Newtown, Connecticut – a place up until Friday, most of
us never heard of. A “small” sleepy new england town has become the focus of
the world; has become the center of another American tragedy and the place of
unimaginable pain and grief. As president Obama said, anybody who is, or has
been, a parent is saddened by this tragedy. The world is a sadder place because
of the actions of another deranged gunman. I cannot begin to even imagine the
sorrow, the hurt, the anger and helplessness that the parents of these murder
victims must feel. My empathy is but a tiny fraction of their pain, yet I am sickened
by yet another senseless tragedy.
I don’t believe much could have been done to prevent
what happened. Connecticut have some of
the strictest gun laws in the states and the school had well-rehearsed lock
down procedures and safety practices in place. But immediately the questions of
gun control and gun laws are brought forward by the press, the president and
many bystanders. To me it’s a no brainer, the need to do something is long overdue.
The continued violence carried out with guns is not worth the right to bear
arms, not to mention the absolute stupidity of any argument for allowing anyone
to own a high powered machine gun or extended magazines. There is not a need
for stronger gun licensing; there is, however, a need for an outright ban of
anything but long guns. This isn’t rocket science it a matter of simple
comparison of what works and what doesn’t, and what is happening south of the
49th parallel doesn’t work.
What I do find so ironic is how quickly churches and
spirituality come into play in the face of tragedy; not that, that in itself is
ironic, tragedy naturally brings people back to their spiritual roots. The
President himself skilfully used scripture to bring comfort and hope in his
speech to the citizens of Newtown. The ironic part is that schools all over
North America have systematically pushed God out in the name of freedom of
religion, but flock directly back to church in the face of tragedy. I believe
schools should not be exclusive to one religion, but as much as prayer, faith
and spirituality are a part all societies so must prayer, faith and
spirituality have a place in all schools.
How long are we going to allow the vocal tiny minority drive God out of school?
This is not about exerting Christianity on anybody. This is about recognizing
that as much as we have physical, emotional and mental facets we also have a spiritual
aspect. We must move beyond the scientific idealism of modernism and move to the new reality of the postmodern
era which declares people to be more than the sum of matter but rather an whole
being which includes spirituality.
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