April 2005     

Cowboy-up America...

Secular Humanism and the Lost Generation

By Ronald J. White

Back to the Future

In 1947, the Supreme Court set a new policy for America with its blatant disregard for the First Amendment. The Court decided America no longer needed God for good government, or the pursuit of individual happiness. Then, from 1962 until now, judges who were educated under the doctrines of secular humanism, issued decisions that have removed God and religion from schools, and most of our government (October 2004, eco•logic Powerhouse).

As a result, a large portion of today's children and young adults are a lost generation, left to fend for themselves without a Christian world-view and its foundational principles.

Why then, are we surprised when 20 percent of high school students carry lethal weapons to school, including guns, knives, razors, and clubs? Why do we wonder at the statistics that the average age for the first use of marijuana is 13; that its use by eighth graders doubled since 1991; and, 20 percent of fourteen-year-olds have used marijuana at least once?

Shouldn't we expect high use levels of hard drugs and alcohol, with more thefts and robberies to pay for them? How about wide open sexual practices, no regard for authority, and lying and cheating in school, and later, as government officials and leaders? And, it should come as no surprise that all this culminates in a morality that holds no regard for human life.

Tragically, it has all led to the gut-wrenching, often random, public junior high and high school shootings. Although there are others, a partial listing illustrates the incidents that have occurred around the nation.

February 1996, Moses Lake, Washington 14 year old boy kills 3, wounds 1.

October 1997, Pearl, Mississippi 16 year old boy kills 2, wounds 7.

December 1997, West Paducah, Kentucky 14 year old student kills 3, wounds 5.

March 1998, Jonesboro, Arkansas 2 boys ages 11 and 13 kill 5, wound 10.

May 1998, Springfield, Oregon 15 year old student kills 2.

April 1999, Littleton, Colorado 2 high school boys kill 13 plus themselves, wound 20.

November 1999, Deming, New Mexico 12 year old boy kills 1.

December 1999, Fort Gibson, Oklahoma 13 year old boy wounds 4.

March 2001, El Cajon, California 18 year old male student wounds 5.

August 2002, Santee, California 15 year old boy kills 2, wounds 13.

The statistics are horrifying, but they do not convey the trauma and terror experienced by the survivors, or the heartbreak endured by the families and friends of those who were killed. The implications to society are evident in the overall decline in the standards of every part of our culture. Why have these students committed these atrocities?

To start with, their relatively short learning and life experiences certainly were not positive. They have been taught in school, and by example, that they can do whatever feels good at the moment. There is no right or wrong. Humans evolved by chance from amalgamated chemicals in primordial slime, and are, therefore, only expendable beings without a soul or spirit. There is no God, and thus no eternal moral or personal accountability. Go for the gusto man, get whatever you can, because nothing matters anyway! Absolutely nothing!

Yes, the courts and the public education system both played a role in this tragedy. But in retrospect, who is really to blame? Who has not met their responsibilities? I submit it is "We the people...," specifically we Christians. Christians have stood by and lost the war to influence young minds through the public education system. Christians are standing by and letting the courts legalize us into moral chaos. Christians have lost their influence in government and most areas of America's culture. Now we have produced, and are producing, generations who don't have the moral fiber to become great leaders, to appropriately raise children, to continue our Christian heritage. As a society we have been complacent and self-absorbed, wrapped in our security blankets handed down by the Founders.

We need to decide if we want the nation to continue along its current path, or do we want to change things and get America back to its roots of a Christian heritage. Do we really have a choice in the matter? Next month's column will take a look at this question because it is time to cowboy-up America!

Ronald J. White is the President of the Coalition of Arizona/New Mexico Counties for Stable Economic Growth. He also conducts Freedom is Not Free - A seminar/forum to restore American liberty, with participants developing and implementing solutions for local and national issues.
P.O. Box 115, Monticello, NM 87939.