Letter to the editor: Libations of blood

“Those who run after other gods find endless trouble; I shall never offer libations of blood to such gods.” (Psalm 16, v. 4 — OSB)

One definition Webster gives for “idolatry” is “immoderate attachment or devotion to something.” Many objects and many ideas can serve as the object of idolatry. One such thing is a gun and one such idea is that our security can be assured only through ever more weapons in the hands of ever more people. Might the repeated bloodletting, the sacrifice of hundreds of innocents in mass shootings in this country be regarded as a “libation of blood” to a false god — a blood sacrifice to an idol? Just wondering.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The new House speaker, Mike Johnson, is right — it is a matter of the human heart, but not the way he sees it. Consider that the problem may lie in the heart’s propensity to chase after false gods and easy answers. Ending the carnage has to start with rejection of a false god that will not, in spite of protestations from the National Rifle Assocation and Citizens Defense League, provide security.

Charles Uphaus

Frederick County