The Gamut

In case you hadn't heard, they have captured the serial killer known as BTK. Here is a snippit from a news release with the relevent point as it pertains to my POV highlighted:

He called himself a monster, but in 31 years of hunting the serial killer known as BTK, Wichita police made it clear they were searching for a man who appeared in every way ordinary. On Saturday, they announced they finally had caught him.

Dennis Rader, 59, a church-going family man, a Cub Scout leader, a dog-catcher for the trim suburb of Park City, is in custody on suspicion of torturing and killing seven women, one man and two children from 1974 to 1991 — including two victims linked only this week to BTK.

Now, I could go on to say that it figures that he would be a church-goer. I could snidely suggest that this just adds one more to the list of religious psychopaths in history. But the truth is that it is no more likely that a person of faith would do this than an atheist or a Satanist.

BTK's friends from church may well be astounded, but for the rest of us, this revelation should just be cause to go "huh" and then move on with our days.

This is what can usually be said of serial killers:

Serial killers tend to be white, heterosexual males in their twenties and thirties who are sexually dysfunctional and have low self-esteem. Their methodical rampages are almost always sexual in nature. Their killings are usually part of an elaborate fantasy that builds to a climax at the moment of their murderous outburst. Serial killers generally murder strangers with cooling off periods between each crime. Many enjoy cannibalism, necrophilia and keep trophy-like body parts as mementos of their work. Serial killers are sadistic in nature. Some return to crime scenes or grave sites of their victims to fantasize about their deeds. Many like to insert themselves in the investigation of their crimes and some enjoy taunting authorities with letters or carefully placed pieces of evidence.

Etc. There is nothing in religion to repel such individuals; nor is there anything to attract them either.

So while some atheists may be gloating today that BTK was a churchie kind of guy, I personally just consider it a footnote in his biography not even as significant as the revelation that he is nearly 60 years old; a point which actually does put him outside the usual paradigm. I mean come on people - we're not talking Kevin Spacey in Se7en here.

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