Who made the monster? This is coming from a church that proclaims the following: “We believe that (on account of the Fall) …mankind are now sinners, not by constraint but choice; being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by the law of God, positively inclined to evil; and therefore under just condemnation to eternal ruin, without defense or excuse.” Crabapple First Baptist Church Website And also, “…the wicked will be adjudged to endless punishment, and the righteous to endless joy; and that this judgment will fix forever the final state of men in heaven or hell, on principles of righteousness.” Crabapple First Baptist Church Website In other words, this is coming from a church that teaches hate. Not necessarily of women or other races, though women at least are certainly diminished by the teachings quoted above, but of “indefensible,” “inexcusable” “mankind” itself. No wonder the monstrous Mr. Long was afraid. No wonder he was consumed with guilt and shame. No wonder he was worried about falling “out of God’s grace.” The FBI says that they have yet to find evidence of a hate crime with which to charge Mr. Long. That is because the people Mr. Long hated, women who have sex with or simply arouse religious men who think that sex is a sin and hate themselves for it are not a statutorily “protected group,” at least not yet. It is not surprising then, given all of this “condemnation” and “judgment” that a perfect storm of hate seems to have gathered in a man who, while he lives and breathes in a world poisoned by misogyny and racism also experienced the enduring influence of a conservative religious faith that regards the human sex drive, except when expressed within the narrow confines of religiously sanctioned behavior as damnable sin. Should he, as a human being with a functioning heart and brain have had the baseline moral insight, intelligence and discernment to rise above these influences and understand that the crimes he contemplated were wrong? Of course, and he is ultimately responsible for the abominable choice he made. Nevertheless, although they say he “acted alone” I do not believe this is the case. It is almost never the case in anything we humans do. Yes, one should not underestimate the role hatred of another race may have played in the mind of the monster who brought death to the massage parlors of Atlanta. It is much easier I think to slaughter human beings as if they are “just” a bunch of animals in a stockyard, when in addition to blaming them for one’s inability to accept or control their demonized sexual desire, one also thinks they are less than fully human. The fact that the trigger for that desire was to be found in those who are routinely dehumanized by society at large undoubtedly reinforced Mr. Long’s determination to carry out his fake anti-sex jihad. But why and how was the desire Mr. Long wanted so to escape demonized in the first place? And do the religious authorities Mr. Long looked to his entire life for moral guidance, bear some responsibility for instilling in him a fear that was so profound he ultimately came to a place in which, as Mr. Long himself suggested, he had but two choices: suicide or murder. Dream I dream a dream in which I find myself sitting at a table with a beautiful female doctor. The Doctor, who has about her the translucent holiness of the Shechinah, is leading a discussion. She asks me about the female side and I offer the following explanation, “The east – moon imagined as a bowl into which the west – sun pours a drop of its light … but I don’t like this because it’s a diminishment of the female principle – “Adam’s rib all over again.” The Doctor smiles in agreement and I feel the sense of gratification that comes with support from a respected higher authority. Yet, while it may be difficult to ascertain for sure the extent to which racism played a role in the murderers’ attitude towards his victims, there is precious little doubt that having been raised by a church which sees Eve as the original temptress without whom the Fall of Man itself would not have occurred, in Mr. Long’s holy war against temptation, gender was undeniably an issue.