The gun problem is a God problem

We are missing something in these gun control debates.

Having a lot of guns is not a new phenomenon in our country. Before our Constitution was even ratified (1789), James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers to explain and defend the proposed Constitution in order to gain the necessary votes to ratify it.

In one of the papers, it was noted that we are an "armed" people. And this was touted as a good thing because it preserved our freedom and protected us from dictatorships.

If guns are now a problem in our society, after almost 225 years, then we have a bigger problem than guns. Our people have changed. They have changed from being responsible people who cared for each other to angry people filled with hatred.

How did this happen? It happened because we have removed God from our schools and our public life, and there just isn't anything to replace it that encourages personal responsibility and positive regard for other people.

We keep invoking tolerance, but we fail to provide a reason why we should tolerate anybody or anything. Tolerance itself only encourages people to put up with or simply to ignore people we don't like.

It doesn't deal with anger and hatred. The Bible taught us to love our neighbors.

The court called supreme got it wrong when they said that government cannot aid religion. Our founders, including George Washington, often spoke of religion and morality as being essential to a happy and prosperous people. (Read his farewell speech and the Northwest Ordinance as examples.)

Our schools used to have rifle clubs. Now they have metal detectors.

Larry Craig

Wilmette