Prayer protected kids in school

When I was in school and we said a silent prayer, we were to pray to whatever entity we desired or worshipped. In essence, we were putting a hedge of protection over ourselves, our teachers and the schools because these were prayers of the innocent hearts of children.

But in 1962, the government had that hedge of protection removed by disallowing prayer in schools. And if we were to examine the chaos and violence in our schools since, we can see a gradual increase in the violence that has invaded our educational system, from fights and disobedience to the mass killing of innocent children.

It’s not the norm for a 15- or 17-year-old to bring a gun into a school and just kill their fellow classmates, but there is an evil influence that is able to manipulate and influence these kids to do such a horrific act with no regret or remorse.

That influence has been getting more violent because there is no prayer in schools. Without the prayers, there is no protection. To arm teachers with guns is only asking them to kill a child who has lost his or her way, which a lot of them would do on the spur of the moment and with an adrenalin rush.

The police and SWAT teams are trained to kill if needed and trained to mentally deal with it. Our teachers are trained to teach; they got in the profession because they care about children and are trained to counsel and help them.

I say we put the hedge back and allow God back into the classroom, let the children pray to whatever entity they choose to. A silent two minutes can make such a big difference and keep our children safe once again.

The Rev. Floyd Shilling Columbus