June 9, 1998

Dear Mr. Roeper, Ms. Voltner, and Mr. Kogan:

I heard your talkshow for the first time yesterday, and your conversation regarding the recent shootings across the country by school children caught my attention.

During your discussion, someone mentioned the intent of the founding fathers of this nation in regard to the issue of the right to bear arms. The statement was to the effect that the founding fathers certainly did not consider how violence would escalate to the point that people would be shooting each other over parking spaces, gang wars, etc... The suggested solution was to outlaw or ban certain types of weapons.

Without getting too deep into the intent of the founding fathers on this subject, let me first state that judging from the second amendment to the constitution regarding the right to bear arms, you noted yourselves that it was the intent for people to own arms for the purpose of maintaining a regular militia. It seems to me that the founding fathers intended to put the arms of the military in the hands of the individuals and not under the control of a central government. Our government, however, has already legislated away the rights of citizens to own military weapons.

I agree that there has been a great increase in the instance of murders and other violent and senseless crimes, but I disagree with your premise that it is the proliferation of guns that has caused our society to degenerate to such a low moral stature. While I do not own a gun and do not anticipate purchasing one, it is my observation that you have completely missed the intent of our founding fathers on another important topic, that of our Christian heritage.

A lack of respect for life and an attitude of selfishness have certainly pervaded our society, and you can trace a direct correlation to the changing mores of our society with the exponential increase of drug and alcohol abuse, teen suicide, teen pregnancy, and the wanton violence that is plaguing our land today.

Although the landmark Supreme Court Cases of the 1960s (Abington v. Schemmp, 374 U.S. 203 and Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421) did not ban prayer in schools outright, they exemplified the shifting of our attitudes as Americans away from God. Our society has shifted from its Christian roots to a materialistic, godless, hedonistic society. Where once the schools across our nation complimented the moral values taught in the home, used the Bible to teach reading as well as virtuous character, and generally encouraged prayer, today the schools are a moral vacuum. God has been taken out of the equation, right and wrong is a gray area, sexual deviation is being pushed on our young people, and our children are being told that the this magnificent universe is not a creation, but an accident of nature, and that they themselves have "evolved" from some lower life form. Teachers who try to balance the viewpoints by sharing religious views are pressured with suspension and, in some cases, termination.

The bottom line? You are not going to stop violence by legislating away weapons. You can only stop violence by instilling moral character in people. Our government, schools, and society have been chipping away at the foundation of our moral character for the past 200 years. Teachers are now suspended for reading a Bible on their lunch hour in an empty classroom. Students are reprimanded for choosing religious topics when they are given a choice of "any topic" on which to write a report. Childen are sent home because they are wearing clothing with a religious message, while no one complains about clothing with materialistic, secular messages. Our television programs and movies are filled with killing and violence, and cities which have displayed Christian symbols in their city seal for hundreds of years are sued.

Our founding fathers understood very plainly that Christianity was the basis of our government and that when we strayed from that foundation chaos would ensue. Consider this quote from Patrick Henry:

"It cannot be emphasized to strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ." - Patrick Henry

Or this quote from Benjamin Franklin:

"In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered.

"All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor.....And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth..... that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

"We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little, partial local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we our selfs shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest.

"I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessings on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business."

In short, weapons are not the problem in our society today, and no amount of legislation is going to change the heartless, violent, cruel society we live in. If you legislate away guns and people begin to use stones to kill each other, would you then legislate away stones?

As the Supreme Court redefines the "intent of the founding fathers," they tend to ignore their Christian convictions. The founding fathers of our nation were wise men who understood that the nation that forgets God shall surely perish. They knew that if we pushed Jesus Christ out of our daily lives our society would crumble. We are seeing that prophecy fulfilled before our eyes today.

You cannot legislate goodness and compassion into people. The anguish, frustration, emptiness, restlessness, violence, and immorality we see sweeping through our nation is a direct result of the systematic removal of Jesus Christ from every institution in America.

Sincerely,

Patrick A. Taylor

P.S. I thought you would also find the following quote from Coleridge interesting and pertinent.

Letting Children Free to Develop?

Coleridge was once talking with a man who told him that he did not believe in giving little children any religious instruction whatsoever. His theory was that the child's mind should not be prejudiced in any direction, but when he came to years of discretion he should be permitted to choose his religious opinions for himself. Coleridge said nothing; but after a while he asked his visitor if he would like to see his garden. The man said he would, and Coleridge took him out into the garden, where only weeds were growing. The man looked at Coleridge in surprise, and said, "Why this is not a garden! There's nothing but weeds here!"

"Well, you see," answered Coleridge, "I did not wish to infringe upon the liberty of the garden in any way. I was just giving the garden a chance to express itself and to choose its own production."