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Are we mad enough?

To the editor:

Contrary to the opinion expressed in the “mad as hell” letter of Feb. 27, God has never been banned from public schools. The law has not required it, and it would be impossible, because God and faith are within the people there. Teachers and students don’t drop their faith at the door, just as we don’t when we go into stores, cafes, factories, or anywhere else. Faith exists where there is no organized prayer led by an employer. Faith survives the hours we work without the boss organizing group prayer. We don’t need a designated moment of silence to offer a prayer at work. Schools are workplaces too, for students as well as teachers. It’s at home and places of worship where children are taught religion in the way their parents choose.

Students are free to pray in school and read the Bible or other holy books, as long as they are not disruptive. A simple explanation of what the law says about public school prayer is “Individual, voluntary religious activity by students is permitted; school-sponsored religious worship is not.” This is meant to protect everyone’s religious freedom. When people say school shootings happen because God isn’t there, maybe that’s just an excuse to blame the schools — and blame government.

The number of students who commit such horrific violence is so small compared to the number of amazing, outstanding, good kids in our schools. That has always been true, just as it’s true there have always been violent people, unstable people. There have been documented shootings in schools since the 1800’s, usually resulting in one fatality. The year 1966 stands out because a man killed 17 and wounded 31, shooting for 96 minutes from a tower on a Texas college campus. The nation was shocked by the murder of six and wounding of 32 at a California elementary school in 1989, and former President Reagan said, “I do not believe in taking away the right of the citizen for sporting, for hunting and so forth, or for home defense. But I do believe that an AK-47, a machine gun, is not a sporting weapon or needed for defense of a home.”

Columbine. Sandy Hook. Parkland. What changed in school shootings over the years is the easy access to weapons which inflict more traumatic wounds and destroy more lives in less time. We should be mad as hell about that. We should be mad enough to do something this time.

Patricia Missling

Springfield

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