Christian-Run Schools in Tennessee?

I saw today where the ACLU of TN (see ACLU press release) has filed a lawsuit on behalf 2 former students & the families of 2 current students against Cheatham County School District. No surprise here since this sort of stuff seems to be fairly common here in the South: passing out Bibles in schools by the Gideons; school prayer at football games & graduation ceremonies; teaching of Creationism in the classroom; history classes taught that the US is a "Christian Nation;" & open evangelism of students by school staff. (See The Tennessean news article.)

I know there are many who actively support that sort of activity to be tax payer funded. There are many, sadly, who want this to be the norm in all schools. Even worse, there are many who believe our Constitution allows for this sort of stuff.

The problem is that the people who want that stuff to be the educational norm: 1) don't know history; 2) don't understand the implications they are calling for; & 3) don't realize this has been a settled question for a long, long time.

No, were are not a "Christian Nation," & I don't think anyone would be comfortable being in a "Christian Nation." While it is true we are majority "Christian" it is not true we are a "Christian Nation." Big difference. And what constitutes a "Christian Nation" anyway? Do we want to be a Catholic Christian controlled land? Westboro Baptist dominated? What denomination does the majority want to define our "Christian" status?

Treat others the way you want to be treated ... we decry the Taliban applying their deeply held religious beliefs on the people there, but we want to allow a religious majority here to do the very same thing?

Would those Christians feel the same way if the Muslims were the dominate faith there & began teaching that Allah created the world, while prayers to Allah were made at graduation & football games as everyone faced Mecca ...

I hope the allegations are not true. I hope this is all hype & just a terrible misunderstanding. If this is true, the admin of Cheatham County Schools needs to go: they are completely inept. This sort of stuff is taught as the Big No-No in all educational programs that award teaching degrees. I remember those classes well & there is no doubt what the courts have ruled on these issues & why. It is made crystal clear & rightly so.

If these allegations are true, I hope the people of Cheatham County, TN, have the good sense to teach of their faith in their homes, their churches, the public forums, the street corners & any private forum where it is allowed & is appropriate. But these Good Christian People need to realize the tax payer is not just Christian, & it is wrong to use non-Christian tax money to advance Christian Faith --- or any faith, for that matter.

Jimmy Madison would be rolling over in his grave.

South Carolina License Plates Must Follow the Constitution

This was a no-brainer but the Godslingers of South Carolina wasted tax payer money to fight it anyway. (See newsobserver.com article.)

The judge ruled that the state may not give Christianity the Most Favored Status. Pretty simple & straight forward, but not when there is a Righteous Cause --- not to mention the overwhelming religious majority's votes hanging in the balance.

Now there will be an end run of the ruling by placing the name I Believe on an organization, complete with the logo of the rejected tag, & having a tag issued to commemorate the private group. While that is legal, it is very rude as it is a loud & clear message to the religious minorities that the Christian majority really only winks at religious liberty --- Christians really think that non-Christians are second class.

And one day, that religious minority of today, will use that same tactic to have its image & proclamation on auto tags. And one day, there will be another religion that is the majority. And one day, that tactic will be decried as unfair & un-Constitutional by the very Christians who are using that same tactic today.

Treat others the way you would want to be treated.

Maybe the Golden Rule is only something these Godslingers talk about on Sunday & they never really intend on living that precept. Amazing.

Liberty Counsel "Naughty and Nice" List

The Christmas Police have officially determined where all you indecisive shoppers can purchase "proper and approved" gifts. Liberty Counsel’s annual Naughty and Nice List has been posted (click here for the pdf.) Oh, Goodie. I couldn't wait.

On it we learn that it’s OK to shop at Amazon because its web site offers a “Christmas Decorations” & "Christmas Trees." But better stay away from American Eagle because "Christmas" is not mentioned on its website! Liberty Counsel tells us that Old Time Pottery mentions the word "Christmas" four times on its web page, making it a Wise Man Favorite. However, Old Navy gets the Herod Antipas Award because "Christmas" is not even mentioned on its website at all. None. Bad, bad Old Navy. Only coal in that Old Navy Stocking!

Read the list and marvel that some people obviously have too much time on their hands. Then, do what mostly everybody else who celebrates the Winter Holidays plans to do this year: Shop at the stores with the best prices.

Fundamentalist Honor Killing

There was another "honor killing" last week, this time in Arizona. While an "honor killing" is common & doesn't make the news in some parts of the world, like Iraq where the perpetrator is from, it is rare in the United States. 

In this instance, the Iraqi father was quite upset his daughter was becoming to "Westernized" after she left her husband & moved in with her boyfriend. Evidently a lady who wanted out of a marriage (for whatever reason) deserves death. So, a 20 year old lady is dead & her 48 year old father is in jail on murder charges --- because the Koran says so. (USA Today article.)

Now before anyone starts condemning the Muslims for their uncivilized view of things & the Koran for mandating such a terrible thing, let's stop for a moment & give our own history a glance or two. Remember such things as "defending your family's honor?" Even the infamous Hatfield & McCoy feud was escalated because a young woman left for an affair with the other clan (see Wiki article). In the South there is a common expression: He needed killing --- a statement that means justifiable homicide because the offending individual was so rotten.

This is not something unique to Islam. Don't forget Exodus 21:17: And he that curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

Or Leviticus 20:10: And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

From a Biblical perspective, the guy followed the command of Scripture.

I'm gonna stop & let that sink in for a moment. 

God in the Classroom

There is a new book by Anne Marie Lofaso detailing the role of faith in the public school setting, & the legal landmines which it may bring. This is an excellent resource, especially for teachers, administrators & board of education members. IMHO, it should be required reading.

The free download is available here in pdf format. 

Here is the Americans United article. Hard copies are available at this link.

Protest Prayers at Football Games

Students at Port St. Joe High School in Santa Rosa, FLA, have discovered how to exercise their Constitutional right of free expression. It seems that after a judge told the principal of the high school that he could no longer actively promote Christianity (see prior posting) the students decided to do an end run & proclaim their faith at the football games anyway by passing out cards before the game announcing that 10 minutes before kickoff, there would be a student led Lord's Prayer recitation. The students would then hold up placards asking the audience to stand & the Lord's Prayer is recited --- all led by the students. Then an announcement is made over the loud speaker that the school in no way promoted or was involved with the public prayer. (See article in the Panama City News Herald.)

It's legal. And it should be. No problem with students exercising their right to pray or expressing their faith freely.

The problem is that what the students are doing is both terribly rude & sets a precedent that these same students will one day not like.

Other faiths will begin to do the same thing at some point. One day, there will be a "Prayer Battle" before the game to see which faith can have the biggest prayer support. That is not good, but that is the scenario this sort of childish action is going to cause. And by "childish" I don't mean the students: I mean the Religious Not Right zealots who are playing these students like puppets in their political game.

Jesus said, "Treat others the way you would want to be treated." Somehow I don't think these same Christians would want to be in a situation where 99% of the crowd is Muslim & all begin a student led prayer to Allah --- & that handful of Christians in the stands will feel an intense pressure to conform. That's not fair. It's not keeping with the command of Christ.

But the bigger question is this: why does anyone feel compelled to do a public prayer before a football game anyway? Don't these people pray on their own, in private? Where in the Bible does it ever talk about football game prayers anyway? Doesn't Jesus condemn public prayers for the sake of being seen anyway? Wouldn't it be more useful if those students --- Ok, adults who are the real instigators of all this --- were mindful of their faith as an ethic instead of a political tool?

Rudeness is a big turn off to a cause. Imagine how people of other faiths feel when they came to see their child participate in a football game, but the Christians in the audience forced the witnessing of a worship service? That is not the way to influence people for a cause but it is a surefire way to alienate people --- & give them every reason to do the same thing to the Christian minority one day.

Godslingers in Santa Rosa: please use your God-given brain to think before you plan anything else. You're not helping.

Pat Robertson & Halloween

My post from yesterday involved the most bizarre article I've seen in a long, long time. Although I've heard uninformed people make such statements in the past, I never dreamed I'd read something like on Pat Robertson's CBN or in Charisma magazine. Never. While I have long said that Charisma is nothing more than Corinth Revisited & a place for Hucksters of the Word to hide with a sense of legitimacy, that article is beyond anything resembling rational thought.

Then I catch this link from Rob Boston's latest piece on the Americans United Wall of Separation. If you need a reason to be concerned about how outlandish the Religious Right has become; if you have forgotten why there needs to be a unified front to combat this sort of anti-intellectualism masquerading as faith; or perhaps you just need a good laugh. Regardless, take a gander at this link from good ol' Pat Robertson's CBN regarding the evils of Halloween.

Sigh.

Demons & Halloween Candy

UPDATE: This article in question has been removed from the CBN website. I wonder why? I've posted several of the quotes below. Here is a cached copy of the original article. The same article is posted on the Charisma magazine's site.

Sometimes I read something that is so outlandish, so crazy, so out there, that words cannot express my utter dismay.

This article by Kimberly Daniels on Pat Robertson's CBN website has got to be the most down right silliest I've read all year. In fact, I'm going to nominate it for Goof Ball Article of the Decade. It will at least get Honorable Mention.

Ms. Daniels has declared war on Halloween, saying it is a Satanic holiday. OK. We've all heard that before from the uninformed. But Ms. Daniels adds a new twist to this: demons will come into your home through the candy your kids collect. Even worse, according to Ms. Daniels, if you buy Halloween decorations, demons are going to invade your home or church because they search for those colors & decorations.

That's right, ladies & gentlemen. You have just swung open the door to evil, crime, hate, Satanic worship, child sacrifice & even the Democratic Party if you buy M&M's to pass out to the kiddies during Halloween.

Let's get a load of some of these quotes:

If this holiday is hallowed, whose service is it set apart for? The answer to that question is very easy—Lucifer's! --- I can just see Church Lady saying this one.

Halloween is a counterfeit holy day that is dedicated to celebrating the demonic trinity of : the Luciferian Spirit (the false father); the Antichrist Spirit (the false holy spirit); and the Spirit of Belial (the false son). --- Can someone point out a reference for this in the Scripture?

During Halloween, time-released curses are always loosed. A time-released curse is a period that has been set aside to release demonic activity and to ensnare souls in great measure. --- A time-released curse? Have you been drinking way-early egg nog, Ms. Daniels?

For example, most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches. --- I'm just gonna let that one sink in for a minute.

Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. --- Ooooh K.

Even the colors of Halloween (orange, brown and dark red) are dedicated. --- Ms. Daniels, have you ever noticed the colors of the leaves in the Fall? Orange. Brown. Red. Is God dedicating things to Satan?

When nice church folk lay out their pumpkins on the church lawn, fill their baskets with nuts and herbs, and fire up their bonfires, the demons get busy. --- I am just amazed at this one.

I have prayed for witches who are addicted to drinking blood and howling at the moon. --- Someone needs to take those people as well as Ms. Daniels to the nearest psych facility for a complete evaluation.

Then Ms. Daniels says that there is actually sex with demons & child sacrifice at Halloween. That's right: sex with demons. Child sacrifice. Really? Could we please have some evidence for these sex acts & the child sacrifice? In fact, the evidence is there is no child sacrifice. It's hype. Rumor. Scare tactics. Ms. Daniels is spreading gossip & falsehood, something that is certainly not a fruit of the spirit since there is no evidence there is any child sacrifice, & I doubt seriously she can prove sex with demons.

We believers are often portrayed as backward, ignorant, silly & gullible. It is stuff like Ms. Daniels has penned that only hurts the Message we proclaim.

Please, do us all a favor, Ms Daniels: don't say anything else. Just don't.

Theocrat Huckabee Leading GOP Polls for 2012

I guess if there is any consolation to the latest CNN poll it is that a Southern Baptist is leading the pack for the Republican nomination. Wait. What possessed me to say that? Must be a Fundamentalist Flashback. I need to turn on some Chris Tomlin & open up Peterson's The Message to bring me back into the fold of Grace.

Seriously, the latest CNN poll shows theocratic-leaning, former Arkansas governor, former Southern Baptist pastor & part-time political pundit Mike Huckabee to be leading in the poll of likely GOP voters for the 2012 presidential race. Oh, goodie! This only shows how far out of touch the likely GOP voters are with mainstream America, & how far extremist the GOP has gone as a party. 

Let's just have a round of Prohibition to celebrate.

I guess it is some consolation that Sarah Palin came in second. Second. Not first. How she can quit her position as governor to finish a book, go on the talk, e.g., rhetoric, circuit to whip the masses into a Gospel frenzy, & still come in second? Maybe Levi should have had an affair with Ms. Moose Hunter Herself instead of the 1st Daughter to get more support from the 20 Somethings out there.

Nonetheless, it was only 2 months ago that Mitt Romney held the lead of likely GOP voters, another interesting fact since most Fundamentalists view Mormons as 2 steps removed from Islamo-Fascists & only slightly better than Satanists.

Then there is the other part of the poll: none of the names on the GOP Likely List comes close to beating Obama. Hmmm. For all the complaining about Obama; the scare talk; the rantings & ravings; the whatever; Obama still has the edge over any GOP challenger.

Maybe there is hope for the Libertarian Party yet ... & America too, for that matter.

TX Executed an Innocent Man: Cameron Todd Willingham

Let me make this perfectly clear at the beginning: I am all for the death penalty. I have no problem with the state extracting the ultimate liberty from a person when the crime is so heinous & so indisputable that no other punishment would be suitable. No problem with death penalty in those cases.

The problem is those cases are so rare that the death penalty is almost not an option.

Since 1973 & as of March 2009, there have been 132 death row prisoners exonerated. That is a huge number. 132. People who were sentenced to die but were innocent. The jurors were convinced the evidence was undeniable & after all the expensive appeals, the sentence stood. It wasn't until new evidence was found that innocent people were set free. 

How many more innocent people were actually executed by the state?

And when we look at the disparity of race & economics & educational levels of people on death row, verses the sentences for the same crime of middle-to-upper class whites, it should cause another pause: we are executing the poorest, the minorities, & the people with the least ability to have an adequate defense.

Then there is the case of Cameron Todd Willingham who was executed in TX for the arson murder of his children. The saddest part of it all is that the investigation findings were that of old wives tales instead of real science. The forensics is that it was an accidental fire & not arson. (See New Yorker article by David Gann.)

There was 20/20 piece on this a few months ago & the judge who heard the case was adamant: the fire was set by Willingham. The evidence proved it, evidence, he said, was based on Willingham's past as a down-right mean human being. Fine. Maybe Willingham was an SOB but we don't execute people for being mean. 

And the judge said there was a Devil Worship angle. That's right: Willingham liked heavy metal music, a sure sign of Devil worship. (No, I'm not making this up.) And to make matters worse, the burn pattern was in the design of a pentagram, something the educated fire researchers say was mere happenstance (if even believed the burn pattern made that at all.)

No we learn that the TX governor may have been playing politics with the Willingham case & tried to stone wall efforts to look into the possibility of executing an innocent man. (See current.com article.)

The problem is that we cannot go back & apologize to Willingham if we find out TX made its decision based on bad science, bad logic, a completely ignorant judge, & a political motivation to get votes by a TX governor. Once we carry out the sentence, it cannot be reversed.

There is a reason why the death penalty appeals process is lenghty & costly for the state: we value human liberty so much that we are willing to go to enoumous lengths to keep from executing an innocent person. We even hold as a regal truth that we would rather 9 guilty go free to make sure just 1 innocent is not deprived of liberty. However, in our quest for vengeance --- not justice --- we have lost sight of liberty & how valuable that liberty should be, & that the priority of gov't is to protect all people, even those who have committed heinous crimes.

As much as I think some criminals deserve to be fried like a Crispy Critter, the cost is just not worth it --- the cost to the tax payer & the cost to our collective soul if we blow it, as in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. Life without parole is cheaper & puts criminals in a place where he will always be subject to to the penalties deemed by society, but with the chance to live should new evidence come to light later on.

It's time we told our brethern in TX to stop with the vengence of the Taliban & start acting like Americans who value liberty.