To the editor:

The tragedy at Newtown is very painful, but I can’t imagine how a parent or others close to the victims must feel. I don’t like the word “victim,” but it does have implications beyond the immediate circumstances of Newtown.

Years ago, it was decided that prayer should be taken out of schools. In fact, there are those who argue that because of the so-called separation of church and state, religion should not be allowed in the public arena, period. We are the victims of these Godless positions. God is being more and more excluded from all public arenas and private life (except for times when we experience these tragedies). We are a nation that has rejected the truth of the Bible and replaced it with the so-called wisdom of man. God has allowed 9-11, AIDS, suicides, murders, natural disasters, economic bondage and family division as judgments on this nation, families and individuals.

Yet, despite all our rejection of God, he says in Joel 2:12-13, “‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” It’s never too late to get right with God!