Removing God

The initiative to take God out of schools started when Madalyn Murray O'Hair (founder of the American Atheists Organization) filed a lawsuit claiming it was unconstitutional for her son to participate in prayer and bible readings in school. It was ruled on June 25, 1962, that prayer was no longer permitted in the schools.

The aftermath of one of the deadliest school shootings brings up the question, "Should God have been taken out of the schools?"

I wasn't there when this decision was made. I went to Catholic schools all my life, so it didn't affect me. I had to research when this occurred, and was surprised it happened before I was even born.

If God was never taken from the public schools, would the world be a better place? You could argue that, yes, it would be, because the righteousness of God would be ingrained on a daily basis. If the parents weren't praying with their kids at home, at least they were praying in school.

But why should it be up to the school? Ultimately, it is up to the parents to ensure that their children are following a Christian life.

America is a melting pot of different races and beliefs. I can see why it's important not to shoehorn kids into the Christian routines of prayer and bible readings. I don't understand why religion can't exist.

Prayer chains

Do they work?

The largest prayer chain in the history of the universe is not going to bring back those sweet little children. It is not going to heal the bereaving survivors any sooner. There will be no sense of peace when the parents wake up on Christmas morning to a silent house.

Many people are heartsick over the shooting of those kindergarteners. They are not our kids, but we can imagine how we'd feel if we were their parents. And just knowing how delicately we hang on the balance between life and death... well, it's a scary thing. It can happen to any of us.

It's an odd thing. People don't like to feel helpless. They don't like to feel fear. So they pray. They pray to a loving God who had a purpose for those children--to make them angels in heaven, to teach the world a lesson, to remind people that he's the badass in charge of this whole piss-pot world.

If I were one of the parents who lost a child, I'd be like, "Hey God, WTF?"

I feel terrible about what happened. I feel scared and helpless too. But I don't pray. I don't believe in prayer, or hope, or fate.

Life is a crapshoot. Today those kids rolled snake eyes.