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December 17th, 2012
12:08 AM ET
Sunday school teacher faces heartbreaking questions
Sue Vogelman, a church school director, prays with students who lost friends in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and copes with her own grief.
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Post by: Jason Carroll Filed under: Connecticut School Shooting |
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I am very sad about the shooting for the innocent victims in Sandy Hook Elem School. Guns should not belong in the house. It should be banned, anyone can misuse gun when it enters the house.Law must be changed. My prayers for the victims and the family for the strength and cope for their loss. God Bless.
Karin
Confused Student:
Dear God,
Why do you let so much violence in our schools? Love a confused student
God:
Dear Confused Student,
I am not allowed in school. I am sorry.
Love God
And that people is the real problem
With all due respect, please leave G-d out of this.....please. It's not fair to G-d (if you believe in a diety), nor is it fair to the victims' school system to infer that they brought this on themselves. Someone with a very serious mental illness, who apparently didn't have the wherewithall to get himself help, and who got access to an assault rifle, killed these innocents. Kudos to Ms. Vogelman and her awesome Sunday School students–and those kids ARE awesome; THEY are helping adults to heal. It's a really good idea for her to talk to clergy from CO, AZ, WI, CA, VA, etc. whose communities have been traumatized by mass shootings: only they can truly understand what Newtown CT is going through.
Agreed, but for the record others imply; it is for us to infer.
I agree that there is a spiritual problem with the world in general. But a truly spiritual family would never relegate the spiritual education of their children to the schools. The Bible lays that responsibility squarely at the feet of the parents. My children do not need or want a teacher to lead them in prayer. Perhaps that teacher doesn't believe in God or prays to a different God, in whom we do not share faith. For example,if you are a Christian, how would you feel about a teacher who is a Satanist to lead the class in a prayer to Satan. Or a Muslim to lead prayer to Allah in the Muslim tradition of praying toward Mecca? How about one who practices Paganism? Or would you prefer that the individual school districts determine which God should be prayed to? Even among those who claim to be Christians, there are different beliefs regarding how to pray.
Prayer and religious devotion have never required permission from secular authorities. The prophet Daniel prayed , as was his custom, despite a government ban. Many in the former Soviet Union found ways to exercise their faith despite the official government position of Atheism. Truly spiritual people will always see their spirituality as a personal matter and will not require permission to practice their faith nor will they force others to participate in that same faith against their God-given freewill.
This is a wonderful, heart-wrenching interview. Sue puts a compassionate face on the only source of comfort in the face of this horror- that the community and the nation are reaching out in heart broken unity to little Newtown's victims.