Nickel Mines plus one year.

Do you remember the Bucolic butchery in Amish Country last October, kiddies? It turned out to be another SEX IS DEATH story.

Lancaster's local yokel "press" goes to a bunch of book-writing eggheads, mouth agape, only to find egghead mouths agape when confronted with people who take their faith seriously.

Lancaster Ignorancer-Urinal: Amish belief: 'Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors'

The Amish response of forgiveness following the schoolhouse shootings at Nickel Mines stunned the world.

Right off the bat we have a problem, kiddies. Why would anybody with even a modicum of sense find it hard to believe the victims' families would not harbor feelings of hatred for the gunman's family? They are innocent victims of his monstrous sins as well.

Doy.

Double doy.

The only possible answer is a perverse doubt about the sincerity of Christians.

The authors of a new book about Amish forgiveness were stunned themselves to learn that, though they had anticipated the response, they did not fully understand its roots.

Huh?

The Amish immediately forgave a man who shot 10 of their children in the head, killing five, before he killed himself nearly a year ago.

A more typical response would have been rage, then a thirst for revenge.

But that did not happen.

"The biggest surprise at Nickel Mines was not the intrusion of evil, but the Amish response," note the authors of "Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy." "The biggest surprise was Amish grace."

The book's three writers started out assuming they understood why the Amish forgave the killer. They were surprised to learn they did not.

Another point must be made here, kiddies. It is easy to forgive the dead killer. After all, he's getting his now, is he not? Why does no one ask our Amish friends if they think he is in Hell?

What if Roberts had lived and was now pleading not guilty by reason of insanity? Would "forgiveness" be the buzzword of the week? What if he had raped [and worse] all those innocent little girls before shooting them in the head and lived to talk about it on Scary King Dead?

Forgiving that would require some serious Christianity.

The obvious [for Catholics at least] next question to ask the survivors is "Are you praying for the killer's immortal soul?" [Not to mention the souls of the murdered girls.] Something tells me the answer is no.

"I'm a sociologist, but I hadn't done careful research on Amish spirituality, particularly as it relates to forgiveness," explains Donald Kraybill, senior fellow at the Young Center of Elizabethtown College. "So I learned a lot I didn't know before."

Oy vey! Elizabethtown is in the heart of Lancaster County, PA. I find it difficult to believe he knew nothing of the Amish version of Christianity. I do not find it difficult to believe a sociologist would think people could not take such a thing seriously enough to live it.

So will the reader of this 211-page book published just before the first anniversary of the school murders.

The three authors, including historians Steven Nolt and David Weaver-Zercher, found that the Amish concept of forgiveness flows largely from the teachings of Jesus as revealed in the Gospels, particularly the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.

You don't say!

"If the Gospel of Matthew serves as the root system for Amish forgiveness," the authors further note, "the Lord's Prayer is the taproot."

Golly!

The Lord's Prayer tells the Amish, as one member of the church told the authors, "if we can't forgive, then we won't be forgiven."

You do learn something new every day!

The authors say they had to reflect for a moment before they connected with the relevant section of the prayer: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."

There must have been some serious cogitating going on that day.

But an Amish woman didn't have to think about it. "It's pretty plain, don't you think?" she told them.

The Amish pray the Lord's Prayer at every communal service — Sunday church meetings, weddings, funerals, ordinations. Morning and evening family prayers also include it.

But other Christians also regularly recite the prayer. What's different about the Amish?

The primary difference, the authors say, is in the communal and self-surrendering nature of Amish society. From an early age, children learn to obey the society's rules and one of the first rules is to forgive those who trespass against them.

In other words, kiddies, live your faith and teach your children how to do the same. Are you surprized by this as the three authors appear to be?

Therefore, adults forgive automatically, although it is never an easy process to follow through.

While the Amish are just another protestant sect worshipping God incorrectly, at least they are not ashamed to believe publicly. Do you have the courage of your convictions?