Date: Wed Dec 03 09:56:05 1997
To: Frank Grose
From: Rob Weinberg
Subject: Today's updates.
Today's paper says the kid in Kentucky is the son of an attorney. There but for the grace of God....
It also says he is reported to have "mocked" the prayer groups in the past. Not to be facetious, but that's just another example of "kids will be kids," eh? And unlike what happened in Pike County, it is doubtful that in Kentucky, the school administrators fostered an atmosphere where taunting of Christians by atheists was tolerated.
Don't you think that whoever is doing the mocking, whether atheists of Christians in Kentucky or Christians of Jews in Pike County, "kids will be kids" is simply not an answer? That it is something that needs to be addressed?
If you're prepared to claim credit for predicting correctly that bloodshed would come, the evidence I presume you'd point to would be that "mocking" the Christians was a sign. Does logic not also suggest that mocking of any group for their beliefs or because they're different will ultimately have similar consequences? That is what must be addressed. It doesn't matter who draws first blood, someone has to be the first to offer to turn their swords into plowshares.
FWIW, don't know if you've been following what's happening in Bon Secour, with the school stopping the nativity scene in the Christmas pageant out of fear of Judge DeMent's order, but I'm not convinced that legally they have to. The Lynch v. Donnelly decision I sent you is going to come into play here in the analysis, and I don't think the lawyers advising the school board are familiar with it. As you've seen, this is complicated jurisprudence here, and each case is pretty fact intensive.
I can tell you that as a child I was quite uncomfortable singing Christmas Carols like "Silent Night." But they are such beautiful songs musically that while occasionally I would just mumble the words, for the most part, I sang along with the best of my voice. I can convince myself that it's OK, that it's pretty, "seasonal," music, that I don't have to believe in what I'm singing. Similarly, I could probably convince myself that the nativity scene in the school play is just a historical and literary device that demonstrates the origin of the holiday, as with the Pilgrims at Thanksgiving.
Even still, as an aside to the aside, growing up in a community where the kids learned at home and in church that the Jews killed Jesus, did give me considerable pause about the idea of what message I was delivering by singing his praises.
Interestingly, in Bon Secour, no one has actually challenged the nativity scene, and I haven't heard what the "left's" take on it is. If it is challenged, Bon Secour will lose most likely, if only because the parents are absolutely adamant that the scene is there because it represents the birth of "the Lord" and it wouldn't be Christmas without it. If they softened their approach and said it was just a historical and literary representation of the origins of the holiday, it would stand a considerable better chance of surviving.
I've got to get some work done. Talk to you later. -R
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