June 30, 2003

I received another email today regarding religion and the state of this country. You can get the full email here. There are some aspects of this email that I agree with, but on the whole, I would have to say that it's a load of crap. Let me explain....

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She
said "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but
for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get
out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out.
How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if
we demand He leave us alone?"
This particular part, which is the opening, is in response to the question, "How could God let this happen (to the Twin Towers)?" First, in some countries, people would say that God mandated it happen. So right off the bat, you have a conflict. This could then take you into the whole, which religion is the "right" religion? or better yet, is there a "right" religion? I find it amusing that religion caused the attacks on the towers in the first place.

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc.
I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered,
her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our
schools, and we said OK.
Again, because our country believes in free speech and the right to practice any religion you want. So why shove someone else's religion down the throats of everyone?

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school ... the
Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your
neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.
Where is the parents responsibility in raising their kids? Why aren't the parents teaching their kids that killing is wrong, that stealing is wrong and to treat others as you want to be treated? You don't need religion to teach that!

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when
they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and
we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed
suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And
we said OK.
Here I believe in discipline. If there are no consequences for ones actions, what's to stop you from doing it again? and again and again and again.

Then someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our
children when they misbehave. The school administrators said no
faculty member in this school better touch a student when they
misbehave because we don't want any bad publicity, and we surely
don't want to be sued (there's a big difference between disciplining,
touching, beating, smacking, humiliating, kicking, etc.). And we said
OK.
Here I don't think it's right or the responsibility even, for the teachers to take on that. The child should be sent home so the parent can discipline them.

Then someone said, let's let our daughters have abortions if they
want, and they won't even have to tell their parents. And we said OK.
Humans will have sex. They will have it for various reasons. Because they think the guy will like them better. Because everyone else is doing it. Because they ran out of excuses not to do it. Here abortion is a response to those that made a mistake and realize it. While I don't think it should be used as birth control (there's pills for that) I do think letting it remain legal is a must. Otherwise you go back to the 60's and 70's when it wasn't and women died from them because they sought them out from illicit doctors and practices. Where's the parents in all this? If a child is that young, why is she out somewhere where she has the opportunity to have sex? Why don't her parents instill in her that getting pregnant is a bad thing at her age? That having children should be left for older, more established times? So then you say, well ok birth control. Is that better than a 16 year old with a 2 month old? I think it is. You can't stop humans from doing what they want to do. All you can do is teach them the consequences of their actions and what that means for their life.

Then some of our top elected officials said it doesn't matter what we
do in private as long as we do our jobs. Agreeing with them, we said
it doesn't matter to me what anyone, including the President, does in
private as long as I have a job and the economy is good.
No it doesn't matter. As long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of anyone else. You want to have anal sex with someone, go for it. As long as both parties are willing to!!

Then someone said let's print magazines with pictures of nude women
and call it wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation for the beauty of
the female body. And we said OK.
No. It's porn. Guys like to look at nude women. Some women like to look at nude women. <shrug> If you want to buy it, great for the company that made the magazine. If you don't, don't buy it!!

And then someone else took that appreciation a step further and
published pictures of nude children and then further again by making
them available on the Internet. And we said OK, they're entitled to
free speech.
Woa! Who said that? I didn't know that having nude pictures of children on the internet was legal? And as far as I know, anyone caught doing that is arrested!!!

Then the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies
that promote profanity, violence, and illicit sex. Let's record music
that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes. And
we said it's just entertainment, it has no adverse effect, nobody
takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.
Here I say I agree. TV is getting more and more violent. That's because it sells. What you can do, as parents, is not let your children watch them. Make them read a book. Or color. Or play with Play Doh. They don't HAVE to watch television. Monitor what CD's they purchase. I bought a CD as a kid (this is 15 years old now) and it was Guns and Roses. I liked a couple of their songs I'd heard on the radio so I bought the CD with my own money I earned delivering newpapers. Then I found out it had cuss words in it. I didn't buy anymore until I moved out of my parents house. That's 18 mind you and even then, I think it was a year or so before I actually bought another.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why
they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to
kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Here the writing is trying to blame all this on banning religion from schools. Prayer wasn't in my school growing up. I don't think it's right to kill people. That's becuase my parents taught me killing is wrong. School taught me that hurting other people is wrong. Life taught me that these things are not right. They are WRONG. Where were these kids' parents?

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why
the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers
say, but question what the Bible says.
Do people trash God? Or do they just not believe in the same thing you do?

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like
wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord,
people think twice about sharing.
Funny how messages that could have meaning have to give credit to God. So those that don't believe in God won't send it on in order to not "oppress" their friends. Why not write an email that encourages parents to spend time with their kids? Know what they're doing. Talk to them at dinner time instead of letting them run off to watch TV. These things are all possible without following a religion. The Klu Klux Klan were Christian. They certainly weren't good people!!