NEVADA VIEWS: We mock faith, family and country and this is where we are

It’s disappointing that many talking heads on the left have taken advantage of the Nashville school shooting to blame Christianity. I offer a different opinion.

While there was plenty wrong with the good old days, there was also plenty right — and I’m talking about the things that helped establish and maintain morals, ethics and common values.

Specifically, multiple polls show a significant decrease since the 1960s in the percentage of people affiliated with a church. Whether or not you’re a believer, this means there’s one less place where families gather, the value of life is reaffirmed, where adults model good conduct and where children learn critical lessons about personal and community responsibility. Belief in God transcends economic, social and racial divisions. Unfortunately, numerous government policies in recent years serve to oppress religion.

Pride in being an American has also declined over the same period. Children in schools used to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, and they were taught a common history about the imperfect men who fought for nationhood and drafted the foundational documents. Not so today. Many students stay seated through the Pledge. Statues of founders have been torn down, and history has been rewritten. America has its problems, to be sure, but successes and progress that have been achieved over the years are now ignored in favor of divisiveness.

The nuclear family, too, has been undermined, particularly by tax and economic policies. For most families, the luxury of a stay-at-home parent is long gone. Neither the “village” nor any other governmental entity could ever replace a loving, dedicated adult — preferably two — in the role of parent. The village’s role is to support, not supplant, parents and children in this effort.

When faith is mocked, the nation divided and the family weakened, is it really a surprise that teen depression and suicides have been steadily rising or that many of today’s young adults feel isolated, disaffected and hold their nation in contempt?

Family, community and faith have long been pillars of America. When these begin to crumble, or are actively weakened, so goes the country. It’s possible that if those pillars were being strengthened instead of dismantled, we’d see fewer suicides and mass shootings.

Assaulting religion — particularly when the hyperventilating and victim-blaming is reserved exclusively for Christianity — suggests that some believe we’d be better off as a Godless nation. To me, that is by far the more dangerous mindset.

Craig Kadlub writes from Las Vegas.