Tom Beaulieu
“Dr. Dobson, I take issue with your recent public statements. You use your status to tell millions that the Sandy Hook shootings happened because of a) gay marriage, b) abortions and c) because “we removed prayer from schools”.
a) Gay marriage does absolutely nothing in our nation except allow two people who love each other the equality of getting married. Regardless of your unfounded fears, what two men or women do in their private lives will have no effect on your life. Homosexuality has existed since the beginning of man, and is documented in over 100 different species of animal. It is something you either are or are not born with, and to think that it has any causation for the killings of six year olds is both irrational and irresponsible.
b) Christians always claim that God despises abortion, but the bible is FULL of God (or those directed by him) killing innocent babies; often-times within the womb. To select a few: Hosea 13:16, 2 Kings 15:16, 1 Samuel 15:3, Psalms 135:8 & 136:10, Psalms 137:9(!!), Isaiah 13:15-18, Jeremiah 19:9, Judges 11:30-40, 2 Kings 6:28-29, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Judges 19:24-29, 2 Kings 2:23-24, Leviticus 26:29, 1 Samuel 15:33, Exodus 21:22-25, Hosea 9:11-16, Numbers 31:17, Jeremiah 11:22-23, Lamentations 2:20-22, Genesis 22:9-10, 1 Kings 3:24-25, Matthew 19:29, and my personal favorite, Numbers 5:11-21, which is a recipe for a sort-of ‘homemade miscarriage inducement kit’. (the predecessor to the coat hangar abortion) But regardless of the religion-vs-abortion debate, can you seriously make the connection that abortions are responsible for school shootings?
c) The Christian default position. That school shootings happen because prayer was removed from schools. Just to clarify, prayer was never removed from schools. Children can pray to whom they want, when they want. No one is stopping them. What changed was the removal of an enforced time and manner in which to pray to a school-directed theology. A public school, funded and essentially operated by the government, cannot favor one religion over another in a nation that espouses freedom of religion as one of its core tenants. Again, children are free to pray to whatever deity they choose to believe in. Given the scary nature of the Sandy Hook incident, it’s safe to say there were Christian children inside the school praying to God. Christian children who were killed. Now, assuming that God is an all-powerful, omnipotent, omniscient deity, surely the feeble laws of an even more feeble man could do nothing to stop him from protecting the faithful; especially children who are surely more innocent and closer to being devoid of sin? Or, if you prefer, here’s a different angle to view it from- if you truly, genuinely believe that school shootings happen because we took prayer out of schools, then how do you explain the growing number of church shootings; usually by members from within it’s congregation?
There is no simple cause for the Sandy Hook incident, just like there is no easy solution to preventing school shootings. Better treatment of mental illness would be a wonderful first step. Improving education and safety procedures is equally good. But using a tragedy as a platform to push your own belief-agenda is more than counter-productive. It’s downright despicable.”
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