Initially, the first few sentences shocked me because of their outright adamance. Because of this, I frankly didn't know what to comment on first. If I remember correctly, it was the good witch of the north who said, "it's always best to start at the beginning." But, what is really the beginning, according to this mail? The many subtle implications in the first few sentences, as far as I can tell, place the actual beginning somewhere in the roots of America's perception of Christianity and knowledge of the execution of its belief.

The concept of Christianity portrayed in the email implicitly indicates that its realm doesn't extend beyond the borders of America, as it seems the author and those written about don't seem to be able to invision Christianity any further than America's borders. Although there is mention of the "shape of the world" in the mail, phrases like "...God is saddened just as we are....", "...our schools...., "...our lives....", "...out of our government....", "...His(!) blessing....", ...[us] his(!) protection....", ...us....", symbolize a simple, naive and limited perception to the contrary. Where as all Christians, by mere definition, must oppose violence in every form, the author and the author's subjects communicate or convey the notion that the world's violent state began "recent[ly]", specifically on or about September 11, 2001! You must agree that this view is at best short cited.

Well, OK! Even if I except the notion that two "God-authorities", as I choose to call them, sat together on this, where did they get the idea that God is male ("him"), God can be judged to have human morality ("a gentleman"), God follows American' directives ("...telling God to get out of our schools...."), ("demand that he{!} leave us alone")? And by the way, who "us"? Isn't there something inherently wrong with the personification of God by calling God "him"? Isn't it written in the Old Testament that God told Moses to tell everyone who asked "...I am that I am. Tell them the God I Am sent you"? If "God-authorities" have the privilege of ignoring that, I'm a hypocrite. Is the author of the email aware of that, or does he/she reserve a special privilege as well? (hope you're still thinking?)

But, the passage "...God is saddened....", really got me troubled! I asked myself, if God is saddened by that murder (unfortunately the mail doesn't say what God is saddened about so I assume it's the murder of the six year old girl in the class room of a Michigan school), how does God feel about the murder of Palestinians, Israeli's, just to name a few? The email would have you think only a "God-authority" would know this for sure, but I would again assume God would have to be in a state of lamentation by now. No wait. If that was enough to sadden God, then the murder of innocent people over decades and centuries would have already had God in need of medical care, while in a perpetual state of manic depression! But, as I said, the email implies that only a "God-authority" would know this for sure! Or, could it be that they are implying God is only affected by the tragedies that occur in America? Then, how did God feel when the Europeans arrived in the "new world" and started killing the natives (some groups were, as we all should know, totally wiped out)? But, that wasn't America then. Well, how did God feel after the torture and killings of enslaved Africans? Did I miss an email in which the "God-authorities" informed that God has already recovered from that, where as America and Africa haven't? Any "God-authorities" thinking about this?

Truly, as the author wrote, the bottom line is something to think about! And what is the bottom line (or is the author refering to the bottom line of the page?) I'll get to my interpretation, so read on, if your interested.

The mail continues with, "...I think it started when Madelaine Murray O'Hare complained..." What is suppose to have started then? Terrorists attacks? School shootings? God being saddened? Is the person being interviewed saying God started to "camly back out" then? My response clearly provides evidence to support the fact that I'm no "God-authority" -- I didn't know that.

With all-of-the-above, the author and the two "God-authorities" would like us to believe, stemed from the lack of a bible in the lives of Americans! At this point, I found it necessary to remind myself of a few important historical events with the objective of finding evidence to support the concept that there is a link between the availability of the Christian bible and violence. So now, I asked myself, "How realistic is this idea of an association between violence and Christianity, the non-availability of it in a society?" My thoughts journeyed back to America at its beginnings, and the "Pilgrims".

History tells us the "Pilgrams" left Europe to exercise religous freedom unhindered in the "new world". Wasn't it these first "Americans" that began the slaughter of the indigenous people of that land? Isn't it true that back then, they would stop at nothing to get rid them, even to the point that they were the first in history to use biological warfare? Isn't it true that over 400 years ago, these "Pilgrams", using the same bible that Christians use today, gave Native Americans blankets infested with deadly deseases, which caused death in agony and the extinction of whole peoples. I pondered that for a while, then realized that the indigenous people of America don't fair any better in America today than they did then.

Apartheid then came to my mind, you know, the offical South African government policy that separated Europeans from non-Europeans, through which white Christians were able to massacre millions of black Africans as stead-fast bible worshipers. I recently saw a documentary on South Africa. In that, I saw that today white South Africans now kill black South Africans for SENDING their children to school, for fear that this would eventually deplet the number of farm-hands dependent on them! For me, that sounded a lot like America from the turn of the century up into the 70's. I already knew that most South Africans, particularly white South Africans, are very religious and exercise the Christian faith regularly. So there they have bibles!

Then, I got caught-up on the part about "...9/11....really mak[ing] you think." Just for the record, I wanted to know what the word "terror" really means, or what constitutes "terrorist attacks". I turned then to Webster which defines terror/terrorism as follows:

terror: "(n) 1. An overwhelming fear; extreme dread; 2. A person or thing that causes extreme fear;"

and

terrorism: "(n) 1. The act of terrorizing or the state of being terrorized; 2. Threat or acts of violence, esp. as a means of intimidating or coercing; --terrorist n.;"

My mind picked out some of the horror scenarios I had experienced growing up on the south-side of Chicago. I recalled the daily activities of the local police in my then low-income neighborhood and in neighborhoods nearby which were and still are populated by people of African or Spanish descent and I realized that terrorism didn't start in America when "Ms. O'Hare complained that she didn't want any prayer in schools" and that it did not start on 9/11/01!

I remembered being one of the youngsters who's existance was criminalized at a very young age to the point that I was no more than a criminal statistics. I remembered the feeling I had when the police came into my friends home from the front and back doors with drawn handguns, asking if his mother was is at home. I remembered being arrested at a party and carted off to jail in a Pattywagon along with 30 other males to spend the night with all of them in one cell at the local precinct without ever knowing why we were arrested, never having the opportunity to make a phone call. I remembered friends of mine spending a day in jail for playing hooky from school without being charged with anything. I remembered being stopped in my car in the middle of the street in busy traffic and asked to show my drivers license at gunpoint. Did we reap what we sowed? Should we never have gone to parties? Does God prescribe jail at gunpoint as punishment for playing hooky? No, terror and terrorist attacks didn't begin on 9/11, at least not on the south-side of Chicago, and, I didn't need to go on about terror!