Tragedy could be the devil’s work

We recently had a tragic incident with the school shooting. What do our leaders do? They attack the tool not the cause. A gun is a tool; it can be used to provide food, as a sport, target shooting, for protection, for the protection of the country and, yes, as a tool of destruction, as in the school shooting.

During my lifetime, I have seen prayer and God taken out of the schools and the Ten Commandments banned from all public areas. I think one of them says: “Thou Shall not Kill.”

Maybe we have pushed God so far out of our lives that the devil has moved in on our country. I don’t know just maybe.

J.D. Weldon

retired engineer

Plaquemine

Comments

1) Comment by phil - 30/01/2013

should have been "(or whatever YOU call evil)" in my last comment.

2) Comment by phil - 30/01/2013

For the folks here against religion - you are correct again. There is no evil in the world. There are no killings, there are no wars, there are no terrorists, and the devil (or whatever YOU can evil) does not exist either. Maybe we have not pushed God or prayer out of schools after all. Maybe we have just invited evil in.

3) Comment by 1ryben - 29/01/2013

The Twilight Zone started with the headline writer and went downhill as you read the article. And yes, I'll agree our (mine certainly) went toward the bizzar. I'm sorry, the rugaru made me do it.

4) Comment by swinham - 29/01/2013

Somehow, this thread has crossed over into the Twilight Zone. Nobody seems to get anybody else's points. We seem to have reached that "failure to communicate" point.

5) Comment by 1ryben - 29/01/2013

So there is no way a gun, you know the things that fired the bullets into those kids, has anything to do with this. Oh yea, its the evil spirits, the Wicked Witch of the West, the Dark Side of the Force. Worse, it's the media! Between the other opinion and the Almighty Blasphmer, you religious nuts are quite entertaining. It was a rough few days, thanks for the laugh.

6) Comment by DMJ - 29/01/2013

If someone's going to bring up their religion in public, I'm going to ridicule it. I'll see your 1st Amendment and I'll raise you one 1st Amendment.... If they stop, I'll stop. Scouts honor.

7) Comment by Triple - 29/01/2013

Rhonda Browning strikes again! Blame the GOP for low MPG, flatulence, climate change, pot holes, high taxes, forest fires, earth quakes, endangered species, pestilence, fish aren't biting, mosquitoes are biting, motion sickness, toe nail fungus, gingivitis, tendinitis,and the list goes on and on....the right has Phil, port siders have Twinkie, equilibrium in the blogasphere.

8) Comment by twinkie1cat - 29/01/2013

God and prayer were NOT taken out of the public schools. Evangelization organized, required prayer were. That is a lie from the Republicans in order to garner votes. And I always ask of people who whine about school prayer: WHOSE PRAYER WOULD YOU SAY? Would you recite the rosary, pray in tongues, or bow to Mecca? We have kids of every faith and no faith in our public schools (or what we have left of them after Jindal's winnowing). Whose prayer do you pray?

9) Comment by billynurse - 29/01/2013

DMJ, etc. : Mr Weldon didn't ridicule your beliefs. "Weird, creepy" may be a picture of you at your keyboard , in your parents basement in your undies. (With plenty of free time for your comments)

10) Comment by Triple - 29/01/2013

"Well, there are all manner of lesser imps and demons, Pete, but the great Satan hisself is red and scaly with a bifurcated tail, and he carries a hay fork. " Ulysses Everett McGill

11) Comment by potkcalb - 29/01/2013

Yes it's got to be that bad old devil with his the wolfish mien, bristly hair, horns and forked tail who is causing all the ruckus.

12) Comment by chem - 29/01/2013

It is a lie that this country was founded on Christian principles. A collective group, called Christian Revisionists, have been working overtime to rewrite history. David Barton, the most well known of these revisionists, has been proven to be a liar, making up quotes by the Founders of this country. It is quite ironic that these "christians" have to lie by fabricating quotes to prove their fallacious notions. Here are a few real quotes. Please take note of the first one from the Treaty of Tripoli. “The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.”
~1797 Treaty of Tripoli signed by John Adams •• “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.”
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut, 1802 •• “I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another.”
~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Elbridge Gerry, January 26, 1799 •• “Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”
 ~Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814 •• “Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion and Government in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history.”
~James Madison; Monopolies, Perpetuities, Corporations, Ecclesiastical Endowments

13) Comment by DMJ - 29/01/2013

We should have armed exorcists in all public schools. Put holy water in a squirt gun that also converts to a real gun and we can cover all bases. Weird, creepy letter, J.D.

14) Comment by phil - 29/01/2013

A good point. There are 2 forces - good and evil. Some people tend to blame religion and God for evil in this world. The Bible indicates that the real leader of evil on Earth is indeed the devil. The devil twists the meaning of religion around and influences religious terrorists (and others) for his own purposes.

15) Comment by jdk944 - 29/01/2013

Yep, more "panic" from those who can't stand to see anything combined with God!!! Again, your opinions on this are just that, opinions. Void of facts. Facts on how "religion" specifically Judeo Christian princples played a MAJOR role in this country's history, founding principles etc. But then again, expected.

16) Comment by DMJ - 29/01/2013

Yeah, it wasn't an AR 15. It was the devil. I'm really glad this debate hasn't been dumbed down...

17) Comment by swinham - 29/01/2013

Bouncer is right. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, something's going on and we don't know what it is. So calling it the devil's work is as good a label as any. In trying to figure out the motivation, it's hard to say how much influence passively watching violence in movies has in incitement of these things, but less difficult to see how actively participating in violent video games does. Devil's work? Perhaps.

18) Comment by JimmyD7 - 29/01/2013

@Tradewinns: the censor is more likely a computer program than a person. Just one keyword on their list of no-nos will get your post deleted.

19) Comment by JimmyD7 - 29/01/2013

The letterwriter seems to imagine that, back in the golden age of America when the ten commandments were posted everywhere, there was never any murder or adultery or stealing. All of these, by his logic, showed up when American began taking down the ten commandments and prohibiting organized prayer in schools. Who knew that a poster and a minute of prayer each day could be so powerfully effective? This is called Magical Thinking.

20) Comment by [e-mail] - 29/01/2013

Evil is always with us, and some of us are duped to serve its purposes which is to torment the rest of us. There's no question that prayer and mainstream relilgion is under attack; the forces aligned against it are formidable. Just consider the Islamics and the media.

21) Comment by tradewinns - 29/01/2013

guess the censor didn't agree with my comments. i neither curse nor express racial or sexual views in my comments so i must have offended someone's christian beliefs. i would like to know what was wrong with the post so i won't repeat the transgression.

22) Comment by potkcalb - 29/01/2013

Moses, the 10 commandments on the Supreme Court, and In God We Trust on coins are primarily deemed to be expressions of cultural tradition. They are not considered endorsements of religion.

23) Comment by Bouncer - 29/01/2013

Such a tragedy is the result of some malignity in human nature that is so horrible that the only way we can process it is to give it some sort of name....like psychosis, sociopathy.......or the devil. Call it what you will, it's beyond comprehension.

24) Comment by Triple - 29/01/2013

Bighug, Your math is a bit questionable, the last 6 - honor your parents, shalt not kill, shalt not commit adultery, shalt not steal, shalt not bear false witness, shalt not covet - are not specific to religion. I'm surprised you weren't sure about that. Stone masons and new doors need to be sent to the Supreme Court building, the 10-C's are on display!

25) Comment by Bighug - 29/01/2013

Yes, JD, one of them does say "Thou shalt not kill." I'm surprised you weren't sure about that. Seven of the ten are specific to religion, and have no place on any property supported by taxpayers who have different beliefs. Surely even the killer knew about that commandment and the law against murder.

26) Comment by potkcalb - 29/01/2013

Prayer is legal in all public schools. Because they want official recognition of religion in the educational setting, religious fundamentalists promote the canard that God has been kicked out of the schools and that "poor little boys and girls can't pray in the schools." Students can bring religious literature to school, have religious clubs, engage in a variety of religious activities. But there are limitations because public schools are government agencies no different from other institutions funded by taxpayers of many different religions or of no religious persuasion. Like all other such agencies schools can not infuse, inculcate, or give official sanction to religion.

27) Comment by gary - 29/01/2013

J.D, so, god just turned his back on those 20 children and 6 teachers - he was just showing all of us what the devil can do. God should have protected them against this nut case - don't u think?

28) Comment by tradewinns - 28/01/2013

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