God vs. the state

I send my son to a Catholic school. There are many reasons why, but one of them isn't because I think he gets a better secular education. We live in one of the best counties in Florida, public school-wise. People are moving here in droves because of it. That makes them overcrowded, but they're still good schools. I do think the secular education he gets is on par with what he'd get in a public school here. If it wasn't we'd consider switching, because I don't want to cheat the guy. The biggest reason he goes to school where he does is there is a sense of conscience there. There's a moral compass in the atmosphere. They pray every morning, and I do think prayer in school is a good thing. (From my past, right before finals, it was a necessary thing.) I think that, coupled with what he gets at home, gives him a good foundation to grow on. That doesn't guarantee he'll grow up an all around good guy, but I think it gives him a better than average chance. That, in and of itself in some circles, makes me a member of the hated religious right, although I don't see myself there. Yes, where he is, that prayer is a Catholic prayer, because it's a Catholic school. I would love to see some form of prayer in public schools, but it wouldn't have to be any specific prayer to any specific diety. I understand non-Christian kids would have an issue with a Christian prayer. A moment of silence to pray to your God would work for me, be he or she an omnipotent being or cosmic hairy muffin, I don't care. If you want to take that minute to twiddle your thumbs in agnosticism, contemplating your navel and wondering why the fools surrounding you are wallowing in the opiate of the masses, that's OK too. I am apparently wrong though.

It seems to me the writers of the constitution wanted to protect us all from a government that established a religion to which we all have to adhere, but we've taken that to a whole 'nuther plane. Instead of freedom of religion, we seem to be hell bent on freedom from religion, and they aren't the same thing. It isn't legal for a judge to display a crucifix in his chambers, but take that same crucifix in the hands of an artist, who drops it in a tub of urine and calls it art, and the NEA will fight to give him government money to display it, all because of context. In my mind, something is very wrong with that.

I guess what I don't get, is that freedom of expression seems to be afforded any manner of subjects, except God. It is the defense used to allow some of the most vile displays in our society, from the afore mentioned Jesus in a tub of urine display to KKK marches, yet, as soon as we mention the 'G' word, all freedoms cease. Somewhere someone sold us this bill of goods that says because someone displays anything that essentially says "Yay God!" in a public place, that they have somehow established a religion to which we all should bow. If I, a Catholic, managed to get myself in trouble, and found myself in front of a Muslim judge with some form of Muslim prayer on his wall, I wouldn't think twice about it. It doesn't make his religion my concern. If a judge had a picture of himself with Joe Gibbs in matching Redskins shirts on his wall, and I, a Jaguar fan, comes before him, should it matter? Does the amount of devotion he shows to his team make it matter? What if he worships the Redskins, and has accepted Sean Taylor as his personal savior? We have become so afraid of offending someone that we have taken great pains to remove any mention of a God from public view, while displaying a picture of Adolph Hitler would be a plum for the ACLU to take up and defend.

So we come to the reason for this blog entry, the Supreme Court flip flopped on the matter of displaying the Ten Commandments in public. I don't see why this is an issue, and have a real hard time with anyone having a real hard time with the display. Is there anything in the Ten Commandments that is offensive to somebody? What is it we're all so afraid of? Is it just that they have a religious connotation? Would they have the same issue if the display were some words of wisdom from Confusious, or Yogi Berra? Or again, is God exempt from freedom of expression simply because He's somebody's God? Personally, I think Yogi's pretty high up there.

Yes, I do have a Yogi quote over my desk. "They said it couldn't be done, but that doesn't always work." There are times that prayer gets me through the day.