1. Honestly i feel the same way but that doesnt mean im going to do what this individual did.Everybody is brainwashed and lied to there whole life.Just like as a little kid you where told santa and the easter bunny are real.Im sorry but just like those two as well as many others "God" jesus or any other religious features are not real.Everybody is so afraid of death that they believe there is a better place well there aint. But dont get me wrong that gives you NO reason what so ever to shoot ANYONE let alone a school of children.Now before you get all upset at my comments do me 1 favor ask yourself. Has anyone ever really answered your prayers. Have you ever heard a voice when you pray about your problems. If you have you would probably be considered crazy and would be prescribed to medication.Crazy funny world right.LOL

steve at 7:15PM on Apr 18th 2007

2. . . . As much as you have done it unto the least of these, my brethren you have done it unto me.

To answer your question, Jesus was in the midst of his people and with every sparrow that falls to the ground. I don't expect you to believe it or understand it, but it's still true. And there were many Christians helping and consoling those that were hurt and injured during such a devastating time of grief.

The world was once perfect, and what made it perfect was freedom of choice and free will, but the bible says that Adam chose to excercise the negative side of his free will and chose death and corruption over life. Jesus was there allowing Cain to excercise his choice just as he was there allowing Cho to excercise his choice. His wisdom is too far greater than mine to understand all of his ways, but I know by faith that he was there.

dalosophy at 7:22PM on Apr 18th 2007

3. Why is it that most people that dont believe in God only ask about him when something bad happens, to be fair, shouldnt you hold Him accountable for the good things as well, for example, the fact that you are able to breathe and read this right now. Its funny how it is against the law to pray in school, but when something like this happens, everyone is asking where's God?.

musikangel at 8:22PM on Apr 18th 2007

4. Did you ever see the movie Stepford wives? You see, God didnt create robots. He made man where he could freely make choices. Its by what man does and thinks where his heart is revealed and this is just what God wants. You can not change what you don't know where a robot knows and discerns nothing. God allows man to do evil and good. Its up to the invidual. You ask where is God? If you seek him, one day you will hear him speak to you. That my friend, is a marvelous moment. ~Raven

Raven Smith at 8:27PM on Apr 18th 2007

5. Rather than they don't exist -- you wrote their names, so they must exist on some level --- it is the myths behind them that aren't real. Each were human and their life and accomplishments embellished for selfish political purposes or to promote a cult of personality. It is thier teachings that should be heeded, not the myth that has propelled them into supernatural status.

gate keeper at 8:36PM on Apr 18th 2007

6. Cenk is right. Religion is a way for the human brain to deal with the inability to explain its origin; it's the brain's job to assemble everything, rationally or otherwise, into a coherent, managable whole. When logic can't succeed toward this end, then faith is born. There are far too many other things to worry about to allow this conundrum to distract us... care of our young, water, food, avoiding becoming food. But there comes a time in our evolution when we have to cast this crutch aside and face the realization that we are the masters of our own fate, and that life is chaotic and in a constant state of flux. Atheism is just as much of a trap. Any ism involves a preconceived way of perceiving things without proof; atheists have faith that there is no possibility in the existence of a god under any circumstance or in any form.
When we're talking about people comforting others in times of grief faith is a somewhat irrelevant thing to consider. If someone is suffering, it's a natural human reaction to want to help that person.
I guess i'd describe myself as agnostic now, no god here, but i feel spiritually connected to the universe as it were... regardless, i was raised catholic, altar boy, junior ministry, the whole deal, and i saw a lot of those people do and say a lot of unchristian things... i never felt that any of it made sense, yet i knew moral right from moral wrong because my parents instilled that in me as the way good people treat each other in the world, regardlesss of religion. Do unto others, yes, amen! But i could've done without all the guilt and self-loathing that it was wrapped in.
Where were the atheists, Dinesh? I don't know. Where is religion when we need it? Right where it's always been, dividing people the world over. Us and them. I'm right, you're wrong. A world without religion is the best chance we have for a world that is simply "Us."

Tyson at 8:51PM on Apr 18th 2007

7. This God vs.no God arguement is so stale I can't believe people still engage each other in it. If God reveals Himself (for lack of a better personal pro-noun)to you you will believe in Him If not, you won't. Seek and you will find, (if you are not too impatient)Knock and the door will be opened (Unless you have locked it with proud preconceptions)Arrogance shuts out any possibility of receiving the truth as you already believe you have it!

Tony at 9:03PM on Apr 18th 2007

8. Where else? He's going to school at Messiah College.

Webster Hubble Telescope at 9:17PM on Apr 18th 2007

9. Why is it all the evil in the world is blamed on God and yet nothing of good is attributed to Him?

Mo at 9:28PM on Apr 18th 2007

10. Cenk - I totally agree with your post 100%. Thank you for saying it for those of us who agree with you and don't want to have a thousand quotes from the bible spammed on our blogs as a result. I wish we could all live in a secular peace.

Shaboom at 10:15PM on Apr 18th 2007

11. You should thank God you were not there... you should thank God more were not gunned down... you should humble yourself, ask God to please help this country, once founded on the very principles and goodness of God. Now we are a proud nation. But let us all take a moment to realize the sickness and evil in this world and ask God have mercy on us and continue to protect this Nation.

Scott at 11:00PM on Apr 18th 2007

12. Well this page is actually kinda wierd to me. I am a very devote christian and i want to apologize for all those that have had to encounter christians who dont follow what they preach because for me that is so aggravating because in christianity we are to show you the love of christ not condem you. That is not our place because i can assure im not even close to perfect. Im not gonna press my beliefs on you but im just gonna tell you what i believe from reading the bible and experiences in life. First of all free will. We are given the choice of what to believe who to believe in and what we think is right and wrong. So many people think god isnt in something but your eyes are shaded from him while he was there the whole time. And that say god works in mysterious was is kinda odd even from a christian perspective because half the time i dont know what odd means. But i think what people are trying to say is that we may not understand why something horrible like the Virgina Tech tragety happens but that all things lead to another and in the end to some life being touch by the lord god. I know its hard for some people to understand these things if they are not in a relationship with the lord and even me a 17 yr old find it hard sometimes too. Trust me I have a lesbian sister and my dad was a drunk and i still havent figured out what these two things are goin to do for me in life and they hurt im not gonna lie. But in closing im gonna tell you no i dont have all the answers and no, no other christian does so if they tell you they do they are lying and the man you says is up in the sky is really down here on earth within my heart and so many others. O and i forgot denomonations were the worst thing to ever happen to the church.

howshodikno at 11:16PM on Apr 18th 2007

13. You know I first heard of The Young Turks at the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis earlier this year, I was genuinely in awe about what they were doing. But you know what? Bashing Christianity and saying God is not real as if it were a proven fact, is bull crap.

I don't bash Atheists or Agnostics because quite frankly their faith is their choice. But I do pray for them, that God would soften their hearts. I was an Agnostic, then Pagan, for several years. I became a Christian not because I was "brainwashed" or because I needed to use it as a crutch, or whatever else you want to rant about to make yourself feel better and make believers look dumb or nieve.

I accepted Jesus into my life, because for some reason He decided to reveal himself to me. It's nothing I can explain and I wouldn't expect you to understand, because you live in a world of science and cold hard facts. But just as real as your computer is to you, God is to me.

Its so crazy because so many people like The Young Turks are for media/social reform, equal rights, diversity, and anti-discrimination..but when it comes to Christianity those values go right out the door. Has anyone else noticed that?

If you REALLY want to know where God is. Don't ask us, seek him out. I don't have anything to do with your relationship or non-relationship with a God that you don't believe exists. If you really want to find the truth then pray for it. If He doesn't exist then you have nothing to worry about. If He does then you'll find out.

Just don't sit here and complain asking where he is if you're not actively seeking him out in your day to day life. I did that regularly even when I wasn't a Christian..I didn't know if he was real or not. I didn't sit on my butt waiting for God to appear, I actively seeked Him out. Your right, excuses are a dime a dozen. So what's yours?

Lets Be Real at 11:22PM on Apr 18th 2007

14. Thank you for this essay. I don't argue reglioin with people unless they insist on arguing it with me. I thought D/Souza's essay was almost unbearably stupid and dense.

Elizabeth A. Root at 11:30PM on Apr 18th 2007

15. Let's Be Real,
You should change your name to Let's Be Delusional.
"Science and cold hard facts..." Oh, such dirty words!
When will you idiots stop conflating atheism with science? One doesn't need to have a degree in evolutionary biology to be freed from the delusion that there's a magic man tinkering with the universe and awaiting us in an afterlife. The gift of reason is in most of us. You have exchanged this gift for the lunacy of believing in something for which there is zero evidence. Pretty dumb. But then again, you know the "truth," right? You just "know" that Jesus is real, and he's looking out for you... Right?
Because he appeared to you, somehow, in some way that you won't share. And why is that? Maybe because you know deep down that it's bullshit. But anyhow, carry on. If you can't deal with the thought that your life will one day end, and you are so anthropocentric that you can't manage to think of anything "bigger than yourself" other than a giant man in the sky, oh well. I guess you've found your fix and you're sticking with it. Kind of like Keith Richards and heroin.
Oh, and while you're at it. Stay away from hospitals. And any kind of electronic device. And automobiles and airplanes. And pretty much anything else that's been produced by science and people who dare to put stock in "cold hard facts."

tinosoli at 11:46PM on Apr 18th 2007