There is very tragic irony swirling around the recent cult suicides in San Diego. We are constantly reminded from many quarters that we have arrived at such a sophisticated and high level of evolution that we are beyond believing in the myths of ancient religions which beset our poor ignorant forefathers. Yet the further our high courts and our rulers and teachers lead us away from our religious base and the more we come to accept their high sounding proclamations and court rulings to the effect that there is no God, the weirder the beliefs of many people become. Who but people with terribly cluttered up emotional landscapes can believe that one can kill one's body, then hitch a ride on a rocket, hidden behind a comet which is 122 million miles away from planet earth, in order for the soul away from our religious base and to ride on into heaven!

How long has it been high sounding proclamations and (1962) since the Engel vs. Vitale Supreme Court ruling to the effect that there is no God, the weirder the permitting prayer in public beliefs of many people become. schools was a violation of the First Amendment to the constitution. Yet most young people, knowing nothing of the content of the First Amendment, took that ruling to mean that God has no place in the lives of modem man.

It is the contention of many thinking people that it is the Supreme Court ruling and its enforcement, that is actually in violation of the First Amendment, which says: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

It may be that Congress has made no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion but the Supreme Court and many educational institutions, including public schools, most certainly have. But that is not the point of this essay.

A well respected professor of English, who is well known to me, taught at Western Kentucky University for years and constantly argued that the further the leaders of the people led them away from their religious base, the more dangerous it would become. That teacher was a prophet in this respect. Look at juvenile crime and juvenile criminals. Look at the increasing numbers of young people using dangerous drugs. I have no actual statistics right here before me, but I do read good newspapers on a daily basis; I subscribe to three national news magazines (two liberal, one conservative) all of which I read in a good measure of detail. I spend at least one hour early each morning on the "web" checking out the news. I also am alive, active and, I think, alert, and I see what is happening every day before our eyes. I overhear the filthy language of young people which leaves me limp.

I taught secondary school a few years in southern California in the early I 980s and was frequently grossly sickened by what I saw and heard. Young, beautiful girls from respectable families were using filthy language and smoking "pot." Their mothers would not hear a word of it when I tried to tell them, but rather screamed shrill insults back at me telling me they knew their children much better than I did, only to come crying the blues when their little darlings turned up pregnant. I didn't see anything like that anywhere when I was a secondary school student. I read and hear about and see "teen crime" and "teen criminals" every day. I didn't see anything like that when I was a teen-ager back before the liberal surge. I could go on and on much longer in the same vein if it did not pain me so, but I think you now do get the point of this essay.

Guardian of Truth XLI: 10 p. 1
April May 1, 1997