mirror of
https://github.com/nhammer514/textfiles-politics.git
synced 2024-12-28 00:39:23 -05:00
79 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
79 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
*********************************************************
|
|
* Michael R. Burhans - Out Of My Mind *
|
|
* A Weekly Electronic Column *
|
|
* March 24, 1994 *
|
|
*********************************************************
|
|
|
|
" Let Us Pray "
|
|
or
|
|
We Must Force Feed The Kids Our Dogma!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Once again the armies of the religious right are one the march.
|
|
The very same groups that are spending millions of dollars on banning
|
|
books, censoring the media, stopping free speech and legislating
|
|
bigotry have suddenly tried a new tactic. It seems they would have us
|
|
believe that they suddenly have discovered the first amendment and
|
|
are converts. They would have us believe that they are exceptionally
|
|
concerned with the rights of free speech for students in the public
|
|
schools. One can only wonder how they can have the gall to expect the
|
|
rest of the country to believe this in the face of their virtual
|
|
assault on the civil rights of so many other groups.
|
|
|
|
Their ploy is this: The Supreme Court rightfully banned school
|
|
prayer on the basis that public schools are an arm of the government;
|
|
and prayer as a school policy was nothing less than a government
|
|
establishment of that religion as an officially state sanctioned
|
|
one. The religious right was therefore left with the quandary of how
|
|
to force others to pray to their god without appearing to use the
|
|
government to do so. They have seized on the idea that as long as
|
|
it is "supposed" to be a student lead prayer it is merely a matter of
|
|
free speech. They feel that if they call it "non-sectarian" prayer
|
|
(which to them means a non-denominational Christian prayer) then
|
|
nobody could possibly object. However, the mere mention in one of
|
|
these public school prayers of Buddha, Mohammed, Shiva, or Satan
|
|
would no doubt make them apoplectic. You can bet money that they will
|
|
feel quite free to mention Jesus in their prayers. The obvious
|
|
double standard of their position is yet another glaring example of
|
|
the sickening hypocrisy displayed by the right wing religious
|
|
fundamentalist movement.
|
|
|
|
I for one cannot believe they really see this as an issue of
|
|
rights. For if the rights really concerned them, why would these
|
|
groups spend millions on crusades to remove the rights of
|
|
homosexuals? If they are really concerned with rights why are they
|
|
advocating book banning? If they are really concerned with rights
|
|
why are they working to restrict the rights of non-christian
|
|
worshipers? If they are really concerned with rights why do they work
|
|
to remove the right to burn the flag? If they are really concerned
|
|
with rights, why do they spend so much money to censor art galleries?
|
|
If they are really concerned with rights, why do they spend so much
|
|
time and effort trying to censor the media? How can they expect us
|
|
to suddenly believe they want to be a great force for freedom? Any
|
|
citizen or elected official that falls for such an obvious and
|
|
cynical ploy almost deserves to live in the theocracy these people
|
|
would like to create. Since there is no way to do this without
|
|
forcing the rest of us to also live in this freedomless state we must
|
|
oppose this policy.
|
|
|
|
As it stands now, every person has the right to pray in school as
|
|
long as they don't force it upon others. That policy is sound and
|
|
should not be changed. I find it disingenuous at best when people
|
|
claim that they cannot pray properly unless they get to use the
|
|
public address system and force everyone else to join in or listen.
|
|
That is nothing less then a form of brainwashing by rote repetition.
|
|
There is no possible prayer that can accommodate all of our nation's
|
|
diverse religious beliefs. Even the mention of "God" would tell
|
|
atheists, agnostics, deists, and polytheists that their s is not the
|
|
officially state sanctioned system of beliefs. This is blatantly
|
|
unconstitutional, and needs to remain illegal. If you want to or
|
|
need to pray, do so, but do not try to force me or my children, or
|
|
anyone else to join along.
|
|
|
|
|
|
*******************************************************************
|
|
* (c)1994 Micheal R. Burhans\24th Century Society Publishing *
|
|
* Permission for unaltered reproduction and dissemination is *
|
|
* granted as long as it is not for profit & with this notice *
|
|
*******************************************************************
|