What you see below is the verbatim copy of an e-mail I received today from a friend. It is the second time I have seen this e-mail, and I just HAD to make a public statement about how I feel about it. (I know I don't have much of a "public" reading this, but it will help me to get it off my chest and more coherent for future proselytyzing. ;)
WOW, WHAT A WAKE UP!
Dear God:
Why didn't you save the school children at ?
Moses Lake , Washington 2/2/96
Bethel , Alaska 2/19/97
Pearl , Mississippi 10/1/97
West Paducah , Kentucky 12/1/97
Stamp, Arkansas 12/15/97
Jonesboro , Arkansas 3/24/98
Edinboro , Pennsylvania 4/24/98
Fayetteville , Tennessee 5/19/98
Springfield , Oregon 5/21/98
Richmond , Virginia 6/15/98
Littleton , Colorado 4/20/99
Taber , Alberta , Canada 5/28/99
Conyers , Georgia 5/20/99
Deming , New Mexico 11/19/99
Fort Gibson , Oklahoma 12/6/99
Santee , California 3/ 5/01
El Cajon , California 3/22/01
and Virginia Tech., 4/16/07?
Sincerely, Concerned Student
Reply:
Dear Concerned Student:
I am not allowed in schools.
Sincerely,
God
How did this get started?...
Let's see,
I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want any prayer in our schools. And we said, OK.
Then, someone said you better not read the Bible in school, the Bible that says "thou shalt not kill, hou shalt not steal, and love your neighbors as yourself," And we said, OK...
Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehaved because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, an expert should know what he's talking about so we won't spank them anymore.
Then someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And 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. And we accepted their reasoning...
And the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence and illicit sex... And let's record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes... And we said, it's just entertainment and it has no adverse effect and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.
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, classmates or even themselves.
Undoubtedly, if we thought about it long and hard enough, we could figure it out. I'm sure it has a great deal to do with... "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW,"
Pass it on if you think it has merit! If not then just discard it...but if you discard this thought process, then don't you dare sit back and complain about what bad shape this country is in In God We Trust
Dear God:
Why didn't you save the school children at ?
Moses Lake , Washington 2/2/96
Bethel , Alaska 2/19/97
Pearl , Mississippi 10/1/97
West Paducah , Kentucky 12/1/97
Stamp, Arkansas 12/15/97
Jonesboro , Arkansas 3/24/98
Edinboro , Pennsylvania 4/24/98
Fayetteville , Tennessee 5/19/98
Springfield , Oregon 5/21/98
Richmond , Virginia 6/15/98
Littleton , Colorado 4/20/99
Taber , Alberta , Canada 5/28/99
Conyers , Georgia 5/20/99
Deming , New Mexico 11/19/99
Fort Gibson , Oklahoma 12/6/99
Santee , California 3/ 5/01
El Cajon , California 3/22/01
and Virginia Tech., 4/16/07?
Sincerely, Concerned Student
Reply:
Dear Concerned Student:
I am not allowed in schools.
Sincerely,
God
How did this get started?...
Let's see,
I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained she didn't want any prayer in our schools. And we said, OK.
Then, someone said you better not read the Bible in school, the Bible that says "thou shalt not kill, hou shalt not steal, and love your neighbors as yourself," And we said, OK...
Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehaved because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. And we said, an expert should know what he's talking about so we won't spank them anymore.
Then someone said teachers and principals better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And 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. And we accepted their reasoning...
And the entertainment industry said, let's make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence and illicit sex... And let's record music that encourages rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes... And we said, it's just entertainment and it has no adverse effect and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.
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, classmates or even themselves.
Undoubtedly, if we thought about it long and hard enough, we could figure it out. I'm sure it has a great deal to do with... "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW,"
Pass it on if you think it has merit! If not then just discard it...but if you discard this thought process, then don't you dare sit back and complain about what bad shape this country is in In God We Trust
I think that the separation of church and state got carried too far in removing prayer from schools, but I also think it is par for the course when it comes to schools. Freedom of religion is just one more right that children in schools are prevented from exercising, along with too many more to list here. But to say that not spanking our kids, or paddling them in school is what brought about the demise of our country is just plain bogus. Spankings, and much worse, occur all the time in this country. Paddling is still legal in many state schools! Children continue to die at the hands of the very people entrusted to keep them safe and help them flourish. Not to mention all the research which shows violent criminals were usually mistreated as children. Yes... we do reap what we sow!
How much more obvious could it be?!
The Center for Effective Discipline
5 comments:
I cringe at the obvious political "zing" to this supposed expression of trusting in an omnipotent divinity who can be kept out of a human gathering place because he's "not allowed" in to save the children from slaughter. What can that possibly mean to the people who respond to that kind of "argument?" It has to be that lizard-brained political tribe sort of reflexive reaction to a clever story, because it makes no thoughtful sense that an all-powerful god even notices the politics of human government, much less can be controlled or literally locked out by them.
The only other logical construction would be that god is pouting.
Either way -- ewwww.
It made me more than cringe. I felt like I could rant for much longer, but I kept my focus on what seems to be really grabbing my attention the most lately, how the mistreatment of children is so widely accepted, condoned even. Thanks for your sooo accurate comments, and the laugh at the end too. ;)
I don't believe that removing prayer from schools infringes on anyone's religious rights! That's insane. If you can pray, you can do so anywhere anytime.
But to have prayer in school is wrong. They are always christian prayers and that is NOT practicing separation of church and state.
Prayer belongs to individuals, not institutions. Keep it out of public places, unless you're willing to offer up a pagan, muslim,jewish etc... prayer in addition to the christian one's that always seem to get used.
And what of us that don't pray? Should we be subjected to prayer in public places? Nope, just wrong. Separation of church and state has it right on this one in my opinion.
Pray wherever you want....just don't subject other people to it.
And it's really sad that they blame lack of prayer in schools for some senseless slaughter. If there is a God that likes to punish this way, then no wonder people are so violent.
"If you can pray, you can do so anywhere anytime."
As long as you're not in school? Is that what you're saying? I agree that all types of prayer(not just Christian), if any, should be allowed. I don't believe anyone should be "subjected" to prayer, anymore than someone should be denied the opportunity to pray.
What I was trying to say, and what I took exception to, was the fact that the letter lumped religious freedom rights in with children's "need to be physically disciplined" as root causes of our society's ills.
~~As long as you're not in school? Is that what you're saying? ~~
No, I'm saying you can pray anywhere, anytime. How can anyone stop a person from praying?? Real prayer is something within, it doesn't need to be made public or showy nor does anyone even need to know a person is praying. It's impossible to deny someone the right to pray.
But those fighting for the right to have prayer in schools want a showy, loud thing to make sure everyone KNOWS they're praying. That's not real prayer in my opinion...that's just making a show of your religion.
But yeah, I agree that it's sick to equate lack of abuse as some sort of downfall to our society.
And I know a bit about Bethel Alaska. Violence in those villages is nothing new. My baby brother was adopted from bethel...it's a hothouse of drugs and abuse, like many of the Alaskan villages. It's very sad. My brother was born with FAS. He's currently in prison.
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