freeSpeech: Brian Rohrbough

I'm saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today, and last week's school murders.

When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I've tried to answer the question, "Why did this happen?"

This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value.

We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children.

Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder-suicide attacks on our children.

Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools. Our children have become a target of terrorists from within the United States.

[The-Great-Me]

What a hypocrite. does he not know that the main tenet of Christianity is love and forgiveness? Yet he destroyed the memorials of two of the victims of the shooting out of hate.

[Persephone66]

Let's be real, honest, and serious here for a moment. No gods are expelled from schools. Prayer is not mandatory nor can teachers lead students in prayer. That's it. Students are free to pray to what ever god they want. God has also clearly not been removed from government. Are the current GOP platforms and candidates not evidence of that? You say that God has been replaced with evolution, do you even know that that term means? I'll make it simple for you, it has to do with the process by which a species changes to fit it's environment over time. It has nothing to do with strong killing the weak, morality or the value of life.

Show me evidence of children being taught in a public school that there are not absolutes and that there is no right or wrong? It's a moot point, really. Is it not the duty of the parent to teach their child right from wrong? The school is there to teach reading, writing, maths, science and history. It is not there to be your babysitter nor is it there for you to pass the buck when it comes to parental duties. It is not there to be a scapegoat for your failures as a parent either.

Don't get me wrong, my heart goes out to you as it does to other parents who have lost children in school shootings, but it's time we focus on the real problem and it has nothing to do with the schools. If your child was shot at the local Wal-mart, would it be the fault of the place at which it occurred or the fault of person with the smoking gun?

[steve1252]

Mr. Rohrbough accurately represents my thinking - too bad the traditional media does not. I am an average citizen, why is our media focused only on one side? Fair and Balanced, hmm, where can I find that??
Thank you CBS for giving Mr Rohrbough an opportunity to voice my opinion.

[nkom-2009]

Armbar77 just claimed: "This country was founded on Godly principles. Even if some of the founding fathers were not Christian they lived in a society that was based on Christian principles."

Such as... slavery? Or genocide?

What happened to the separation of church and state?

I think most of you right-wing Christians writing here would be much more comfortable living in Iran or among the Taliban, where religion trumps human rights.

[ame65]

Thank God for the HOLY BOLDNESS of this man.It's about time a christian perspective was heard.The chritians should of spoken out in the 70's then maybe we'd still have prayer in our schools as opposed to Harry Potter and evelution.We're supposed to be a democratic society but I don't recall being given a vote on these topics.If people would vote their outside of their pocket books we'd be much better off.This country was established by Godly men on Godly principles,now let's look at the results we have gotten since the ungodly people pleasers have taken over......seen enough,I sure have.We as chritians have the same rights as everyone else and it's time we take them back.You can deny God all you want but I'd rather live for him now and find out I was wrong than to not serve him now only to die and find out how real he is...and you???!

[xymox25]

HOORAY for Mr. Rohrbough! Thank you for telling our country how it is...plain and simple...no sugar coating. Shame on you Katie Couric for pandering to your liberal audience and suggesting that his opinion could be construed as "repugnant". I'm sure you were trying to remain "unbiased" in your position...right?

I find it "repugnant" how unpatriotic, Christophobic, liberals spout out their Godless doctrines all the time but once a conservative Christian speaks their mind, they're labeled "intolerant". I suppose your definition of intolerance goes right along the lines of how dignified the liberal audience at the University of Columbia was this week when the Minutemen leadership went to speak on stage and ended up having to defend themselves physically?

Couric and CBS are pandering to the liberal agenda trying to desanitize our society by taking God, religion and morality out of any public forum so that we don't offend you "chip-on-the-shoulder" liberals- even at the sake of your ratings! Your news ratings will never compete with conservative news ratings for the same reason you liken Mr. Rohrbough's comments to being "repugnant"...you've forgotten that conservative views are MUCH MORE common than you estimate. So quit trying to sweep those opinions under the rug. Give the conservative voice the dignity it deserves.

[annelaw1]

HURRAY!!! I totally agree with Mr. Rohrbough! He has suffered so much and he is just telling it how it is! My comment is more toward CBS and Ms. Couric, who I used to be a fan of. Now I am glad that I don't watch her liberal left-winged show! How dare she say some people might find his speech "repugnant"? Get a clue lady! The majority of people in the US are Christians and have gone along with this whole separation of church and state long enough! If we as a people, continue to remove GOD from our daily lives, then we, as a people deserve what hell we bring upon ourselves! As for myself and my family, we choose to live good traditional lives, we believe that every child is a gift of God, and should not murdered. We believe in our traditions and a forgiving God. I pray for all those liberals out there, and I choose not to judge, for He will judge us all! I hope Ms. Couric remembers that the next time she tries to downplay a "free speech" segment. Looks like she needs the ratings!!

[ao190]

Free speech is our right even if we like what we hear or not. I agree that morally in our country is in a tailspin but to blame "liberals" is not being truly reflective of what the "right" should be doing. In history the pilgrims came here for freedom to pray the way they wished. Not the incredibly ridged way the europeans were enforcing there religious views (sound familiar?). We must all learn to COMPROMISE and have faith in each other. Let us be honest here we regulate NATIVE americans to reservations because "we" feel they are not "american" enough to be apart of our "christian society". In the end morallity starts at home. If you cant teach by example to your children and your neighbor, pushing an "agenda" or free speech issues is not going to change anything. We must accept and learn from one another. When we do you might see yourself in the other person.

[newsnmorenew]

The separation of government and religion in the United States has helped religion thrive in this country - and keeping the public schools non-sectarian has made them bastions of tolerance and free thought. Let's keep it that way.

[ocracokenc]

Part Two:

A good example of that failure is what is happening with free speech. Free speech only works when society has a developed, maintained and enforced sense of decency. In such a society, when someone's free speech oversteps the line of decency that is shared, there is a consequence and thus the line of decency is enforced. It's agreed upon that this shared value of decency will put some free speech out of bounds for the good of all. The most recent example of how screwed up we are is that of the Kansas "Baptist" group who planned to picket the funerals of the poor little Pennsylvania children. That particular group believes, and our present society assisted by the ACLU allows, that they have a free speech right to victimize innocent mourners because they want to protest some idiot ideas they have hallucinated together. Common sense, and any concept of decency, enables most of us to know that this situation is an absolute wrong. But we are unable to successfully address this issue as a society because we can no longer agree about %u201Cabsolute%u201D rights and wrongs.

I don%u2019t know what the answer is %u2013 but I am ready for a leader who has common sense, the ability to think critically, the skill to debate without political rhetoric and who has the backbone to move people towards solving these issues to stand up.