Religion

What a Waste Of Time and Money

August 31, 2007 by Jack Steiner 26 Comments

In an earlier post I mentioned that thanks to my close personal relationship with the good old almighty I am receiving instructions from the big man. He told me that I am to share the story of the foolish high school girl with you.

As she stepped to the microphone to give her commencement speech last spring, Erica Corder knew that what she was about to say might ruffle some feathers.

But the 2006 Lewis Palmer High School graduate ? one of 15 valedictorians who addressed the crowd ? didn’t believe she had a choice.

“I really felt God calling me to do this,” Corder said Thursday. “My top priority is obeying God.”

G-d told me to tell you that you’re making this up as you go along. You knew full well that you would get in trouble. He is quite angry that you’re wasting time and money to try and prosecute a losing case.

So Erica Corder thanked all the teachers, parents and peers in the crowd for their encouragement over the years.

Then, deviating from the 30-second speech that had been approved by the principal, she began speaking about “someone who loves you more than you could ever imagine.”

“His name is Jesus Christ,” Corder said. “If you don’t already know Him personally I encourage you to find out more about the sacrifice He made for you …”

The approximately 30-second speech sparked an immediate controversy.

Parents and students including some of her fellow valedictorians complained that Corder had been proselytizing, and that her comments were inappropriate for the occasion. She also took heat from school officials for deviating from the pre-approved script.

Now that the moment has passed and I am back to being me I’ll insert my own commentary. This is not a typical free speech case. We could spend time talking about why public schools are not subject to the same rules as other places or why free speech is not absolute.

But the thing is that we really don’t have to go there. She knew in advance that she was going to create a problem. She knew that what she wanted to do was out of line. Call it civil disobedience, call it ignorant. The bottom line is that she knew it wasn’t approved and she did it anyway.

Now Corder is fighting back.

In a lawsuit filed in federal court this week, Corder says the Monument high school violated her rights to free speech and equal protection.

Corder’s father, Steve, said Thursday the Corders are not seeking money other than attorney fees.

This irritates me on multiple levels. As a father you should teach your children to take responsibility for their actions. This doesn’t do so. It was clear in advance that she knew that there might be consequences to her actions.

The district has a written policy titled “Student Expression Rights,” according to the lawsuit. It prohibits expression that, among other things, is disruptive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous or threatens violence. It does not specifically prohibit religious speech, the lawsuit states.

The 15 valedictorians agreed before commencement that each person would speak for 30 seconds. Two people did the introduction, while others spoke about each year of high school. Corder and another student were tabbed to conclude the speeches.

Corder said the valedictorians had only a few days to prepare their speeches before they practiced them for the principal, Mark Brewer.

She knew she wanted to honor God in her remarks, but she didn’t do so in her practice speech because she knew there was a chance Brewer would prohibit the comments, and because she didn’t think there would be enough time to work through the issue with him, she said (Emphasis mine)

You knew that there would be consequences. You knew that there would be trouble but you did it anyway. And all that happened was a little slap on the hand. You had to issue a written apology for your actions. Big deal.

Reference: Prayer in School

The Almighty Speaks To Jack

August 31, 2007 by Jack Steiner Leave a Comment

If you are of a certain age you may remember that when John Denver wasn’t singing Rocky Mountain High or asking country roads to take him home he was engaged in a dialogue with the almighty, George Burns. Ok, it was a movie, or a couple of movies. I can’t be bothered to remember everything. It is bad enough that I am asked to remind everyone that the Shmata Queen turns 50 tomorrow. (Hee hee, she is going to kill me.)

Let’s get back the post at hand, or at keyboard as the case may be. Today was an ordinary day. Much like the rest of the week. I did my 10 mile run in less than 90 minutes, pumped iron for a couple of hours and managed dunk twice over three 20 year-old boys who still can’t believe that an old man has crazy hops like me.

Inside the steam room I received direct communication from above. The Big Kahuna, Top Dog, The Man, the creator of the universe and master of time and space reached out and touched me. Understand that being touched in the steam room is disconcerting. When you are naked and walking amongst the people you aren’t real interested in being groped, nor do you expect that you’ll have an experience like Big Jake in which the almighty lays a hand upon your thigh.

There inside that steam room I was given a vision, testimony that I was commanded to present to the world. I was warned that my word would not be taken seriously and that some people would accuse me of being crazy. But in the presence of the steam that was not consumed I knew that I had received my calling and a duty that I couldn’t forsake.

I am more than just the Bishop of Bullfrog. I am more than just Jack. That roar you hear isn’t an airplane, it is not a big truck, it is the heavenly host telling you that you better damn well take notice of me. In the very near future I will be presenting you with the most important information you’ll ever encounter.

For now I have been directed to visit the missionaries so that I can correct their behavior. Those who witness are being instructed to stop the trash talking. You got the message wrong. You blew it and now is your sole chance to redeem yourselves. Listen well, listen long and remember the words that I will present you.

I am the eggman, I am the eggman, I am the walrus.

Prayer In School

August 29, 2007 by Jack Steiner 13 Comments

Prayer in school is a hot topic. It is a hot button issue that is regularly covered within and without the blogosphere. I have a number of posts that touch upon or discuss it. I’ll provide links to some of those posts at the end of this one.

On a side note I have noticed that virtually every time I have run something about this subject my blog has been dropped from blog rolls. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. I don’t need everyone to either. I find it somewhat telling and sad that some people find my position to be so offensive that they no longer want to visit. Mostly it is because they claim to be quite tolerant, but such is life.

The following are just some thoughts from the top of my head. This is not an attempt to prove the intent of the framers as being for or against, although if you want my opinion I think that they were at best neutral about it, if not downright against it. If they wanted the government to sanction prayer in school they would have specifically included it within the Constitution.

I am against organized prayer within public schools. Note that I said organized prayer. In concept, I am not against a moment of silence but I tend to be skeptical about whether people will truly be silent.

My concern about prayer in school is that it can be divisive, exclusionary and that some students may be ostracized because of their beliefs. Our schools should be havens of learning in which no one is targeted because their beliefs do not adhere to those of others. Organized prayer that is sanctioned by the school places these havens in jeopardy and infringes upon parental rights to instill values within our children.

In a Utopian society different views and philosophies are celebrated. However we know from painful experience that this is not the world that we live in. School children are subjected to tremendous social pressure to fit in and while it is noble and worthwhile to teach them to stand up for their beliefs this is not the situation in which to try and do so.

A belief in a particular religion is always rooted in faith that its tenets are true. Faith is the key word in that sentence. You cannot rely upon logic and reason to take you to the place in which an a consensus is reached about faith. This is a big hurdle.

If you note how many denominations of particular religions exist you can see how this exacerbates the situation. I know of Orthodox Jews who see the non Orthodox as apostates, evangelicals who consider Catholics to be idol worshippers etc. If you cannot find consensus among the believers of the same faith you are walking on thin ice.

Earlier I mentioned how organized prayer interferes with parental rights. It is something that I feel strongly about. My biggest job in life is to teach my children how to be menschen. It is a parent’s obligation to instill values within our children. It is not the school or societies responsibility to teach them how to become good people. It is mine. This is a large part of why I make time for my kids.

I love my children and want them to be happy. So I provide them with structure, with guidance and with a framework that they can apply to life. The primary set of values is what they receive at home. It is nice for that to be supplemented by the school, but a public school shouldn’t touch upon religion for all the reasons I mentioned above. There is strength in plurality.

Posts regarding Prayer in School and similar issues

You Live In A Christian Country- Deal With It
Stop The ACLU Coalition Nonsense
Religion In Schools
Prayer In School- Kentucky High School Shenanigan
Interfaith Relationships- Jews and Christians Misunderstood Again
Southern Baptist Bunk
Air Force Sued Over Religious Intolerance
Appeals court broadens prayer ban in Arkansas school district

Rejecting radical Islam — one man’s journey

August 17, 2007 by Jack Steiner 3 Comments

CNN has the story of a man who was born Jewish, converted to Islam and then converted to Christianity.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The path to faith often takes unexpected twists. In the case of Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, the road went through three of the world’s major religions — Judaism, Islam and Christianity — and ultimately brought him to the FBI.

Born to Jewish parents who call themselves mystics, he grew up in what he calls the “liberal hippie Mecca” of Ashland, Oregon, a town of about 20,000 near the California border. It was in this ultraliberal intellectual environment that a young Gartenstein-Ross experimented with a radical form of Islam that eventually led him to shun music, reject women’s rights and even refuse to touch dogs because he believed this was “according to God’s will.”

“I began to pray for the mujahedeen, for these stateless warriors who were trying to topple secular governments,” he said.

His journey began in 1997, when as a junior at Wake Forest University, he began to examine his own spiritual identity after experiencing a couple of brushes with death caused by illness. “That kind of thing can cause spiritual discomfort and make you reevaluate what it is that you’re living for,” he told CNN in an upcoming documentary called “God’s Warriors.”

It is an interesting story and I really have touched upon just a brief element of it. If you read more you’ll see his encounter with radical Islam and how he has become a counter terrorism consultant.

I am not really focusing on any of those things. What I am curious to learn is what made him feel the need to go through three religions. What was he searching for. What was missing in his life. What drove him on this search. He sounds like a lost soul who was just buffeted around a bit.

How many lost souls are there floating through life. Quite a few I’d imagine.

Christian Domestic Discipline

August 17, 2007 by Jack Steiner 6 Comments

I really shouldn’t make fun of the religious practices of others. There are plenty of things that people can say about my own, but this topic is just begging for commentary. So let’s use their definition and go from there.

What is Christian Domestic Discipline?

A domestic discipline marriage is one in which one partner in the marriage is given authority over the other and has the means to back the authority, usually by spanking.

A Christian Domestic Discipline marriage is one that is set up according to Biblical standards; that is, the husband is the authority in the household. The wife is submissive to her husband as is fit in the Lord and her husband loves her as himself. He has the ultimate authority in his household, but it is tempered with the knowledge that he must answer to God for his actions and decisions. He has the authority to spank his wife for punishment, but in real CDD marriages this is taken very seriously and usually happens only rarely. CDD is so much more than just spanking. It is the husband loving the wife enough to guide and teach her, and the wife loving the husband enough to follow his leadership. A Christian marriage embodies true romance and a Christian man a true hero.

Though this seems unusual in today’s United States, this kind of marriage has been practiced throughout history and is still practiced in many parts of the world today.

I can guarantee that some of you are going to laugh at this and some of you are going to be infuriated by this. The world is an interesting place. If there is one thing that I have learned over the years it is that you never really know what is going on behind closed doors.

The point is that the dynamics of marriage are not uniform. Each couple is going to have their way of doing things. Some people might very well get off on living this way. It does have sexual overtones to it. I’d rather not go down that path because it gives me this nightmarish image of Pat Robertson and I just cannot and will not think of him in this manner. Ok, on to the next topic, Jewish Domestic Discipline.

Who Wants a Degree In Homemaking

August 13, 2007 by Jack Steiner 6 Comments

Are you confused about gender roles. Do you need help understanding your place in the world. Do you believe that dinosaurs are made up. Are you concerned that your children might believe scientific facts, such as humans come from monkeys.

If this describes you, then we have the solution. It is called turn off your brain and read the good book. Ok, that last line was a little unfair. For more on the story read below.

Southwestern Baptist, one of the nation’s largest Southern Baptist seminaries, is introducing a new academic program in homemaking as part of an effort to establish what its president calls biblical family and gender roles.

It will offer a bachelor of arts in humanities degree with a 23-hour concentration in homemaking. The program is only open to women.

Coursework will include seven hours of nutrition and meal preparation, seven hours of textile design and “clothing construction,” three hours of general homemaking, three hours on “the value of a child,” and three hours on the “biblical model for the home and family.”

Seminary officials say the main focus of the courses is on hospitality in the home – teaching women interior design as well as how to sew and cook. Women also study children’s spiritual, physical and emotional development.

Yet the program is raising eyebrows among some Southern Baptists, who say a degree concentration in how to be a Christian housewife is not useful, and a waste of seminary resources.