Yet it’s the Christian underpinnings of my view of evil, in a world in which we do have free will, and sin, which in all cases involves a choice, that makes it impossible for me to ever see those who suffer from schizophrenia as an embodiment of moral evil. We don’t know for sure that Loughner has schizophrenia, though his paranoia and references to “mind control” are classic markers. But those who are so afflicted haven’t chosen their delusions and hallucinations; a stand-out even in the pantheon of dreadful diseases, theirs is an illness no one would choose.

Does our intellectual Christian president really see evil of the ancient, “unclean spirits” variety in Loughner? He seems to, while also hedging slightly by distinguishing, if you listen closely, between evil acts and evil people: “Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world,” the president told us in Tucson, “and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, ‘when I looked for light, then came darkness.’ Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath. For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty . . . what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.”