Warning: Political Rant

So, I must post a short rant.

Yesterday morning, I was watching TV/news while getting ready for work. And a story came up that I'd heard previously, but chose to ignore because it fires me up. For whatever reason, I decided to listen more closely. It was about a local county school district lawsuit brought against it by a Jewish mother regarding "religious activities" in the school. You can read more about it here. Anyway, the crux of the issue is that she is upset because the school "promoted" such things as "See You At the Pole" and praying parents on it's website.

Now, don't misunderstand, I get their complaint (not that I understand or agree with it), but that wasn't my problem. My problem was the comment from one of the opposing parties that basically said the big issue was that there were teachers from the school participating (and by way of participating, promoting). YEAH. SO WHAT???!?! So now, are they saying that as a teacher, you cannot freely choose to participate in a prayer program in your workplace? Does this bother anyone else? Of course the ACLU is going to say that, but what if the judge rules in favor of the lawsuit? Does anyone realize what that means? It is just one step closer to government telling us what we can and can't do. Now, you can't pray in the place in which you work because it might offend someone. It's a very scary thing to me. It's like telling people they can't smoke in parks. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that they've banned it from restaraunts here and next summer, my workplace is becoming totally smoke-free meaning you can't smoke anywhere on the property (and no, there's no "designated" spot). But when the government tells you that you can't smoke OUTSIDE in the air...I don't want to smell it or have my kids smell it either, but that's just stepping over the line a little isn't it? I don't know, but all I'm saying is I get an uneasy feeling about it. If you are going to spin your wheels on something like that, then state smokers can't be within XXX amount of feet of a children's play area.

I don't ever get on a political soapbox about anything. Mostly because I'm ignorant when it comes to politics and don't know enough to argue about it. But the story yesterday about the lawsuit on prayer....well, it literally brought tears to my eyes. If my child were in public school and there was a Jewish celebration advertised, I wouldn't be offended...I would ignore it as it doesn't apply to me. And if I found out that several teachers attended, I'd think, "Hmmm, I didn't realize they were Jewish" but I wouldn't bring a lawsuit. What is the world coming to?

The story has a humorous side too...“Today it came out that the Doe family, the mother came in and taught the children about Hanukah in the classroom,” said Fox. HA! So it's OK for her to come into my child's classroom and teach them about HER religion when my child doesn't have a choice but to sit and listen, but it's NOT OK for a teacher to voluntarily go pray with a group (both on school campus)? What's wrong with this picture?

But by far, the most humorous part of the story was this, "After giving attorneys instructions to file paperwork with him by January 7, Judge Robert Echols wished the court a “Merry Christmas.” After a few snickers and giggles, he realized some in the courtroom might be offended by that and wished them a Happy Holidays."

And God laughed.