The Confusion Over Separation of Church and State

I have come to observe, especially in dealing with the local public schools, that there is a major confusion here about the differences between separation of church and state, and the meaning of freedom of religion. If told that one cannot have any religious imagery in a public school classroom, be it a cross, the ten commandments, or Biblical quotes, one may receive the response that then their religious freedom is being infringed. This signals not only a misunderstanding of the two concepts, but also a failure to realize that without said separation, freedom of religion itself could not exist.

In a country of growing diversity, the idea of a secular government is more vital than ever. When one is a public employee, and that includes those in the position of public school teacher, one cannot appear to endorse nor favor one particular religion over another. It's that simple. This is part of the fabric that ensures that one is free, in their personal life, to pursue, or NOT pursue, if it may be, a particular religious tradition without any interference from public or political figures.

It does not matter if a particular area has an identifiable majority.  Here in South Mississippi, the population is overwhelmingly Southern Baptist. However, public school teachers still may not display religious articles.

But they do. I was aghast at the amount of religious imagery, including a large rendition of the Ten Commandments in an elementary school classroom, that I have encountered. Can ethics be taught to school children without the use of such items? The idea here seems to be that one cannot - an affront to agnostics and atheists who have indeed lived ethical and productive lives, and that one can only do so with a particularly Christian set of rules- an affront to every other religious tradition on earth.

Ah, it's been a while....but I return never-the-less

A lot has occurred over the last months. But I have decided to return to this site now on a regular basis.

Mississippi Spends a Lot on Special Ed

Mississippi actually devotes a lot of its education budget to special ed. Now I know why. Today I substituted for a special ed teacher, and found out that two of the students are in that class because they have been in accidents on four-wheelers. These are dune buggy type vehicles that seem to be popular here - to ride in the mud, on fields, etc. They can go almost as fast as a car - and of course I have never seen anyone riding one with protective gear. One of the students said he'd gotten into accidents three times, one of which left him in the hospital, and the other said he got hit by a car while riding one - which put him in a coma for several days and left him with brain damage. And these are 7th graders. Meanwhile, all of the students discussed the SEVERAL guns they own and how they regularly shoot animals in their yards - also 7th graders. They were, of course, shocked to hear that I - a woman of 44 - have never even touched a gun in my entire life.

A Lone Voice in the Wilderness

To counteract the ignorance I witnessed in the pharmacy yesterday, my family physician is a breath of fresh air here. He is a thoughtful, intelligent, clear-minded man. We had a long discussion about the health care bill in his office today. He of course endorses it and told us about an organization - The American Academy of Family Physicians - www.aafp.org - which endorses the bill. He is a native Mississippian of the rare kind.

Starting to See Why Ignorance Prevails

Many things have happened in the last weeks that I have thought about writing about. But today pushed me into action. I am not even going to get into the whole scenario around Health Care Reform, except to say that watching those votes come in was one of the proudest moments as an American I have had in a long time.

But I think I am beginning to somewhat understand how the right has pushed fear of communism to the point that it pervades so many people's brains here to the exclusion of logic. Take my brief experience not 30 minutes ago. I stopped in to my local pharmacy to pick up a prescription for my husband, and there was a woman complaining about the rules of her prescription plan, Caremark, which is a subsidiary of CVS. I had this plan when I was an employee of Petsmart. They actually have a decent program where if you order your prescription through their mail order service for a 90 day supply, you can actually get substantial discounts. I did this all the time, and when I placed a refill (which can be done 24 hours a day, on the phone or online) the order arrived in just a few days, often as little as 2. If you choose not to, you can only get the bigger discounts by going to a CVS (there are several of them right in Hattiesburg).

So she was complaining about "not knowing" she couldn't fill it at the local pharmacy. Truth is, the instructions are very clear - and in this case I am actually coming to the defense of a corporation - and if she didn't make a point of reading the very clear information that comes with your membership materials, that's her fault.

The pharmacist's reply? "It's communism in the works......they want to tell you where you can go and what you can do...".......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????  Excuse me?? How is this communism when CVS is a PRIVATE corporation??? The ignorance boggles my mind like it hasn't been boggled in....well...I live in the South now, so I guess it was boggled quite recently....

My point is, ANYTHING that people don't like now is labeled "communism" - it's the new buzz word for the clueless and uneducated. Sad thing is, the pharmacist, I can only assume, has to have some level of education to do what he does........

I can guarantee that the overwhelming majority of those who use that word now with the intended venom of a four letter word are the ones who have no clue what it means, nor have ever read a word of Marx and Engels.