Why are random acts of violence becoming common in 21st century America?

Dear Editor:

Once again Americans are stunned, shocked, and many outraged at the random act of violence perpetrated against innocent victims packed into a movie theatre in Aurora, Colo. on the evening of Thursday, July 19. There is simply no rationale; no way to explain why 12 people lay dead and 59 others wounded, some of them critically, following the savage, brutal, heinous murders perpetrated by 24-year-old James Holmes, an honor student with a bachelor's degree in neuroscience from the University of California in Riverside.

Holmes was decked out in an all-black outfit complete with ballistic helmet and bullet proof protection covering most of his body. He was wearing a gas mask which covered much of his face when he entered the theatre, exploded a canister and began firing at random into the packed theatre, which was showing the midnight premiere of the newest Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises." Holmes later announced to police at the time of his arrest that he was "The Joker," an allusion to the Batman villain most recently made popular by Heath Ledger's portrayal in the 2008 film "The Dark Knight." Ledger died in January 2008 following a drug overdose which many speculated was a suicide.

The Aurora tragedy was the second major massacre to take place in Colorado. The Columbine shootings took place in 1999 and America has since that time been visited again and again with violence. Americans cannot process one act of random violence before another one comes their way. Random acts of mass murder thus far in 2012 include Tuscaloosa, Ala., Seattle, Wash., Tulsa, Okla., Oakland, Calif., Pittsburg, Pa. and Chardon, Ohio. One shudders to think that this violence is becoming a typical event in 21st century America.

Millions of Americans have endeavored to process this heinous crime and try to explain how a brilliant 24-year-old doctoral honor student could take a plunge so deep into the moral darkness, move into an apparent fantasy role as "The Joker" in a Batman movie, spray his hair red, and for one short moment of narcissist glory in the midst of dying, pain, suffering and massive bloodshed become the focus of America and the world?

As the American people try to process this tragedy and share the grief and agony of family members left to bury their dead and grieve for lives snuffed out in such a senseless murderous act, there will hopefully be some who will want to look deeply into the soul of America to find the answer. You really do not need to be a psychologist, psychiatrist or other highly trained person to speculate on why this and all the other random killings are turning America into a killing field and making people wonder if anyone is safe anywhere in America.

The root of this senseless slaughter of human lives can be traced back to the Cultural Revolution that took place in America in the 1960s and continues unabated in the four decades that followed. Before the 1960s had ended, the long cherished and established moral absolutes of God and Scripture had been expunged from the American culture.

God, prayer and the Bible were removed from the public schools and the Ten Commandments were removed from the walls of the classrooms. All things that reflected anything Christian were removed from the public square. God was declared "dead" on the college and university campuses and free love, co-ed dorms, binge drinking, heavy metal music and drugs became commonplace across America. Growing numbers of children, youth and young adults have grown up in the aftermath of this Cultural Revolution without any moral compass to guide them.

In the absence of moral values contained in the Bible, they have written their own rule book, and mass killings are the reality of a culture without God and the moral absolutes of His Word. Should we really be surprised by the scenes of mass murder in America? We have state endorsed murder of about 4,000 unborn children each day in the abortion clinics of America. I do not see the news media or the American public outraged about this heinous massacre of human life.

In the absence of God and His moral absolutes, we are becoming a nation with exploding murder rates and millions of alcoholics, drug addicts, and welfare recipients all because God and His eternal moral absolutes have been removed from the American scene.

We need not spend a lot of time, money and energy seeking to ascertain why James Holmes became a mass murderer and why he will not be the last one to stain America with blood and leave a trail of death, suffering, and broken hearts. America is simply paying the price for believing that we can survive without God and His moral compass to guide us and teach our children right from wrong, value the sanctity of human life, and learn to live our lives by the values encompassed in the Ten Commandments.

Neither is this the time for the gun control advocates to try to seize the moment to press for more gun controls. One canister filled with a poisonous substance exploded in that theatre would have been even more deadly than a gun. We need not blame the guns in the hand of James Holmes, we need to examine the culture that has produced such a demented and sick mind. One armed person in that theatre trained and with a permit to carry possibly could have saved many lives. Taking away the guns from law abiding citizens is not the answer to mass murder in America. We need not blame guns on the anti-God culture that is producing so many demented minds void and empty of moral values.

Placing God and the moral values of the Bible back into the minds and hearts of the children, youth and adults of this land is the solution to violence and many other problems in America.

Dan Gayman

Schell City, Mo.