Religion and Politics News Roundup
Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:14:28 AM PDT
Today's topics: Separation of Church and State in Public Schools, National Day of (Evangelical Rightwing Christian) Prayer, Democratic Primaries: Enough Already!, and Send Me Stories for the Next Roundup
Did you know that the human body is 90% Lego?
The Columbus Dispatch reports that Christian students are protesting in favor of a John Freshwater, a middle school teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The protests were sparked by a confrontation between Freshwater and the school principle, in which Freshwater insisted on keeping his Bible on his desk. However, this goes beyond an isolated incident; Freshwater may have an egregious record of violating the separation between church and state.
In one class, Freshwater used Lego pieces to describe the beginning of the world. He dumped the pieces, then asked students if the Legos could assemble by themselves, said Joe Stuart, 18, assistant editor of the high-school newspaper.
When Freshwater taught students about electrical current, he used a device to leave a red mark in the shape of a cross on the forearms of some students, Stuart said.
Hat tip to The Front Pew.
National Day of Prayer (by and for evangelical Christians)
Adelle Banks at Religion News Service (via Pew Forum) spotlights the opposition of Jews on First (what a name!) to the National Day of Prayer:
Jews on First, a 21/2-year-old online organization, has questioned the application process for coordinators affiliated with the National Day of Prayer Task Force, which is headed by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.
While the task force is a private group, it nonetheless gets an unofficial government seal of approval with an annual proclamation by President Bush and prayer ceremonies held at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
Jews on First is spearheading an "Inclusive National Day of Prayer" campaign that includes a Web site featuring talking points, sample letters to governors and a list of "alternative inclusive observances."
Sick of the Democratic primaries? Me too.
Blue Texan at FireDogLake begs the superdelegates to tell the rest of us what the heck they're thinking:
We just went through another grueling primary in which tens of millions of dollars are spent, both sides beat the crap out of each other...over trivial personality shit and behaved in increasingly demeaning ways (Crown Royal?! Bowling!?!?!) and the net result is -- yet again -- a virtually unchanged delegate count.
(Note that the original quotation has some additional words and a strikeout, but I haven't figured out how to make that happen in Street Prophets).
And BT spotlights a pithy post by Matt Yglesias, who writes "The idea that in two weeks we'll have another inconclusive primary, then another, then another, then another and then the superdelegates make up their mind is inane..."
The New York Times agrees, sharply criticizing Senator Clinton's negative campaign tactics and calling for action by the superdelegates:
No matter what the high-priced political operatives (from both camps) may think, it is not a disadvantage that Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton share many of the same essential values and sensible policy prescriptions. It is their strength, and they are doing their best to make voters forget it...
...It is getting to be time for the superdelegates to do what the Democrats had in mind when they created superdelegates: settle a bloody race that cannot be won at the ballot box. Mrs. Clinton once had a big lead among the party elders, but has been steadily losing it, in large part because of her negative campaign. If she is ever to have a hope of persuading these most loyal of Democrats to come back to her side, let alone win over the larger body of voters, she has to call off the dogs.
I only wish the New York Times had argued for superdelegates deciding the race in favor of Senator Obama, given his lead in both pledged delegates and the popular vote. I wonder if many of us Dem's are so desperate for this to be resolved that we've lost track of the importance of the pledged delegate count?
Send Me Stories!
I've noticed that some readers have been commenting with terrific links to news stories that I missed. If you see an interesting and relevant news story on a Wednesday that you think should be in the roundup, please e-mail it to me (ShelbyJMeyerhoff@gmail.com). Thanks!
