Monday, May 30, 2005

My horse is so high I can't see the ground

Just because this issue hits close to home.

Logan Ritchie reported in this weeks Jewish Advocate (the greater Boston Jewish newspaper) that the US Air Force Academy in Colorado has been accused of anti-semitism.

"Recent Graduate Casey Weinstein claims he was subject to proselytizing by his teachers, restriction of kosher food, the inability to observe the Sabbath and Christian themed parties sponsored by the academy."

Hooray separation of Church and state. Er, wait a second, that doesn't sound like separation at all.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State told this to the Jewish Advocate:
"There is a clear preference for Christianity at the academy, so that everyone else feels like a second class citizen."

Be all that you can be, as long as Christianity is somehow involved. No atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and so forth allowed. But not just any old Christian is welcome.

Bruce Debosky, regional director of the ADL for the Mountain states is quoted:
"This is not something that happened over night. there is a history of Evangelical messages, and even mainstream Christians have been made to feel uncomfortable. It is critical that the constitutional principle of separation of church and state be up help."

I'm not going to get into a big thing explaining why the separation is important, or why, even though it isn't specifically mentioned in the constitution (It was Jefferson who coined the phrase "A wall of separation between Church and State" while giving a speech at a church). All I want to say is that this is getting more and more frustrating and even if this has been a problem for a while (as it in fact has been) we keep hearing about it more and more frequently now. I think much of the blame should fall on this current administration, as Bush has shown time and time again, to put it ineloquently, he sucks at being a uniter.

I don't have a problem with christians, religious or otherwise. Nor do I have a problem with religious evangelical christians. They can believe any way they want. I do have a problem with the Evangelical christian right who seem to be getting their way more and more with out regards to the rest of us living in this country. This is not a Christian land, no matter how much they would like to obscure the history and wish otherwise.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And now we know why you're going to burn in hell. Not to be rude or anything.

Amichai said...

Going to hell? Very likely, though for completely different reasons. But becareful J, I know where you live. Er... I know people who know where you live and can find out your address from them.