Since yesterday morning, we've learned that the shooter was Matthew Murray, and the heroic guard who brought him down was Jeanne Assam, a former police officer. Murry and the two slain by him in Colorado Springs were all homeschooled and lived in Denver. That's where the similarities end.
Murray was spiraling toward death in a most radical manner. As WorldNetDaily reports, Murray shook up a YWAM Christmas program with songs Marilyn Manson and Linkin Park. His parents and YWAM leaders agreed to remove him from the trip. Murray began to descend into a mental and spiritual state that most Christians would associate with demonic possession. He would "roll around in bed and make noises. He would say, 'Don't worry, I'm just talking to the voices'." His fits of rage and flaming vitriol mirror Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the killers in the Columbine shooting only miles from Murray's home.
Conversely, it seems that Stephanie Works, 18, and Rachael Works, 16, the sisters he killed in Colorado Springs were living a godly, Christian life of ministry and love. They are mourned by family and friends who had so much to say about the victims' lives and are thoroughly convinced that it was because of their relationships with Jesus Christ. I expect that the same can be said of most of Murray's other victims, both living and dead. Murray had nothing but rage and contempt for those who embraced their faith. Murray rejected the God his victims embraced. That's the fundamental difference. The rest of it: YWAM, the rage, the parenting, the music and the outcome all pivot on Murray's relationship with God, or the lack of it.
Since I'm a homeschooling father, I need to weigh in on the homeschool aspect of this tragedy. Homeschooling is not a cure-all for behavioral problems, nor is it solely responsible for Murray's descent. It is a tool that parents use to help their children and it can be used well or used poorly. The cases I've seen where a homeschooler has gone nuts are far fewer than those educated in classes. Yet even in those rare cases where it's a homeschooler perpetrating the crime, it seems that the parents took an imbalanced approach to homeschooling. The children are made to study in isolation with the emphasis resting on one or two texts exclusively, such as the Bible and/or an encyclopedia. I'm not sure if this is the case with Murray, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is. Additionally, the Works sisters seemed to be in a balanced homeschool environment, with several friends each who they involved in their lives and a broader experience than what most class schooled children and youth experience. Healthy homeschooling is not focused on keeping children isolated from everything that could possibly harm them. It is aimed at allowing the parent to guide and monitor the influences their children experience to prepare them for life, not insulate them from it. It helps children understand not only what is good in life, but what is bad and how it's a waste of time and energy to pursue the wrong things. This is the right use of the homeschooling tool. It won't solve all the problems a child suffers, but it will help undo the damage.
Update 12/12: More details about Murray's curriculum are emerging. Kevin Swanson of the Christian Home Educators of Colorado gives a few good responses.
4 comments:
True, but if we are talking about conditions in the home leading to this, we are talking about abuse. Not homeschooling or religion. I don't know what to make of the description "very religious." One group will say that as a clue to a lack of balance, another will use it to express shock as in "we never would have guessed this of him/them."
With no evidence that anything like that going on, I think this is a mental health issue. And the only thing we can seriously ask is whether or not his family had reason to believe he needed help. I have a relative with paranoid schizophrenia. Luckily, he didn't hurt anyone, but it wasn't for lack of trying. He had to be institutionalized. There is some more discussion on my blog if you are interested.
Dana
Principled Discovery
I hear where you are coming from on the balance of education/morals/faith and the misuse of tools.
However, it seems that many are willing to shift blame for this 24-year-old "child's" actions at the mere mention of a homeschooling past and the Gothard curriculum (I've never seen it, but have generally had the impression that Gothard teachings are fairly legalistic).
Murray's quoted online posts mention some fine "curriculum" sources as his "drug".
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_7696043
Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson, Aleister Crowley cult membership, depression medication all go into the mix here too. There must be a good deal more to this young man's story than has been presented by these couple of articles. I was curious if he was on SSRI medication at some time, as many of the recent young mass killers have been, including Columbine, VA Tech, Red Lake, MN. I do believe the psychotropics give a spiritual foothold on young people that doesn't seem to turn out very well in the end.
Did you know that Tim Tebow (recent Heisman Trophy winner) was also homeschooled? I found the contrast rather interesting this week.
(I hope I don't offend anyone by posting this link.)
While I agree that there are definitely mental health issues, I came a post that showed what the shooter posted online. (Warning: some explicit content. They've asterisked out the worst of it, but it is still not something I would want my kids to read.)
From his comments, it looks like psychological abuse was a factor and possible even sexual abuse and/or gender confusion. The families rejection of modern medicine didn't help either. I'm playing armchair psychologist here, but I'm guessing he had OCD issues and might even have been schizophrenic. While I don't believe in unnecessarily psychiatric medications, a good psych evaluation could have made a difference.
I agree with Steve that his family took an "imbalanced approach to homeschooling." I would expand that and say they took an imbalance approach to life. There is a theory in psychology that all behavior boils down to a combination of two things: fear and love. From his own comments, it seems that fear was all that Murray knew.
In his own words:
I remember as a child laying awake at night, terrified that I was going to "get left behind" for some childish bad thing I'd done or thought or some mistake I'd done. That was around age 8-12 and I would continue to have similar fear through my teenage years. I remember being terrified around year 2000 and always worried about this..."antichrist" who was going to somehow do all these terrible things to people who weren't "born again" AND had not lost their salvation/committed some sin. I'd lay awake at night and be terrified during the day asking over and over "what if I commit a sin, and don't have time to confess and ask God forgiveness and repent and get...left behind?!" "what if I'm in some sin that I don't even recognize and I get......left behind?" "what if I'm watching something on TV that's somehow a "sin" and Jesus returns and I get......left behind?" "what if I commit the unpardonable sin and get....left behind?"
Some days I'd even lay awake worrying that I had dropped a few cents while placing my 10% tithes into the offering plate or that I had miscalculated my tithes and....something bad would happen........
It is easy for children to get confused about things they hear at church. For example when I was about 5 or 6, I would worry that Jesus would come again will I was in the bathroom. So, I would get off the potty really fast. I wasn't afraid that Jesus would be mad, just that I would be embarrassed.
But Murray's comments are more than just a confused child. This is a terrified child who wasn't taught about a loving God. If all I had know as a child was a Vengeful God, I wouldn't believe in Him either.
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