The Courage of Their Convictions: Jared Lee Loughner, James Jay Lee and the Power of Belief
      

We live in a curious time.  Good people who are otherwise sane entertain the notions that Lee and Loughner embraced and acted on.   Over against those notions they have some memory of the bloodsport of the 20th century and are keen to avoid it a second go around.  What they don't ask is:  "Maybe it isn't just one particular application of these beliefs that ought to be discredited... maybe the beliefs themselves should be chucked?"

To illustrate.

Let us imagine that someone believed that all people with red hair should be killed because they aren't really people.  You talk to him.  He's a perfectly pleasant fellow.  Very sane.  "So, you aren't going to actually kill any red haired people or advocate that others do?" you ask him.  "Of course not," he says.  That's a relief, of course.  "Why believe it if you won't carry it out?" you persist.  "That would be horrible.  I would feel terrible," he says.  "Hmmm," you might say, "Perhaps the fact that you are deeply uncomfortable with wiping out those with red hair is because even though you say they aren't people, in fact, you think they are.  Why not then dispense with your belief that they aren't really people?"

Something very much like this is at the root of much thinking among secular humanists.  They don't really believe what they're saying.  If they did, we'd all be in a lot of trouble and they'd probably go a little nuts.  
         

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