The following op-ed piece is an opinion of its writer only, and not necessarily the views of the collective body that make up Team Hellions. Blogged with permission.
Today I spent a good portion of my day with tears running down my face, unable to speak because I was choking on despair.
I found out about the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary via Facebook since I did not hear until almost 2pm. Almost instantly graphics came up for prayers, healing thoughts, and love for the victims of this horrendous crime. Also what popped up was this little gem of a graphic that I felt like I needed to write on.
Honestly here, what does religion in school have ANYTHING to do with this. Would it have made a difference if there had been? Did the people that made this graphic believe that because there is no prayer in school while those innocent people and children were slaughtered that god/God turned a blind eye because US schools don’t allow prayer?
Have we forgotten that ours is a country founded on religious freedom? That one of the main reasons that there is no prayer in school is so that there is not favoritism of one religion over another? If you want your child to have prayer in school then send them to a religious school, simple as that! I find it deeply offensive that the deaths of almost THIRTY people is already being used as a propaganda tool to promote religious agendas.
I don’t care if you love God, god, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha, Goddesses, or have no religious affiliation at all. Religion has nothing to do with the ability to be a good person, to have sympathy, and to feel grief for all that has been lost in yet another one of these senseless tragedies. This man, Adam Lanza, walked into an ELEMENTARY school and killed TWENTY children and the seven adults who where there to teach them their ABC’s and 1,2,3’s.
Tonight, I grieve for those people. I feel pain deep inside my soul for not only their loss, but for all of those other children and adults whose lives are irrevocably altered. I grieve for the families who can’t tuck their children into bed, or the people who can’t hug their loved ones one more time. My religious affiliation doesn’t affect the tears staining my cheeks, the pain I feel in my heart, or the thoughts of healing that I send to Connecticut.
HELLIONS TEAM 
I agree. It baffles me and pisses me off. If this man would have been a religious person entering a religious school those people that posted that graphic would being saying something to the effect of a “it’s sad and a tragedy but we must remember, God work in mysterious ways and we have to trust this is part of his plan…blah blah blah bullshit bullshit bullshit.” I know because I grew up in a small town in TN with a baptist preacher for a grandfather. They will take any opportunity, more so when your defenses are down and your sad and confused and shaken, to try and shove their righteous bullshit down your throat.