October 6, 2006

"Marian, the oldest one, did ask to be shot first... The faith of their fathers really was embedded in them."

The religious valor of the Amish girls:
[B]efore killing himself, [Charles Carl Roberts IV] uttered three words — "Pray for me."...

"He asked the children to pray for him, and that's kind of interesting because he said he hated God... He must have recognized the faith in them, God in them."

8 comments:

Laura Reynolds said...

From one of the saddest and evil stories imaginable, is found grace and dignity. In the midst of all that is going on, we should be learning something from this.

Jinnmabe said...

All I ask of the religious is that they contemplate the depths...wait, this is a story about the good effects of a religion. Dang.

John said...

How different this reaction is to the actions of the other major religion in the world?

"Take me first so that others may live" vs. "let me kill as many others (infidels) as I can as I blow myself up"

Both share the belief that a better place exists and they will reach it. Which deserves it?

God bless you Marian. You truly inspire.

chuck b. said...

Very powerful story.

So weird the killer said he was haunted about molestations his alleged victims insist never took place. What's that all about? Repressed memories? Delusions? Lies?

It made me think about the discussion a few days ago about out-of-body experiences. I haven't followed the story much, but if the killer had some sort of brain dysfunction that produced delusions, and a drug could have fixed the delusion-part of his brain so that he'd be normal, would it produce a discussion about spirituality and meaningfulness, or would we just say thank gosh for medical research like we might for, say, antibiotics?

Revenant said...

So weird the killer said he was haunted about molestations his alleged victims insist never took place. What's that all about? Repressed memories? Delusions? Lies?

People who believe themselves to be a certain kind of person often manufacture memories, or translate other people's stories into memories, to fit with their perception of themselves. That's what "recovered memories" are, actually -- fake "memories" created because a person has convinced him- or herself that they SHOULD exist.

I would guess that Roberts was a pedophile whose conscience prevented him from acting on his desires. But he was so tortured over what a horrible person he perceived himself to be that he created memories of actually *being* a horrible person.

That's just a guess, though. There are numerous other possible explanations.

chuck b. said...

That's an interesting theory, revenant. Isn't it also a movie plot? Was it Memento?

Revenant said...

That's an interesting theory, revenant. Isn't it also a movie plot? Was it Memento?

I haven't seen that movie yet, actually.

The phenomenon itself is as common as dirt, though. It is one of the reasons why police get flooded with false "confessions" to high-profile crimes.

knox said...

It's not that I don't want to take their word for it, but the people he molested as children may have either blocked the memories or are denying it simply because they don't want it all to come to life again.


Five (is it six now?) little girls dead. Roast in hell, mister. The fact that this community can accept his actions with such grace really is "inspiring of awe" as another commenter put it.