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