Monday, June 16, 2008

God booted -- another view

Any God which can get tossed out of the classroom by bureaucrats -- or anywhere else for that matter -- is a sissy.
I suspect today's Christian students feel the presence of God on a personal level at school as much as they ever did. Kids can and do pray in school. Kids can and do talk about God in school.
What we don't have today, for the most part, are school officials leading the prayers and/or discussions. I prefer it that way.
Mr. Cochran talks about the religious background of the Founding Fathers and their is no doubt that many of them were religious, to an extent. Some were devout Christians, of whatever stripe, but many were also deists. They believed in the existence of some form of God, but did not necessarily buy a complete package of conventional Christian beliefs in the deal. Quite a few of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington and Ben Franklin, were Freemasons and one of the tenets of that group was freedom of religion (though they didn't think much of polytheists).
If you look at many of the things Washington and others from that time said and did, you notice they tend to not say much about the details of their personal religious views.
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Mr. Cochran encourages prayer by all religions -- including Satanists -- in school. As I said before, prayer is possible now, so I am assuming he means some form of prayer service. Does he really think the little Satanist kid (or Adventist or Jew) is going to get his moment in the spotlight with all those hard praying conventional Christians nearby? Does Mr. Cochran suggest the kids be subdivided during the school day into separate but equal prayer facilities? Why not let them deal with their religion as individuals in a private manner during school and then let them pack together voluntarily afterward in a facility set up for them --- you know, maybe a church!
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I suspect any "waves of terror" like Mr. Cochran mentions are not to be found at the ACLU or at similar organizations. Whether you agree with them or not, they tend to be pretty darn efficient and relentless at winning these battles in the courts. If there is any panic going on I suspect it's in the mind of overreacting fundamentalists.
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I have no problem with historic documents which include religious references being in the schools. However, they should be labeled as such. Documents which are expressly or even primarily religious in nature should not be on display in public schools. Government should not propagate any religious view in public schools.
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Mr. Cochran never really makes clear what he thinks the proper role of the school official is in this debate.
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By the way, I have no problem with religious students "advertising" their religion on their clothing. A cross -- even an upside down one -- would be OK in my book (legally, if not morally) as long as the person wearing it was doing so of their own accord and without official sanction.
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I agree with Mr. Cochran on the suitability of private schools or home schooling for the children of parents who want more religious-oriented schooling. I have no problems with the message, but reject the idea that is should be delivered at taxpayer expense. I also would like to see his (and my) taxes reduced to the point where the financial impact of private schooling is less burdensome to parents.
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When it comes to public education, there are problems enough without whipping up an imaginary one. God is holding his own nicely in the classroom and He's doing it without the assistance of the state.

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