VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE: Blame Enough to Go Around!

      The months leading up to the 2016 presidential conventions in July were rife with violence.  The first 3 months of the year showed significant increases in the homicide rate in six major cities across the U.S.: including Chicago; Dallas; Jacksonville,Florida; Las Vegas; Los Angeles and Memphis (1).
    
     In early July, Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge, LA became the 135th black person killed by police in 2016 (2).   Black Lives Matter organized to challenge this violence against them.  On July 7th a Dallas sniper gunned police officers, killing 5 of them and sending screaming crowds scrambling for cover.  The following week a gunman ambushed and killed three law officers in Baton Rouge, wounding three others.

GUN CONTROL OR PRISON?

     The political parties took differing positions in regard to the tragic escalation of violence.  President Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party platform called for increased gun control legislation.  The Republican candidate, Donald Trump, called for law and order and an increase in prison sentences for law breakers.

ENOUGH BLAME TO GO AROUND

      However, these are stop gap measures.  They are not solutions but scapegoat measures that place the blame for violence on the perpetrators of crimes that have grown out of anger and fear, while pretending that the rest of us hold no blame.

     Behaviors do not occur in a vacuum.  Behaviors grow from the images that have formed in the mind about what behaviors are expected, what behaviors are legally accepted and what behaviors are appropriate. 

     Sadly, the moral foundation upon which our country was founded is under attack and disappearing. 

IN GOD WE TRUST

      Our first president, George Washington, said, "True religion offers to government its surest support."  Religion in general and Christianity in particular have provided a moral foundation for American life.

     The last act of Congress signed by President Lincoln required that IN GOD WE TRUST be inscribed upon our national coins.

      In 1949, President Truman states, "When the U.S. was established...the motto was IN GOD WE TRUST.  That is still our motto and we still place our firm trust in God."

      In 1961, John F. Kennedy stated, "The guiding principle of this nation has been, is now, and ever shall be IN GOD WE TRUST." (3)

FAITH UNDER ATTACK

     In 1962 and 1963, three decisions by the Supreme Court of the U.S. decreed that school sponsored prayer and Bible reading were unconstitutional.  Engel v. Vitale in 1962 decreed that a prayer approved by the New York Board of Regents for use in schools violated the First Amendment because it represented the establishment of religion. (4).

     Following these decisions, discussions of religious ideas and values were censored within the schools.  Children who talked of God or religious values were silenced and told that school was not a place for these discussions.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS UNDER ATTACK

     Throughout the history of our country the Ten Commandments have been upheld as moral expectations handed down to humankind from God through the prophet Moses some 3,500 years ago.  The first four commandments require honor and respect for God, and the fifth commandment requires honor for parents.  The remaining five commandments outline behaviors that lead to social harmony.  These include the commandments to not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear a false witness, or covet what belongs to another.

     These commandments have been held in reverence by the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths throughout their history.  Respect for the commandments provided a moral foundation for appropriate social behaviors. Children were taught early to learn and respect them.

     When  some parents challenged a Kentucky state law that required the posting of the commandments in each public school classroom, the decision went to the Supreme Court.  On Nov. 17, 1980, by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled in Stone v. Graham that the law was unconstitutional.

     Many court buildings contained plagues or monuments outlining the Ten Commandments, including even some in the Supreme Court building.  In June of 2005, the Supreme Court by a 5-4 decision ruled that the Ten Commandments could not be displayed in court buildings or on government property.  Children watched as the media dramatically covered the controversial removal of these monuments.

ASSAULTS ON THE SANCTITY OF SEXUALITY

     Moral codes relating to sexuality have been the concern of religious leaders and civil philosophers throughout history.

     Traditional sexual values supported 'Love and Marriage', protecting sexual behaviors for the formation of a 'death do us part' family for enduring nurture, support and child rearing.

     In 1926, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, challenged the moral codes when she formed the American Birth Control League.  Her interest was promoting free love, sexual freedom and birth control (5).

      When the birth control pill was introduced in the early 1960's, women were challenged to enter into casual sexual relationships.  By 1997, 418 public schools were making condoms available to students (6).

     Pornography, considered the seedy business of underground markets, brought sex into the living rooms of America when Hugh Hefner, influenced by the sexual research of  Alfred Kinsey, published Playboy magazine in 1953.  Pornography is addictive and can lead to desires that escalate.  Sex became an almost expected behavior of casual relationships.  Rape, serial killings and sexual trafficking became prevalent.

     In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated sodomy laws as a criminal offense in Lawrence v. Texas, making same sex activity legal.  By 2012 the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 636,000 people had died from HIV/AIDS, a disease primarily transferred by men having sex with men.

ASSAULTS ON THE SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY

      In 1970 no-fault divorce was introduced in California and soon became the norm.  The 'death do us part' expectations of family were challenged.  Divorce escalated and each year over a million children experienced the divorce of their family, many responded to the breakup of their family with shock, fear and grieving.

     In 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court passed Roe v. Wade, making the taking of a child's life in the womb a legal 'right' for  women.  The CDC reports that since 1973, close to 60 million babies have been aborted in the United States.

     Television producers discovered that graphic images of sex and violence increased their ratings and profits as they brought in more advertisers.  In response to complaints, the family hour established by the Federal Communication Commission in 1975 mandated that the hours before 9:00 PM should be shows appropriate for all ages.  In 1976, a U.S. District Court ruled that the family viewing policy violated the first amendment of the Constitution.  Sex and violence soon filled all hours of television viewing.

     A Kaiser Family Foundation study reported that in 2009 young people spent about 4 and a half hours a day watching television (7).

      Following the tragic school shooting at  Newtown in 2012, Parents Television Council analyzed every program that aired on prime-time television for a one-month period.  Of the 392 shows examined, 193 contained violence and 121 contained violence and guns (8).

      In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court passed Obergefell v Hodges by a vote of 5-4, giving same sex couples the fundamental right to marry, although over 30 states had denied this right with a state constitutional amendment by popular vote.

CONSEQUENCES OF THE ASSAULTS ON OUR SEXUALITY AND FAMILIES

    Instability in family relationships became prevalent in the lives of many children.

     Many no longer saw marriage as a necessary or permanent commitment for living together.  Cohabitation increased  By 2011,  24% of children in the U.S. were born to cohabiting couples (9).  and 44% of children were living in mother-only families (10). 

     In large numbers we have bought into the conviction that children do not need both their mother and their father to develop in a healthy, responsible and productive direction.  However, family scholars and researchers provide ample documentation of problems and concerns.

     Family researcher, William Galston, notes that, "The absence of fathers as models and co-disciplinarians contributes to the low self-esteem, anger, violence, and peer bonding through gang lawlessness characteristic of  many fatherless boys." (11).
   
     By 2014, children from fatherless homes included 63% of youth suicides, 90% of homeless and runaway children, 80% of rapists with anger problems, 71% of high school dropouts and 75% of adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers (12).

     After divorce, women were primarily responsible for children of the marriage and were at greater risk of poverty.  Single parenting became the foremost reason leading to poverty.

      In March of 2008 researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that 1 in 4 teen girls had at least one sexually transmitted disease, sometimes leading to infertility and cancer.     

RESTORING STABLE SEXUAL AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

     Personal pleasure and individual 'rights' have replaced traditional family values.  With the increase in casual sexuality and the decline in stable marriages, many children are failing to learn the processes necessary for responsible social interaction and family functioning.

     When God and cherished historic moral values are held in social disrespect, children are at a loss in knowing how to make responsible decisions.

      More gun control and prisons will not solve the violence that is overrunning our country.
 It is time to restore a responsible moral foundation for our children.     

THERE IS BLAME ENOUGH TO GO AROUND!


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REFERENCES
1. Blau, Eric Licht and Monica Davey.  "Homicide Rates Jump in Many Major U.S. Cities, New Data          Shows."  May 13, 2016.  The New York Times.
2. Craven, Julia  Huffington Post.  Jul 07, 2016.
3.  Federer, Susie.  2012. Miracles in American History. Amerisearch, Inc. St. Louis, MO:pgs.101-105
4.  Starr, Penny. "Education Expert: Removing Bible, Prayer from Public Schools Has Caused Decline."  Aug. 15, 2014. www.cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/education-expert-removing-bible-prayer-public-schools-has-caused-decline.
5.  Marshall, Robert G. And Chuck A. Donovan.  "How Planned Parenthood duped America." Citizen. Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan 20) 1992. Pg. 4.
6.  Advocates for Youth.  1997. Unpublished data from the School Condom Availability Clearinghouse. Washington DC.
7.  Media Violence: An Examination of Violence, Graphic Violence, and Gun Violence in the Media.  Parents Television Council. 2013.
 8.  New PTC Study Shows More Than Half of Network Programs Contain Violence.  Parents Television Council. Vol. 15, No. 2, April 2013.
9.  Institute for American Values.  2011.  Why Marriage Matters, Third Edition: Thirty Conclusions  from the Social Sciences.  New York, NY. Pgs.6-8.
10.  Statistics on Father Absence/National Fatherhood Initiative.  2014.  "The Father Factor."
11.  Galston, William A. 1996  "The Reinstitutionalization of Marriage: Political Theory and Public Policy." In Promises to Keep.  Editied by David Popenoe, Jean Bethke Elsthtain, and David Blankenhorn. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Pg. 273.
12.  Statistics on Father Absence/National Fatherhood Initiative. 2014. "The Father Factor".
      The Fatherless Generation. 2014.  Statistics.http://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics.