As you probably know, there has been recent rioting and civil unrest in England that has ravaged parts of London and other major cities. My son has a good friend who lives in London, so I asked my son if he had spoken to him to see how he's doing. His friend Mike, just got back from China, where he was spending some much needed time with his family. Now back in London he's dealing with the depressing and unsettling events happening in England. Though he is not directly affected, he's unnerved as are other Londoners. But he's fine and he appreciated that we were concerned about him. Mike is a fine young man, who was kind enough to pick me and my husband up from the airport a few years ago, when we visited London. My son who was working in London at the time, for a few months, did not have a car and Mike volunteered to pick us up at the airport. We arrived in London very early in the morning. I was quite impressed by that show of kindness. Mike is a hard-working young man, respectful, kind and totally unlike the unruly and destructive youths who are setting fires, breaking the law and looting in England. (There are some reports that some of them are laughing while they are being destructive, which is scary to me.) It is a truly appalling situation, and like other situations around the world, such as the financial crisis and the horrific famine in Somalia, things just seem to be spinning out of control, at times. The 2012 end of the world believers must be thinking, "We were right, it's coming!"
It just makes you wonder.......Europeans in large numbers have turned away from religion, from belief in God, from religious traditions and rituals and some believe there is a moral decline in society. Is there a connection? I wonder......The reality is in 2011 you have thousands of young men and women turning to violence in Britain, to bring attention to their plight. Their frustrations with high unemployment, lack of opportunities, wealth disparity in their faces, and their inability to find meaning work are understandable, their way of dealing with it, is horribly wrong, unlawful and sinful.
Prime Minister, David Cameron put it this way and I would agree:
The sight of those young people running down streets, smashing windows, taking property, looting, laughing as they go, the problem of that is a complete lack of responsibility, a lack of proper upbringing, a lack of proper ethics, a lack of proper morals. (August 2011)
One of the benefits of belief in God and adhering to religious beliefs and doctrines is following a proper moral code, such as the Ten Commandments. When religion or the foundational beliefs and moral code of religions (all the major world religions have them) are removed from society, in my opinion, you are playing "with fire."
NJA
