Wednesday, May 19, 2010
After Shocks
I don't believe that patriotism is something that is taught, it is bred and it is earned. I believe that it our duty as a nation to give people something to be proud of. It's our job as parents.
Hurricane Toni on High Horse Again
It's been awhile since I have been pissed off enough to blog about something going on in the world. This time around, I am picking a fight with Texas. This might offend some of my friends, but my grudge isn't with them, it is with their Board of Education.
Texas is trying to re-write the history books for children K-12 to make them more "patriotic" and remind them that this is a nation created "under God". One of their efforts is to reduce the amount of time Jefferson spends in the schoolbooks because of his standpoint relating to the separation of church and state. Now, I'm going to go ahead and open a large can of worms here. I don't care what religion anyone is. In fact, perhaps I'm anti-organized religion. I believe that any spiritual relationship you have with God is yours and yours alone. If you want to pray in the same building, the same day of the week at the same time with other people who have your same views and opinions, then by all means - go nuts. But, it doesn't make anyone who doesn't share your same exact beliefs and praying rituals (and proves it by showing up to church each week) a bad person. I can be just a Christian as the next guy, how do you know I'm not? What if I judged you that way, Mr. Uber-Christian? "Judge not lest ye be judged", correct? Yes, I read the Bible. How can anyone PROVE that their relationship with God is the best, is perfect and is the "right" way to have a relationship with him or her? I'm just saying, that "under God" is a blanket statement. Our Pledge of Allegiance does not say, "Our Nation, Under a Christian God Only".
As usual, I digress.
My point is, Thomas Jefferson was as Christian as they come. His contention about the separation of church and state is that he didn't want ANY government involvement affecting people's freedom of religious choice. I'm assuming that the good educators of Texas forgot that the reason so many of our ancestors came "illegally" to this country was to escape religious persecution. In Jefferson's words: [American people] "declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state". I guess I can't wrap my head around how this is un-patriotic? Is it because in their view this isn't a pro-religious enough stance?
Another issue I have is that these educators DECLARE themselves social conservatives. I guess I just don't understand why people can't leave their personal beliefs out of our education system. Religious and political-bias have no business affecting what my future children can and cannot learn. It's making a case for me to home-school.
I just find it to be so ironic that these people who blaspheme Barack Obama as a Nazi-communist are the same people who are looking to change our history books to promote their agenda. Changing education books to suit your political ideals is nothing short of propaganda. Same thing Nazi Germany did to indoctrinate the youth into a cult-like following, no? Is my view extreme? Perhaps. But how is it different from theirs?
Other nice little tidbits:
Love and PEACE to Everyone, I don't care who or what you are.
T
Texas is trying to re-write the history books for children K-12 to make them more "patriotic" and remind them that this is a nation created "under God". One of their efforts is to reduce the amount of time Jefferson spends in the schoolbooks because of his standpoint relating to the separation of church and state. Now, I'm going to go ahead and open a large can of worms here. I don't care what religion anyone is. In fact, perhaps I'm anti-organized religion. I believe that any spiritual relationship you have with God is yours and yours alone. If you want to pray in the same building, the same day of the week at the same time with other people who have your same views and opinions, then by all means - go nuts. But, it doesn't make anyone who doesn't share your same exact beliefs and praying rituals (and proves it by showing up to church each week) a bad person. I can be just a Christian as the next guy, how do you know I'm not? What if I judged you that way, Mr. Uber-Christian? "Judge not lest ye be judged", correct? Yes, I read the Bible. How can anyone PROVE that their relationship with God is the best, is perfect and is the "right" way to have a relationship with him or her? I'm just saying, that "under God" is a blanket statement. Our Pledge of Allegiance does not say, "Our Nation, Under a Christian God Only".
As usual, I digress.
My point is, Thomas Jefferson was as Christian as they come. His contention about the separation of church and state is that he didn't want ANY government involvement affecting people's freedom of religious choice. I'm assuming that the good educators of Texas forgot that the reason so many of our ancestors came "illegally" to this country was to escape religious persecution. In Jefferson's words: [American people] "declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state". I guess I can't wrap my head around how this is un-patriotic? Is it because in their view this isn't a pro-religious enough stance?
Another issue I have is that these educators DECLARE themselves social conservatives. I guess I just don't understand why people can't leave their personal beliefs out of our education system. Religious and political-bias have no business affecting what my future children can and cannot learn. It's making a case for me to home-school.
I just find it to be so ironic that these people who blaspheme Barack Obama as a Nazi-communist are the same people who are looking to change our history books to promote their agenda. Changing education books to suit your political ideals is nothing short of propaganda. Same thing Nazi Germany did to indoctrinate the youth into a cult-like following, no? Is my view extreme? Perhaps. But how is it different from theirs?
Other nice little tidbits:
- Promoting free-market economies (not mentioning them, promoting them)
- They want to require children to learn about the "unintended consequences" of affirmative action
- Change the name of the slave trade to the "Atlantic triangular trade". I literally have no words to explain all of the things wrong with this. I mean, you won't call it the slave trade? Which is what it was. They traded PEOPLE. 'Let's try to make that seem like a legitimate free enterprise business by re-naming it.' Bravo, Texas. I didn't think that any entity had the balls to do something like this. But, "its always bigger in Texas" must be true.
Love and PEACE to Everyone, I don't care who or what you are.
T
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