
That kind of strict, rule-driven home-schooling is not the norm and, if used without considering students' individual needs, is not recommended by many educators, according to Kevin Swanson, executive director of the 15,000-family-strong Christian Home Educators of Colorado.
"I know just a few folks who use this curriculum," Swanson said. "It is more rule heavy."
Murray, in messages he postedunder the user name nghtmrchld26, said he and another poster "were raised on home school and we both went through some insane stuff growing up in The Nightmare that outsiders just do not understand."
The curriculum Murray decried in his postings was developed by evangelist Bill Gothard as part of The Institute in Basic Life Principles. The Bible-based curriculum is contained in "Wisdom Booklets" — 3,000 pages of instruction that "views academic subjects through the grid of Scripture," according to the institute's website.
Murray mentions Gothard by name in a later post. "Me, I remember the beatings and the fighting and yelling and insane rules and all the Bill Gothard (expletive) and then trancing out . (expletive) . I'm still tranced out." ...
... Gothard's teachings have been criticized by other conservative Christians who allege he has deviated from true Bible teaching and that his stand against rock music — even Christian rock — suspicion of modern medicine, belief in spiritual roots of disease, and opposition to women working outside the home and "evil" toys are wrong. Gothard warned followers in a 1986 letter that Cabbage Patch dolls can cause "strange, destructive behavior."
Swanson does not blame Gothard's teachings for Murray's actions and pointed out that Murray seemed in his writings to be following the example of Columbine shooters Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who were educated in public schools. But he said there are home-schooling lessons that can be taken from the Murray shootings.
"If we see some anger issues that can't be dealt with though parental intervention," he said, "we must learn to seek help."
Link: Matthew Murray's Online Posts From IndependentSpirits.net | Colorado Springs Independent
Link: Institute Defends Teachings in Wake of Posts by Murray | Rocky Mountain News
Matthew Murray's rambling diatribes in online postings included at least two derogatory references to a home-school curriculum by a Christian institute.
But Bill Gothard, president of the Illinois-based Institute in Basic Life Principles, said Murray's killing spree was not a bad reaction to the curriculum.
Gothard said Wednesday that Murray, 24, and his family used the Institute materials for several years as part of a home-school program but stopped in 2003. ...
... In one posting attributed to Murray, he wrote, "Me, I remember the beatings and the fighting and yelling and insane rules and all the Bill Gothard bull---- and then trancing out . . . I remember how it was like every day was Mission Impossible trying to keep the rules or not get caught and just . . . survive."
News reports and various Web sites also have leveled criticism at Gothard's methods with allegations of corporal punishment and solitary confinement at a training center, and adherence to a divine order that places men over women.
Institute in Basic Life Principles
Institute in Basic Life Principles | Wikipedia
Link: Benevolent Ministry or Bondage Making? | G. Richard Fisher/Personal Freedom Outreach
Link: Bill Gothard's Institute in Basic Life Principles | Ron Henzel/Midwest Christian Outreach
Gothard’s organization was set up from the start to promote him as an expert on virtually every aspect of the Christian life. He founded it as a seminar ministry under the name “Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts” (IBYC), and eventually expanded it to include literature distribution, home schooling, an “emergency resource team,” a “log cabin program,” an orphan program, a prison outreach, a “medical training institute,” an alleged law school, a “character curriculum” for public schools, a form of post-secondary education through his Advanced Training Institute, and several “training centers” scattered around the United States and overseas. Through these training centers Gothard has added the title of real estate mogul to his resume by snapping up large buildings at bargain-basement prices. For those who want to opt out as far as possible from participation in the world around them Gothard has constructed his own cradle-to-grave (or womb-to-tomb) spiritual environment — an alternate reality with its own jargon, customs and institutions. In his culturally monastic Christian utopian vision, large homeschooling families abstain from television, midwives are more important than doctors, traditional dating is forbidden, unmarried adults are “under the authority of their parents” and live with them, divorced people can’t remarry under any circumstance, and music has hardly changed at all since the late 19th century. ...
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