Like in many cities around the country, Cincinnati’s crime is up in 2015. Shootings are up more than 20 percent over last year. In order to combat that problem, mayor John Cranley and police chief Jeffrey Blackwell developed a 90-day curfew plan. The plan was to include two drop-off centers for teenagers who are picked up by police for being out after curfew. The drop-off centers were to be two churches (instead of jail). Parents would then be called to pick up their kids.

After this plan was unveiled, there was a backlash on Twitter about the kids being dropped off at churches. The complaint was that no religion should be mentioned to them while they were at the churches. Chief Blackwell confirmed that complaint in a television news interview. Blackwell’s response to the question about that complaint was “that no religion will be introduced to the kids while they are at the churches.” Blackwell went on to say “we will be talking to them about integrity.” All I could do while watching this interview was shake my head in disbelief.

Because of the backlash, on June 14, they got their wish. In the news clip, “Outcry Causes Community Leaders to Make Switch to Youth Curfew Centers,” officials say kids caught violating curfew will be taken to recreation centers instead of churches. “It was a real bombshell for me,” said pastor Ennis Tait, of Church of the Living God. “It was not only a setback for the chief's plan; it was a setback for the involvement of the church.”

This is just an example of the world we live in today, a world trying to solve their problems anyway they can but leaving God out of it! But can problems be solved without God?

Brooks Hamby, 18, a salutatorian at Brawley Union High School in California, knows that you have to have God in your life. And he had the courage to say so. Brooks handed the first draft of his speech for graduation to the school district officials with these words in them: “Heavenly Father, in all times, let us always be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us.” He was quickly told he could not use the word God in his speech.

Hamby did deliver his graduation speech with these words: “May the God of the Bible bless each and every one of you every day for the rest of your lives,” but that led to a legal backlash from the school district, which claimed he broke the law and hired a high-powered law firm to pursue legal action against him.

A year later, Brooks who is now attending Stanford, and was asked what advice he would give to students today. He replied: “Be the salt of the earth. Be strong and stand for your convictions and stand for what is right, what is ethical, what is moral and what is Godly, no matter what is the cost to you. Stand for what is good wherever you go and whatever you do.”

Mankind keeps trying to solve their problems without God. Leave God out of the picture while we try to teach kids integrity, they say. They ban God completely from schools while expecting no crime. They don’t want to introduce the very book that teaches integrity, starting with the Ten Commandments.

“God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing” (C. S. Lewis).

Until mankind comes to the reality that God and only God can solve their problems, it will be like walking on a treadmill, not going anywhere. California lawmakers should take heed to this passage at a time when they are suffering a historically bad drought! In their time of trouble, they need God: “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

There is only one way to eliminate crime in the streets, and it involves God. Brooks Hamby, an 18 year old teen, had the answer, which was deleted from his first draft by the board: “Heavenly Father, in all times, let us always be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us.”

One day, teens like Brooks Hamby will no longer be persecuted because they spoke about God. God’s laws will be taught at home and in the schools. God’s coming government will solve all of mankind’s problems. Without God there is no solution.