We’re Blessing Schools Now?

by Eric on August 28, 2006 · Comments

School PrayerSo we’re blessing schools now? Christ! This drives me nuts:

(Dispatch) About 180 members of four local churches surrounded a public middle school yesterday to bless the building and those who use it, despite objections from the American Civil Liberties Union about the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.

What is it going to take to get people to understand the separation of church and state? I’m not an Establishment Clause expert, but it would appear that the school’s support of a “blessing” in such a public manner might just be construed as establishing that religion for the kiddos.

It is interesting to note that the principal initially wanted to allow this inside the school, though she “forgets” that conversation.

Maybe the good Christian folk would have no problem with a public zazen and meditation period for the kids out front to enhance the state of being of the children, or maybe a group of Muslims facing Mecca and praying “for the kids” would be OK. Maybe not. You think?

The most telling part of the article was this:

Several participants said yesterday they did not think the ceremony, which lasted less than a half-hour, violated the separation of church and state, and some said they didn’t think church and state should be separated anyway.

They don’t think it does, but they don’t care if it did. Precisely the problem.

Please also note in the photo above I thought at first it said “Karl Rove Christian Church”. Do I need more sleep or is it all blurring together somehow?

PS – This happens at my kid’s school and their hell will break loose. Guaranteed.

  • Elijah
    DO you people ever stop to think, or is being critical of those you disagree with the result of having been in public school? Give me a break and stop inflicting your atheistic, evolutionary, new age worship of Darwin upon me! I guess we do have one thing going for us - Darwin is dead and he says to tell you that he was wrong.
  • 1. Eric, I'm freaked that you even know about such things.

    2. I'm THRILLED to be Jewish and repent for my sins against God on a once-yearly basis.

    3. I'm THRILLED that I have no one to account to except myself and the person against whom I've sinned since, in Judaism, God cannot forgive sins I commit against other people. Only the other person can forgive me. And, I believe, that's how it's meant to be.

    And to think that in the 60s and 70s, people were so concerned about brainwashing and indoctrination into, what did we call them - cults?
  • Eric
  • You know what? It actually doesn't matter where they were (this isn't directed at you Terry, btw). It doesn't matter because their intent is obvious. I agree with what you say about others should do the same, but you see? This isn't about the right to assemble. This isn't about testing that right or using that right the way it's meant to be used. At the core of what the group pictured here is doing is trying to inject their beliefs into the life of those who do not share those beliefs. That is what they're tryign to do and that is what's objectionable. The God I know would be happy to receive their blessings wherever they made them known and the God I know would not want those who don't share those beliefs to be intimidated or be forced to have to work around, walk around or exist around others who will usurp well-intentioned and secure rights just so they can try to inject their beliefs over and above anyone elses.
  • Buckeye Terry
    Were they actually on school property, or just on the sidewalk? If it was on school property, that is completely unacceptable. As long as they allowed the children to enter the school grounds without being hassaled and they were on public or private property, that is their right to peaceably assemble.
    Perhaps some Hindu or Muslim or Wiccan group should organize a similiar event, (along as it wasn't on school grounds) and see what the reaction would be.
    The scariest part are the people who think there shouldn't be a seperation of church and state. I have a fundy relative who says that every so often. Until I remind her that we live in heavily Catholic area, and she would be forced to support the Catholic Church. That shuts her up for a while.
  • Muffet
    I am free to practice my religion. I also want to be free from yours, Nixguy.
  • Nixguy: Do you honestly think that any public school, including the one featured here, would endorse/tolerate a large group of Muslims or Hindus of Buddhists crowding around the building to bless it? Certainly not. What these "Christians", and any other group of people who believe that church and state should not be seperate, fail to realize is that THERE IS MORE THAN ONE RELIGION in this world! And every one that exists believes that all of the others are dead wrong. Intolerance is not the answer! Your response?
  • Eric
    girls are special

    glad i can't remember that procedure to which you refer

    it was a hex
  • And the last thing: a real question: do those people who are praying actually even HAVE kids in that school? How do we know they weren't casting a hex?
  • Girls are exempt because they're special.
  • Hey - I have an idea! As a way to cement the covenant between kids and schools, every male child should be circumsized as part of registering for attendance in the district - you know, just to show their devotion to education and the Judeo-Christian concept of making and keeping a promise. Whaddya think, boyz?
  • This was a public school, no? What I'd like to know, did some administrator give his/her blessing to this blessing? If so, he/she should be canned.

    Kum-freakin'-baya, they're all crazy, my lord.
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