The Break We’ve Been Waiting For

When I was growing up I went to a public school.  It was and is a small farming town in rural Minnesota.  As kids we would ask each other :What religion are you?”  The answer would be Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist or Presbyterian.  There wasn’t anything else.

At Christmas, we sang Christmas songs.

The school reflected the community.

No more.

The law has legislated away the church from the school.  They claim that we must observe the separation of of church and state.  We can not, MUST not, let God in our schools.

But then, when an uncomfortable dilemma presents itself, the Left relents and observes the spiritual identity of individual people..

You see, according to the Left, you can’t pray in school, but you CAN bring a knife:

A Detroit-area district says it’s allowing Sikh students to wear a small, religious dagger to school.

Fair enough I think.  I’m sure it’s not meant to be a weapon and it certainly isn’t any more dangerous than a scissors or a pencil.  But the irony is delicious.  After all, you can’t hand out candy canes:

The boys say they were just tossing small two-inch candy canes to fellow students as they entered school. The ones in plastic wrap that are so small they often break apart.

Skylar Torbett, also a junior, said administrators told him, “They said the candy canes are weapons because you can sharpen them with your mouth and stab people with them.” He said neither he nor any of their friend did that.

Next thing they knew, they were all being punished with detention and at least two hours of cleaning. Their disciplinary notices say nothing about malicious wounding but about littering and creating a disturbance.

So, now, the precedent has been set.  If a certain activity is required by your church, the school will acquiesce.   Or should.

Maybe.

5 responses to “The Break We’ve Been Waiting For

  1. I never considered Christmas songs to be religious, just as I never considered “100 bottles of beer on the wall” to be the lyrics of a drinking song. They were just fun songs to sing. Lighten up everyone. And I do not mean light up your cigarettes. Are we still allowed to type the word cigarette on the Internet? THEY ARE WATCHING!!!

  2. I never considered Christmas songs to be religious, just as I never considered “100 bottles of beer on the wall” to be the lyrics of a drinking song. They were just fun songs to sing.

    Well said!

  3. Here in rural Maine our school system still is a center of community and commonsensical in its rules. Where in Minnesota were you? My mom’s family is from the Madelia area in the south west.

    • Here in rural Maine our school system still is a center of community and commonsensical in its rules.

      Same with my little school back where I grew up. I suspect that’s true of all small rural schools.

      Where in Minnesota were you? My mom’s family is from the Madelia area in the south west.

      You mentioned that in one of RG’s posts. I grew up 13 miles away on highway 60; St. James. We are from the same county. In fact, if any of your family went to school in St. James, they probably had my father for a teacher.

  4. Oh yeah, I remember. I had cousins in St. James, and my mom worked at the A&W there while living in Madelia (she graduated from Fairmont High school). When I visit my family in Sioux Falls we usually fly to Minneapolis then rent a car, heading either on 60 all the way to Worthington, or at St. James cut down on 4 towards Sherburn. Yeah, I’m glad we live in a rural area — there are problems here too, but I think it’s a bit more real than in the city. There’s a sense of close knit community.

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