Letter: Too many don't treasure life

After the horrific suicide murders on 9/11, Hollywood was told to tone down the violence in its movies and television programs for a few months in lieu of this national tragedy. Tom Cruise’ new movie, Jack Reacher, filled with violence, postponed airing this week in view of the tragic murders of 20 children and six adults. Yet in a few months’ time the evening entertainment of murder and sexual perversity will again be the daily evening entertainment for most Americans.

Many asked why Adam Lanza murdered his victims in cold blood. Was he filled with fear, hate and despair? Was he mentally deranged? Was he possessed by demons? The answer is yes to all of these. What then is the solution? Many think it is through better mental health care and the control of guns. These would help alleviate some of the symptoms, but not the cause of these unfathomable crimes. In the most recent available statistics, 2010, 32,885 people were killed in car accidents and 2.24 million injured. Thirty-one percent of these involved intoxicated drivers. Should we outlaw cars and alcohol? The solution to the Newtown tragedy is bringing God back into our schools and workplaces. Then we will not find murder and sexual perversity entertainment and will truly treasure life as a gift from God, and thus protect all life from the moment of conception to natural death.

Unrelated but very relevant to this unfathomable tragedy, are the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta: “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child — a direct killing of the innocent child — murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? .... Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”

President Barack Obama spoke to our nation: “The majority of those who died today were children. They had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own.” It was unconscionable to me that a man who voted for partial birth abortion and against the Children Born Alive Act, and who promotes homosexuality and sexual perversity, would be the man to give eulogy to these precious children. Many citizens cling to guns to protect themselves and their families. However, truth (veritas) is more powerful than any sword, and the Baby Jesus in the manger conquered evil by sacrificial love. Love has and always will conquer evil. Viva Cristo Rey!

Have a holy and blessed Christmas!

Richard Mahoney

respiratory therapist

Baton Rouge

Comments

1) Comment by DMJ - 25/12/2012

"Should we outlaw cars and alcohol?" We already did. It's called Driving Under the Influence and it's illegal.

2) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 24/12/2012

And google obfuscation. Fundamental Christians DO believe that those not 'born again' are going to hell. And Catholics are not born again. You cN wiggle all you want by the truth is the truth.

3) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 24/12/2012

If you will use answers.yahoo so will I: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index? qid=20120318172529AACfuGw "Not all of any denomination is going to Heaven, or to hell. I believe that Catholics can be born-again, however it is in spite of the Catholic Church, not because of it. Most Catholics leave the Catholic Church upon being born-again. Many of them come to our church, which has become a haven for disillusioned Catholics." And http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110418161333AAvDitN

4) Comment by Whatnow - 24/12/2012

Tea_Slayer, Baptists don't claim to know what is in any Catholic's heart. That's between them and God. Those many Baptist certainly are trying do God's judging if they told you that. And what do you think Confirmation in the Catholic church is? Confirmation is a sacrament instituted by our Lord by which the faithful who have aleady been made children of God through Baptism,recieve the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of the Bishop and being anointed with holy oil(Chrism). This sacrament increases sanctifying grace,gives the gifts of the Holy Spirit and confers the sacramental grace of strength to enable the recipient to be a strong Christian able to reach a high level of spiritual union with God. It also confers a `character` which marks the soul as a soldier of Christ, and giving it a share in the priesthood of Christ so that the person is now fit to assist in the salvation of souls. Christ Himself instituted this sacrament, for He alone(being God) could link divine grace with material elements and a visible rite. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090510145559AAQp3hD God bless and I forgive you for calling me a liar.

5) Comment by DMJ - 24/12/2012

One of the worst letters every written....and that's quite a low bar.

6) Comment by Tea_Slayer - 23/12/2012

More obfuscation from the good Christian. To put it more simply, to many baptists, unless you are "born again" you will not enter heaven. And since Catholics are not born again, they will go to hell. So quit your lying

7) Comment by Chucky - 23/12/2012

It was a sacrifice that all must pay for sin. That is just wrong.

8) Comment by Whatnow - 23/12/2012

I have heard Baptists say that Catholics will be consigned to the fiery depths? I've been a Baptist all of my life and I've visited many churches and heard thousands of sermons and never anything condemning any church who believes in God and Christ.

9) Comment by chem - 22/12/2012

Misterfalcon: Hats off to you. That was a great comment. You were right on.

10) Comment by misterfalcon - 22/12/2012

Wow, where to start. Please, please let us know which clinic or hospital you practice at, so I can avoid it like the plague. I'm sorry, I meant to say like the air-demons that squeeze the life- force and humors out of our lungs. Do you light ju-ju bags to chase out the asthma spirits? The truth is you have no idea why this young man lost touch with reality and slaughtered a classroom full of innocents and their hapless teachers. I have no idea, either. No one does, but I think that we can safely rule out "abortion demons." or abortion in the first place. Next you're going to tell us, like Pat Robertson, that abortion caused 9/11 or was it the homosexuals, or the homosexual abortion demons? It's so hard to keep all of this religion stuff straight. Ah, Mother Teresa! There's a shining beacon of hope, a modern day saint who lived in luxury, who palled around jet-set style with a guy who literally defecates into a gold-plated toilet, while preaching the virtue of being poor, poor, poor as you can be to make the baby Jesus smile. A real Saint who's actions sought to pour money into the Vatican's coffers. Why waste all of that eleemosynary cash on poor who will probably just spend it on food and transportation when one can use it to make great big houses with pretty windows, where, among other things, the poor can gather to pray for money for food and transportation! What a Saint she was! I think that it was entirely in-keeping in the spirit of the War on Christmas for you to pen this letter and use the slaughter of 27 innocents as your private, mass-communication soap-box to slander the President. I hope, that in the future, you and yours can Google this letter to remember that fond night in 2012 when you put pen to paper, or hand to keyboard, and used the death of dozens of 6 and 7 year olds as an opportunity to swipe at the rightfully elected President of our great country. Because, I'll tell you one thing, despite the constant assertion from the right that the U.S. is a terrible place to live, it's not. The majority of the people in this country are good people. People who want to by and large be left to their own devices to wind their way through this amazing world we each woke up in. Unfortunately, beginning with Reagan, elements on the right have increasingly sought out the power of the federal government to impose their will on the rest of us. Creating bugaboos and lists of horribles to frighten the unprepared and credulous with the unlikely and impossible. It's a shameful affair. It's something that you will always have this searchable, published letter to always remember your own small, promotional effort on behalf of those who would take away all of the hard-fought freedoms of modern America. Cherish it.

11) Comment by postscript56 - 22/12/2012

Mr. Mahoney - I respect your belief, but it does not support your reasoning. You seem to believe there was a time when all men worshipped God and respected each other, but there has never been a time when mankind was free of violence or perversion. As a Christian you must know you live in a fallen world. No amount of faith on the part of believers can change that. Also, in blaming a society indulging in sexual pervesion and murder as entertainment you do realize that includes gun manufacturers? They exist as business entities soley to profit from their products, which in the case of an AR-15-like weapon has no other purpose than to kill people. The guns are advertised in media and a gun shows accompanied by scantily-clad and nubile young women. One print media advertisment shows a Bushmaster .223 leaning sexily against more ammo than you could shoot in a month with the caption "Your man card has been re-issued." You were including all them in your criticism, right?

12) Comment by Scrooge - 22/12/2012

Which religion would be the correct one? I have heard Baptists say that Catholics will be consigned to the fiery depths and I sure wouldn't want to pick the wrong one. This letter is more about about a cultural Judeo-Christian cultural morality which is great, except those inconvenient Judeo-Christian ideas such as "man cannot serve both God and money" and "those who live by the sword die by the sword" as in "citizens cling to guns". Or the Golden rule tolerance and respect for others, which might even include a twice elected black President who must have been on better terms with God than his opponents. Certainly, the truth is more powerful than lies, hate and self-righteousness. Cling to your guns all you like, you will still die.

13) Comment by Scrooge - 22/12/2012

Mr. Mahoney, you said it well. It's a great letter and speaks to what I believe most people believe, all in their own way of course; not many people can express their feelings so openly because they don't want to seem judgmental or intolerant of the views of others since our society frowns on anyone who dares to criticize or even appear to criticize anything that the right holds dear, like vouchers for religious purposes and the adulation of Fox news cretins. 8.6, unfortunately, you are not intelligent enough to be characterized as a Pharisee, so just plain dumb will have to do. At least a Pharisee has the sense to make a show of pretense. Unfortunately, your comments which necessarily reflect your thinking, provide abject proof of the long-term failure of Louisiana schools. or in your case is it the failure of your genetics which likely include some you would not want to divulge?

14) Comment by Whatnow - 22/12/2012

The Heavenly Father didn't cause this tragedy or allow it to happen. The choice of the absence of The Heavenly Father in our lives caused this to happen. Wonderful letter Mr. Mahoney.

15) Comment by [e-mail] - 22/12/2012

Mr. Mahoney, you said it well. It's a great letter and speaks to what I believe most people believe, all in their own way of course; not many people can express their feelings so openly because they don't want to seem judgemental or intolerant of the views of others since our society frowns on anyone who dares to criticize or even appear to criticize anything that the left holds dear, like abortions and the adulation of Hollywood cretins.

16) Comment by Bouncer - 22/12/2012

As human beings, we all grapple with tragedies such as the most recent one in Newtown and try to make sense of it. Some people, such as Mr. Mahoney, choose to take refuge in their religion, and I respect their right to believe what they choose. I personally think that there is something diseased and dysfunctional woven into the fabric of American culture, and although I cannot specify exactly what that "something" is, I believe that it is largely responsible for the increase in violence. Some people call it "the devil." I choose to call it a shift in cultural mores. In such corrupt soil, strange, dangerous weeds will sprout and grow undetected until they blossom into violence. As a nation, we have blinded ourselves to the blindingly obvious. As it turns out, the children have been correct all along: there are monsters under the bed and in the closet.

17) Comment by Straight Shooter - 22/12/2012

"The solution to the Newtown tragedy is bringing God back into our schools and workplaces." I am a believer in a god, and if this was the solution to a complicated issue, I would put my child into a school that would allow my god to be in the school, and impose workplace rules where my god is steadfast in everyday work decisions. But which god does this writer speak of? There are numerous faiths believing in numerous different gods. Would the writer be comfortable with schools allowing all gods back into our schools and workplaces? Or is the writer only speaking of private schools and workplaces that only allow its employees to practice the faith of the employer's choice?

18) Comment by 8point6 - 22/12/2012

" The solution to the Newtown tragedy is bringing God back into our schools and workplaces." Mr. Mahoney, you DO know this will anger my "progressive" friends, don't you. I wish this medium would have printed this letter a couple of days ago, when most of my "progressive" friends were at their "work" computers. We could have read many "keep God out of public school" comments. Thank you for your letter, especially, the last paragraph.

19) Comment by chem - 22/12/2012

How callous of these relgious types that call for more "god". Their god stood by and allowed these people to be brutally murdered. How about that? Oh, wait. I forgot. God is a vengeful god. I'm sure this massacre happened because of homosexual marriage. God is angry so he took it out on school children and their teachers. What is really sad about this is all of the pictures of everyone in church praying to their god. For what? He allowed it to happen. Now they are going to a church to worship this same ***** What gullible fools.

20) Comment by Bighug - 22/12/2012

God would have killed those children in His own way, probably by having them eaten by bears. As for abortion, how about all those babies He had killed by having His soldiers slit open the stomachs of pregnant women? We certainly don't need Jehovah in our schools, and I doubt that anyone else's god is much better.