– Footsteps in Faith

– By Mardi Ford

I have been doing a lot of thinking this week about the little Amish girls murdered on Monday.

Broadcast and print media have been plastered with talking heads and pundits eager to dissect this tragedy, and many like a recent op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune have editorialized from the perspective of the demon ridden shooter, choosing to delve into the psychological anguish that drives such a man.

Others, like many morning news shows, have grasped this inevitable opportunity to talk about violence and guns in America.

All of this has seemed to me to speak more about the symptoms of a disease rather than the cause.

It wasn’t until Brain Rohrbough was given a chance to speak from the heart on national television that I heard substance amidst a clammering dialogue of style.

Rohrbough is the father of one of the children murdered at Columbine High School.

Daniel Rohrbough died there, on the sidewalk, after first being shot by Eric Harris in the chest, and again later by Dylan Klebold at point-blank range in the head.

Daniel’s body lay outside the school for nearly two days before paramedics were allowed to move him.

What Daniel’s father had to say spoke to the heart and soul. He hit at the heart of what is really wrong with America.

Rohrbough’s view is unpopular in this popular culture of relativism where every view is tolerated but those governed by a belief in God’s moral absolutes.

I commend CBS for having the courage to run his comment unedited. His words are also now being widely circulated on the Web, if you missed the broadcast.

This is what Rohrbough said:

"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."

On Wednesday, I heard a Mennonite woman, speaking for the Amish community, say that survivors had revealed the two oldest Amish girls asked their executioner that they be killed first. One can surmise these little heroes believed heaven would welcome them home, and help would arrive in time to save the youngest.

Billy Graham once said that a change of heart was the only thing that could save our society. Look closely at the heart of the Amish right now. They are the only thing that makes any sense in this tragedy.