When the murderer who murdered the insurance executive was caught in Altoona, I was surprised when some on social media applauded the coward.

I was even more surprised to read in the Mirror about a teacher in an area school district who basically had the same reaction to the murder of Charlie Kirk.

Both murderers were celebrated on social media for their cowardly actions.

And please, let’s not embarrass ourselves by using the freedom of speech card.

This is clearly a moral issue.

We may have the right to free speech, but we also have the right to remain silent.

And when we call evil good, and good evil, we should not be trusted to teach children.

It is hard to believe that in a supposedly civilized society that we could be that morally depraved in our response to the taking of human life.

Video games and abortion have no doubt desensitized some concerning the sanctity of human life.

COVID revealed that our nation thinks the church is non-essential, and there is certainly a connection between America’s thought about church and its callous approach to murder.

Recent letters to the editor have suggested that Kirk got what he deserved, but so do you who wrote that, and so do all of us.

The reason some hated him was not because of hate-speech, but because they hated his speech.

The truth hurts and some can’t handle the truth.

But you have no legal right to murder someone just because you disagree with them, and you have no moral right to celebrate their murder.

Pastor John Leatherman

Duncansville