Let us pray, but only to an acceptable god


Facing the evangelicals and rescuing freedom
Well, that was fun.

I'm still waiting on a fan for my iMac, so the hard drive on my iBook decides to start acting up (of course IT decided, all my computers have names and personalities of their own). And me without a recent backup. I finally get most of my files restored late on the 20th. But the 21st was MY winter celebration from sunrise to sunrise, and there is no way I was going to spend winter solstice at the computer.

And then, as every year, I get to deal with the inevitable fallout of other people's holidays. Mostly people just want someone to listen, and I can almost do that in my sleep. With a soundtrack provided by various Christmas albums (how many records did Mannheim Steamroller release anyway?), the rest of my brain contemplates the state of the universe and humanity in particular. Not to mention the folly that passes for a democratic process.

After being "inspired" by Huckabee and considering the difference between Christmas and the solstice., I have a topic.

With due consideration, I've decided that America does indeed need prayer in schools. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva would be good choices to start with. We can cover Indra next week and work our way through the rest of the pantheon.

That's the issue you see. It's not about prayer in schools, it's about Christian prayer in public schools, although the evangelicals will throw out a sop about the Judeo-Christain tradition. It's not morality that the evangelical Christian crowd wants, but a carefully selected Christian morality enforced by government. And to hell with anyone who would dare choose anything else.

All in the best statist tradition.

The issue isn't which morality we use, the issue is if the morality is forced or not. The evangelicals are a minority, and the moral challenges have more than one solution than living under their rules.

Meanwhile, people keep overlooking the cause. The question isn't if there should be prayer in public schools, but if there should be public schools in the first place. If parents could choose the schools the way they choose cars, forcing religion on children wouldn't be an issue. If parents were unhappy, they could choose another. Accept the fact that public schools are a necessity, so much so that no alternatives can be allowed, and you've already lost the culture war. Because at that point you're not fighting for the freedom to choose, but to keep your people in charge of the statist machine.

It's not moral if it has to be imposed.

Likewise, this next election shouldn't be about who panders to the evangelical Christian wing of the Republican party. I'd have much more respect for a candidate if they weren't wrapping themselves in scripture and the flag at the same time.

Especially when I know they'll tramp all over both as soon as the election is over.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - December 24, 2007 at 01:06 PM  Tag


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