School Daze
I am one fortunate guy.
I can only attribute the good fortune of living in the Greater Chicago area to the divine providence of the ACLU and liberals everywhere.
Chicago is a great city. We have the beautiful lakeshore, the Magnificent Mile, the incredible downtown area known as the Loop and some of the finest restaurants in the country. But we also have the great fortune of having a city completely run by Democrats in a county completely run by Democrats. We have a mayor and city council that understand the problems on the streets are caused by guns not people and that personal responsibility is no substitute for good old fashioned political rhetoric.
Oh sure we have some problems that don’t involve guns. Like the brutal gang beating that ended the young life of 16 year old Fenger High School honor roll student Derrion Albert last week or the skull fracture that put a young 14 year old Mather High School freshman into intensive care a day later. These two young students were not attacked with guns but rather were beaten in the head with two by fours and metal pipes.
While that may sound distasteful to some, the city of Chicago can raise its head up high and say that while these students were beaten in the head with lumber and pipes the one thing you never have to worry about in Chicago is that students will be beaten over the head with the Bible messages. The same cannot be said for some of the more backward areas of the country like Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. Well at least it couldn’t be said until last week.
It seems the radical hayseeds at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School had been carrying on a years old tradition of having their football team make their grand entrance onto the field by running through banners emblazoned with (insert ominous descending tritonic musical scale here) Bible verses.
The banners were held by cheerleaders and after their entrance the team would all take a knee to say a pre-game prayer. The banners would have such subversive messages as “Commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and your plans will succeed”.
The tradition was instituted at the suggestion of the students after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The principle of the school enthusiastically supported the practice as did the 900 member student body. Fortunately these blatantly unconstitutional slogans were ceased last week by the Catoosa County Superintendent of Schools when she received a complaint from a single parent. Superintendent Denia Reese said the schools attorney advised that the signs violated federal law because they were held by cheerleaders at a school-sponsored function.
The ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League sent letters congratulating the Superintendent’s decision, saving them the time and effort of filing a lawsuit. Bill Nigut, the southeast director of the Anti-Defamation League said “There are legal ways for students to have religious observations in the school context and there are illegal ways…..” What a bright guy Bill is huh? Of course the only way for students to express their religious beliefs in the school context legally is to do so individually and in silence.
The poor students at this Georgia high school have obviously been so brainwashed by living in this buckle of the Bible Belt that they actually are protesting this decision. The poor kids don’t even know that they are being protected for their own good from the ever-present danger of religious belief and expression.
That’s why I say I am so fortunate to be living in the far more progressive Midwest.
Students in Chicago may have to worry about being beaten over the head with two by fours and metal pipes but at least they don’t have to worry about being beaten over the head with John 3:16.
