OPINION:
Democrats would have it believed — fervently wish and hope and dream that it could be believed — that every time a horrendous shooting takes place in this country, it’s due to the existence of the Second Amendment. Or to the existence of President Donald Trump.
But the reasons for the shootings have little to do with the guns themselves, or politics, for that matter, and everything to do with evil.
They have everything to do with evil hearts and evil minds and evil intents that come in many forms, through many open doors.
One open door?
Broken families.
“There is a father absence crisis in America,” wrote Fatherhood.org. “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 19.7 million children, more than 1 in 4, live without a father in the home. Consequently, there is a father factor in nearly all social ills facing America today.”
The statistics here simply scream.
The U.S. Department of Justice in its “What Can the Federal Government Do To Decrease Crime and Revitalize Communities” report from 1998, for instance, found that children without fathers in the home account for 63 percent of youth suicides; 90 percent of youth runaways; 85 percent of youth behavioral disorders; 71 percent of high school dropouts; 70 percent of youth incarcerations at state-run facilities; 75 percent of youth patients in drug abuse facilities; and 75 percent of all rapists who are deemed to have motivated by anger.
That’s from way back in 1998.
The data hasn’t changed much over the years.
According to Census Bureau findings in 2017, children without fathers in their home were four times more likely than children with fathers in the home to live in poverty; seven times more likely to become pregnant during the teen years; more likely to have behavioral problems, drug and alcohol use problems, abuse and neglect problems; more likely to commit crimes and go to prison; and were twice as likely to drop out of school during their high school years.
All that — to say this: Children in crisis, living in chaos, often make poor choices, desperate choices, mentally unstable choices. And, they grow to adulthood carting the baggage of their youth, filled with emotionally unstable thoughts, fueled by emotionally unstable motivations.
It’s an open door for evil.
It’s a breeding ground for mental health disorders that manifest in violent ways.
Add to that the prevalence of prescriptions of behavior-altering drugs to our nation’s children — drugs with long-terms effects that are still widely unknown; the prevalence of illegal drugs in society at-large — and now, the actual government-sanctioned selling of marijuana for recreational use, as if caution on certain forms of substance abuse is no longer necessary; the mass acceptance of social immoralities, from abortion to adultery to promiscuity — and the dramatic consequences that can come, including sexually transmitted diseases; and the slow but steady creep of abnormalities as normalcies — the forced feeding of transgenderism through the public schools, for example. And what’s the final result?
Confusion.
Fear.
Brokenness.
Negative feelings that breed anger; unfulfilled needs that breed mental instability.
Open doors for evil to enter.
The solution to all this is God. The left laughs. The left mocks. But on this, the left has been winning.
America has been steadily removing all mentions of God from the public sector; America has been steadily turning the youth of the country away from church pews. It’s been the rise of the Nones, the era of the non-religious, for years.
” ’Nones’ now as big as evangelicals, Catholics in the U.S.,” Religion News reported in March.
Prayer in schools? Prayer at football games? Prayer at the family dinner table?
All that’s given way to a special type of liberal-leaning spiritualism that detests the perceived confines of religion — the rules and expectations and standards of morality that often accompany genuine faith — and that instead, relies on self for guidance. It’s the “it’s my life, and I can do what I want” way of thinking. It’s the “you can’t tell me what to do” way of living. Or, worse, it’s the “Jesus loves us all, no matter what we do” way of believing.
No absolutes, no societal standards. No truths.
Certainly, no boundaries based on fear of higher accountability.
Now, put a gun in the hand of someone like that — and what you get is a Dayton, Ohio. Or an El Paso, Texas. Or a Virginia Beach, Virginia. Or a Parkland, Florida. The list goes on. Sadly, tragically, the list goes on.
It’s high time to close the doors to this evil.
Simply stripping the Second Amendment won’t do it. Won’t do anything, in fact, except take guns out of the hands of the already law-abiding and give the advantage to the ones who seek to do harm.
No, the only surefire way to ward off evil is by embracing God.
It’s time America get back to church, get back to prayer — get back to some good old-fashioned principles of confession and repentance — and teach our children in the way they should go on this.
Because one thing is sure: This American experiment called Religious None-ism sure ain’t working.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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