SCHOOL SHOOTINGS AND RUNNING SCHOOLS ON SECULAR PRINCIPLES

 

 

Of course, you teach your students not to bully. You will tell them, “You wouldn’t want to be bullied, would you?”

 

When you say this, you are appealing to pragmatism—a cost/benefit assessment: “What if someone bullied you, you wouldn’t like it, would you? You might even feel humiliated. Why do it to someone else?”

 

If the students are clever, they might realize that you are not appealing a God-given principle of right and wrong but instead to self-interest.

 

Your students might not be able to articulate what is wrong with this reasoning, but they might intuitively realize, “I know what benefits me more than you do. I enjoy being part of the tough group or gang that is doing the bullying. Not only is it fun, but it builds group cohesion. It makes me feel I belong and am protected.”

 

The same conundrum also pertains to the tragic outbreak of school shootings. The teacher can teach against this tragedy from the POV of self-interest: “You will be caught, and your life will be ruined. Besides, think of the pain you will cause to all the families.”

 

The shooters might have also considered these things and have concluded that they are best served by getting revenge and regaining honor and respect.

 

What’s missing in this equation? God—the source of all objective morality and value. When students realize that they are beloved, valued, and honored by God, the need to secure approval and validation from others is greatly diminished, especially in view that many shooters have come from broken families where they have not been inculcated with assurance of God’s love.

 

These shootings also coincide with the removal of any positive reference to God within our schools. I think that this correlation also helps to explain the proliferation of crime in the West since the 1960s.