Hard Questions About Dr. Zinkhan

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist." So says Verbal Kint in the movie The Usual Suspects. Events in Athens, Georgia over the weekend have me thinking about the existence of Satan again.

I spent the better part of six years in Athens from 1976-1982 getting an ABJ in Journalism and a Master of Marketing Research (MMR) degree in the very department from which George Zinkhan had taught since 1994. I've met George several times at various events there, including board meetings for the MMR program. There was to be a board meeting this week that I was scheduled to attend. Now it has been cancelled.

For the most part the media descriptions of Dr. Zinkhan are accurate relative to my experience. Introverted, socially awkward, eccentric, brilliant, disheveled in appearance, odd in behavior. He is exactly the kind of person that, when something like this happens, people say, "Oh, yeah, something was not right with that guy."

But there is a big difference between being eccentric and killing three people in cold blood.

Which makes me wonder for the umpteenth time: does Satan really exist? Because it seems to me at times like this that there is something that enters a person and tells them that some outrageous, barbaric act is really something that is going to help them make things better or set things right. Maybe that's what happened to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Jeffrey Dahmer. It's a long list.

Sometimes I wonder if we don't hide behind science -- especially psychology -- to explain the supernatural. There's no question in my mind that science and in particular psychology are more good than bad. But I think we go too far sometimes when we think we can explain everything from the weather and climate to why events like this murder happen. It can become a vain attempt to wrap our arms around the immensity that is God, and our arms will never be long enough.