** UPDATE: Pastor Warren has removed the offending tweet from his stream, but there are images of it all over the internet still circulating. The fact it was removed confirms he knows he said something offensive!! Let's not let him scuttle away unchallenged - hold him accountable for his inappropriate offensive comment by signing this petition!! **

For many of us, a belief in a God or any form of spirituality is a very private and personal matter, and many of us believe deeply in the principles of such religious and spiritual teachings. However, many of us don’t believe the shocking events of the July 20, 2012 shooting occurring at the Cinemark Century 16 Theater in Aurora, Colorado were the act of a loving and benevolent God to prove a point to non-believers and moderate religious conservatives.

It’s almost unfathomable in the midst of such a horrific tragedy religious zealots would attempt to steal a little National limelight for such unfounded and extremist viewpoints, but that’s exactly what has happened since this tragic event occurred. The staggering and sickening act of violence that befell the unfortunate audience of the midnight screening of ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Rises’ has stunned our country into silence, grief, and outrage. This appalling event should be a time of profound sadness and deep reflection for the victims of this event, their families, friends and loved ones as well as those of us not directly affected by it. Unfortunately, religious social conservatives like Pastor Rick Warren, U.S. Congressman Louis “Louie” Gohmert (R) of Texas, Fred Jackson (News Director for the American Family Association), and Jerry Newcombe (of Truth In Action Ministries) don’t seem to have enough personal depth to be respectful of the pain our Nation is feeling in the wake of this calamity by holding their tongues.

Instead, these men are brazenly telling anyone who will listen this heinous and violent act occurred because of the theory of Evolution being taught in schools, a lack of belief in God that plagues our country, and a waning fear of God and Hell by religious folk deemed ‘moderate’ by their more extremist religious counterparts. These men actually believe their God caused this event to occur in an effort to focus our Nation’s collective spiritual attention back where they believe it belongs: on the Christian God of the Bible. You can listen to some of these statements made by these men here: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/afa-news-director-says-liberal-churches-media-share-responsibility-colorado-shooting, and you can see for yourself the tweet of Pastor Rick Warren implying if the theory Evolution had not been taught in public schools these events would never have occurred by following this link: https://twitter.com/RickWarren/status/226378218456899584. Additional information about the tweet can be found here: http://www.examiner.com/article/rick-warren-aurora-shooting-the-fault-of-evolution. Incendiary and highly inappropriate statements like these were also made on a radio program by an elected and tax-dollar-salaried U.S. Congressman for the State of Texas, Louis “Louie” Gohmert (R): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/louie-gohmert-aurora-shootings_n_1689099.html.

Not only is espousing such extremist opinions shockingly disrespectful to the families of the victims and those injured by the horrific shooting in Aurora, Colorado in their time of grief and suffering, but it is also completely unfounded and frankly ridiculous. Current surveys show not quite one in every five people across our Country does not have a religious affiliation (http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-07-19/no-religion-affiliation/56344976/1#.UAmFfYLVVYo.twitter), so the odds are at least roughly 80% of the audience of theater 9 of the ‘Cinemark Theater – Century Aurora’ had some sort of religious affiliation. The outrageous implication of these men’s statements is the Christian God allowed the majority of people with a religious affiliation to be brutally murdered or injured to prove a point to the minority of the audience who statistically might not have had any religious affiliation whatsoever, as well as the non-religious and moderately religious citizens of our country at large.

One can’t possibly begin to imagine the pain, outrage, and overwhelming sense of shock and loss felt by people affected by this untimely and sickening tragedy, and someone with any sense at all should know better than to add insult to injury by saying people suffering through the aftermath of such an event weren’t Christ-like enough or this never would have happened to them, yet that’s exactly what these well-respected men in highly visible positions of power in religious and political circles have said. It is a certainty those directly affected by these events would be outraged by the expression of such offensive ‘Old-Testament fire-and-brimstone’ points of view, and as a nation we should all be shocked and embarrassed by these extremist and completely disrespectful statements.

By signing this petition, you are calling on these men and their affiliated institutions to issue a public apology to the victims, families and friends of those directly affected by the Cinemark Theater 9 shooting for stating their irrevocable, irreparable suffering resulting from this dreadful catastrophe was God’s attempt to show his love, existence, and benevolence to our Country. Please consider signing this petition and sharing it with your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. 

You can also contact the men named in this petition yourself:

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church of Southern California on Twitter @RickWarren
U.S. Congressman Louis "Louie" Gohmert (R) of Texas on Twitter @RepLouieGohmert
Fred Jackson of The American Family Association via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Family-Association/41769132859
Jerry Newcombe of Truth In Action Ministries on Twitter @LiveOutTruth

Thank you for your time.