Killing Our Kids

A report in yesterday’s USA-TODAY newspaper reveals a shocking statistical conclusion. Since 2006, one-third of victims in mass killings were younger than 18. The average age of meeting a violent death was eight! More shocking, one-third of those murdered were killed by a blood parent. Others were killed by stepparents, their parents’ ex-lovers, or other family members. Only 25% were killed by a person they didn’t know. Sadly, you can add to that toll all those who were maimed and violently injured by a family member. The individual stories are gut-wrenching, such as a four-year-old covered in blood who told police, responding to a call, “Everybody’s dead.” The child had covered her own bullet wounds with Band-Aids. In short, child homicide is getting out of control. In many of these cases, the killings were preceded by unthinkable abuse.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, most of the fingers pointed at guns. But take away all the firearms and you’ve still got plenty of stab wounds, broken bones, and tortured beatings. What are the real facts about our culture killing our kids?

1. Most of these killings took place in broken homes, common-law or live-in arrangements, or other dysfunctional child-rearing circumstances. It’s not a stretch to say that the destruction of the two-parent nuclear family is a huge contributing factor.
2. We legalize killing late-term babies ex-utero, so it’s just a matter of physical development separating those extracted from the womb at 8 months v. a six-month-old baby. If killing the late-term baby is government sanctioned, some might conclude that killing a kid a few months later doesn’t involve a higher premium on life?
3. Our movies and video games reward body counts to the extent that victims dispatched with abandon are discarded without emotion.
4. Extreme humanistic enthusiasts and godless behaviorist insist that life is no more sacred for the human than the animal, or plants for that matter. If humans are not unique creatures of God, their life has less value.
5. Research shows that abuse often turns fatal. In fact, the majority of kids killed were first beaten and bruised. If a child can be sexually and physically mistreated it may be a small step for an out-of-control, mentally ill caretaker to end the child’s life.

Stopping the killing of our kids has many solutions, but we can start by remembering the words of Psalm 127:3 – Children are a heritage from the Lord. When we recognize that there is a God, that God is the creator of life, and that all life is a sacred trust from the Almighty, it means that every human created in His image is worthy of dignity and respect. Submitting our culture and our country to God is a first step to stop killing our kids.