The world has officially went off kilter.

Thursday, September 06, 2001

The world has officially went off kilter.

Read international headlines and you’ll see what I mean. Girls, ages 4 to 11, going to a Catholic girls school have been verbally abused and physically attacked by stone-chucking protesters while walking to school in a Protestant district in north Belfast, Northern Ireland. Wednesday morning, a pipe bomb was thrown at the police line protecting the school.

Two officers were injured by the blast and both both parents and children were terrified. The reason for the attacks: the protestants don’t want an "infusion" of Catholics in their neighborhood.

In Jerusalem, a suicide-bomber – an Islamic man from a West Bank village known as a stronghold of the militant group, Hamas – detonated a bomb within yards of a school.

Israeli police spotted the bomber who turned, smiled at the police officers then detonated a bomb in his backpack. His severed head flew over a wall and landed in a nearby schoolyard. Bits of his body, blood and shrapnel covered children who were entering the school. This was the second bombing near the school in three weeks.

Religious fanatics have found another target – kids.

I guess one can see why children are targeted. They congregate en mass at state-sponsored areas of minimal security, schools, and terrorists get a two-for-one package – attack the state which they despise and make a point – "mess with us and we’ll mess with your kids ’cause we hate you so much we don’t care about your child’s welfare or safety."

Extremists have made sure people know how "devout" they are.

The fanatic says, "do you believe in god?" "No." Boom.

"Do you believe in god?" "Yes." "Do you believe in my god?" "No." Boom.

The problem is, most of the killings are done by mainstream religions. And the media is another problem, although I hate to admit it. We pay attention to cults that kill themselves wearing Nike shoes instead of murder sponsored by mainstream religion.

Very few, if any, international or national media outlets have written articles or produced a series about Protestant’s knocking off someone because of religious views.

What’s next? Who knows anymore. Maybe a terrorist actually sneaks a bomb into a school and murders a few kids – all in the name of a deity. Or, maybe Baptists open fire on the Methodists.

Now that would be a different twist.