Editor, The Herald:

I've been reading about the two valedictorians, Remington Reimer, whose microphone was turned off because he deviated from his speech and made reference to Jesus and the other one, Roy Costner, who tore up his approved speech and read the Lord s Prayer to a thunder of applause and I'm just fuming. KUDOS TO THESE BRAVE TEENS! How about looking up the statistics to see how many atheists have become valedictorians?

Our country, our Constitution is based on the Christian religion and freedom to practice it. Now since the atheists have been “offended”, we Christians are slowly losing our religious freedom. These non-believers have threatened, coerced, protested and just plain acted evil because they're offended and we Christians are cowering down to their threats. This is just satan doing his dirty work. Some of these protestors don't even live in the cities where they're protesting, maybe even being paid to cause trouble. Are you going to continue to allow this to happen?

Before God was taken out of the schools we didn't have the Columbines and the New Town massacres. The principal took an unruly student to his office, notified his parents and administered a whack or two on the behind and generally that was the end of his bad behavior. Now, even a parent can be locked up for following a Biblical principle (Proverbs 13:24, If you refuse to discipline your children, it proves you don't love them; if you love your children, you will be prompt to discipline them. New Living translation). That's why we're seeing terrorist students.

Christians, remember our ancestors came here for religious freedom and that's how the Constitution was written. But now we have the courts telling us that praying is illegal in schools, at public functions and it is getting downright ridiculous. I heard a story about a little boy who was unruly and the teacher told him to sit down, he wouldn't and she had to tell him again. He finally said he would sit down but in his mind “he was still standing up”. How about remembering that we can still pray “silently” in our heads. God will still hear us even if we have to keep our mouths shut. The non-believers may think they're winning here on earth but when we reach judgment day, they'll be the ones praying real hard for help to keep them from going you know where and who do they think they'll be praying to at that time?

Michelle Yoder

Farmville