Gary Varvel: Progressives don't protest when illegals kill Americans
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While protesters rage in Minneapolis against ICE—backed by a governor and mayor claiming they’re “protecting neighbors”—four Hoosiers died after a semi driven by an illegal alien truck driver crossed into oncoming traffic, and there was barely a whisper of outrage.
When illegal aliens are deported, the streets fill with protesters. When illegal aliens kill U.S. citizens, there are no marches, no candlelight vigils, no press conferences, and no political urgency. That silence speaks volumes. It reveals a deeply disturbing progressive mindset on full display: federal law enforcement is cast as the villain, while American victims become an inconvenience—especially when their deaths don’t fit the preferred narrative.
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How Do We Define Morality?
That question feels more urgent than ever.
Our sixth president, John Quincy Adams, once reflected deeply on the foundations of moral life. He said there are three essential beliefs upon which all morality rests:
the existence of God,
the immortality of the human soul,
a future state of rewards and punishments.
Adams warned that if a person rejects these truths, conscience itself begins to erode. Without them, he said, a person is left with no higher law than instinct—no more moral restraint than “the tiger or the shark.” Human laws may restrain behavior through punishment, but they cannot make a person wise, virtuous, or truly happy.
That insight is worth pondering.
For decades now, our schools and cultural institutions have increasingly embraced a worldview rooted in Darwinian materialism—one that dismisses God, denies the immortality of the soul, and rejects the idea of final judgment. When those pillars are removed, it should not surprise us that moral confusion follows.
We can see the evidence all around us.
What was once widely understood as wrong is now normalized or even celebrated. Adultery is routinely portrayed in entertainment as harmless or glamorous. Marriage has been redefined. The clear understanding of male and female has been blurred. Even crimes like theft and murder are sometimes excused or rationalized, depending on the circumstances or the story being told.
The prophet Isaiah described this kind of moral inversion centuries ago:
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)
This isn’t merely a political or cultural problem—it’s a spiritual one.
At a recent National Prayer Breakfast, President Trump said we are “bringing religion back” to our nation. What he should have said was, we need for spiritual renewal. Laws alone cannot restore moral clarity. Revival must begin in the heart.
When Adams’ three foundational truths were broadly believed—God exists, the soul is eternal, and judgment is real—they produced a culture marked by self-restraint and accountability before God.
That doesn’t mean everyone was, or would be, a Christian. Yet even unbelievers have recognized the value of living within a Christian moral framework. In a 2024 radio interview, atheist Richard Dawkins said:
“I do think that we are culturally a Christian country… I call myself a cultural Christian. I’m not a believer, but there is a distinction between being a believing Christian and being a cultural Christian… I love hymns and Christmas carols… I find that I like to live in a culturally Christian country, although I do not believe a single word of the Christian faith.”
God’s moral law—clearly expressed in the Ten Commandments—has not changed. But when a society abandons the spiritual truths that give those commands meaning, moral decay follows naturally.
History shows us this, Scripture warns us of it, and our own times confirm it.
The answer is not merely better arguments or stricter laws. The answer is repentance, humility, and a return to the fear of the Lord—for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
HUMOR ME
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