I’ve written on here before about how I view religion as a negative, oppressive force which ought to be done away with. In the case of christianity, pastors and preachers use a set of bronze age myths, combined with a promise of a pleasant afterlife, to endow theirselves with a form of unearned political and social authority: “Listen to me and you’ll go to heaven.” Last night we had news of the most horrific mass shooting in years. This morning, however, I saw various religious figures inviting people to find solace over the atrocity in religion: they were insisting that we “pray for the victims” and that we must all “have faith”. To be honest, I found reading that nothing less than sickening. They ask us to find comfort in a god which, if he existed, would presumably have the power to stop such horror. Leaving such irrefutable logic aside, however, these religious figures were effectively trying to use last night’s tragedy to reinforce their social authority. I must say I find that very perverse indeed. If nobody believed the fairy tales they tell us, these bishops etc would be of no higher status than anyone else, much less get invited onto breakfast news or sit in the House of Lords. They therefore have a vested interest in insisting that we all believe in a god which cannot possibly exist, and in using horrific events like yesterday’s as a means to reinforce our social indoctrination. Note how quickly these religious figures jumped at the opportunity to use this shooting to their own ends? Does anyone else find that disturbing?