Gonzales and other officials have declined to discuss Berry's case and resulting investigations, but they have pointed to a threefold increase in federal prosecutions of child pornography and abuse cases nationally over the past decade
The signs of America's decline are all around us, but people continue to deceive themselves into thinking that America really is the moral country that we'd like to think it is. Sadly, America's moral center has been hollowed out, and it's time to face the ugly truth. New fines and harsher prosecution cannot stop this problem. The laws on the books are already very severe for this class of offender.
This country is being given over to its own depravity by a wrathful God. Romans 1 is starting to become one of the most relevant pieces of scripture for our country. Statistics like this should make Americans turn to God and prostrate themselves before him. Alas, in our national overconfidence, most Americans will turn to the state to add even more penalties to these crimes because they are unwilling to face the truth that these crimes are increasingly common because America is spiritually dying.
This may be true, but don't kid yourself that religion will solve all the world's problems. In fact, religion is causing a lot of them at the moment (cf. GW Bush & co. vs Islam). If that isn't enough evidence for you, the Church was one of the most powerful political forces of the Middle Ages, and look what happened then: the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, all manner of violence and trouble caused by the Church reaching for more power, or struggling to hold onto what it had.
I guess the really important message is this: turning to the Church is not the same as turning to God. IMHO, the first voice you should listen to when you want to hear God is that of your own conscience. Even your priest/minister/pastor/rabbi shouldn't make you act against that. Do remember to question your conscience, but always listen to what it has to say. Do the same for your religious leaders, because they're human too.
In short:
Religion can't solve everything. Nothing can.
Stay open-minded
Remember to listen, but also remember to question. You sound as if you think for yourself. Keep doing that.
I never said that religion was the solution. A third great revival in the United States is what we need. We've had two of those in the past, but they were in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The difference is that in those, the society started turning back to God, whereas today the religious right wants everyone to turn back to the Church.
All too true Mike. All too true.
Do remember to question your conscience, but always listen to what it has to say.
Good point, because my conscience seems to come and go with the situation at hand. That's why I try to rely on Biblical teachings instead of what feels good at the time.
Still not perfect, but not as bad as I could be.
I know how you feel DBS. It's something that you have to realize, and I've found that it's easier to reinforce it by looking back on the history of the world. Few things have not stayed the same for more than a few centuries. One of the few things that has remained constant is that human beings will resort to evil in many cases when allowed to do so. That's why we need something like the Bible that stays true regardless of how much we change.