Does Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan's religion matter?

November 12, 7:44 PMPortland Humanist ExaminerMicha J. Stone

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Nidal Malik Hasan, medical student at the F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, 2000
(AP Photo/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)

Does Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan's religion matter? Speculation as to Hasan's motive continue to center around Hasan's Islamic religion. Many want to insist that the actions of Hasan constitute proof that Islam, taken as a whole, is a violent, destructive, and ultimately corrupt religion.

Pat Robertson, a leading voice of Evangelical Christians, responding to news of the Fort Hood massacre, claimed Islam is not a religion but a violent political system. Speaking on his television program, The 700 Club, Robertson denounced all Muslims, claiming Islam is "a violent religion," to call it a "religion of peace" is "nonsense".

Yet reality is not as black and white as Robertson would have us believe. Islam alone did not motivate Nidal Hasan. Life, and Hasan, are complicated things. While Hasan was a practicing Muslim, this lone fact is not responsible for his murderous actions.

Hasan may have been a Muslim, but he was also mentally ill. For six years while he served at Walter Reed, "Both fellow students and faculty were deeply troubled by Hasan's behavior -- which they variously called disconnected, aloof, paranoid, belligerent, and schizoid".

Officials from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where Hasan was stationed before Fort Hood, actually met to consider whether or not Hasan was psychotic.

Clearly there was some sort of mental illness present. Hindsight is 20/20. The military made a series of bureaucratic and interpersonal mistakes; mistakes that failed to spot the murderous potential of Nidal Hasan.

Hasan was charged Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder. He will be eligible for the death penalty, if convicted. The 39-year-old army psychiatrist will face justice in a military court. His actions should not be used to condemn an entire religion.

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