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January 23, 2006
Does Anyone Remember The Ten Commandants Being In The Public School They Attended?
Last night on 60 Minutes Morley Safer did a piece on Kinky Friedman, pop singer cum independent candidate for governor of Texas. Friedman has a lot of good ideas and a lot of bad ideas and a lot of crazy stuff that seems to integrate the whole mess in an intriguing way. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't vote for this guy is he were the only candidate but I kind of liked him none-the-less. Here is part of the interview with Friedman. It contains three reasons why I wouldn't vote for him if I lived in Texas.
Friedman: "The Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments being taken out of the public schools. I want them back,"Safer: "Why?"
Friedman: "I want them back, they belong there," says Friedman. "Maybe I'll have to change their name to the Ten Suggestions, you know. But they were taken out, not by separation of church and state, but by political correctness gone awry. One atheist stands up and says, 'I don't like the Ten Commandments,' and suddenly out they go. And, of course, we all know what happens to an atheist when he dies. His tombstone usually reads, 'All dressed up and no place to go.'"
But before I get to the reasons I wouldn't vote for him, let me ask a very simple question. Is there anyone who remembers the Ten Commandments being in a public school they actually attended? If the answer is "yes," I only have two reasons based on this exchange. He did give me several other reasons so I won't be without reasons.
I went to public school, including kindergarten, here in California from 1947 to 1960 and I have absolutely no memory of the Ten Commandments ever being mentioned and certainly no memory of them being displayed in either of the two schools I attended. But I went to public school in a large metropolitan school district, so I asked Shirley who attended public school twelve years of public school (they didn't have a kindergarten when she was in school) in a small, rural town in north eastern Indian, if she remembers anything about the Ten Commandments being part of her public school experience. Her answer was, "no." It may be different in Texas or in some other part of the country, but we were never exposed to the Ten Commandment in public school. We got plenty of them in Sunday School. So when I hear someone say anything abut putting the Ten Commandments back in school I find it hard to believe that they are addressing any reality that contacts with my experience. Of course, I suppose the Ten Commandments were in some schools at some time but not in any school I attended. So the one reason that I would not vote for Friedman if I lived in Texas is that he may be delusional about the Ten Commandments in public schools; at least with regard to their being present in public schools in the last sixty years or so.
So, some Texan may be able to take this point away from me. This is one possible delusion that can be tested empirically.
However, I still have my other two points that will not fall in the face of new evidence. First, he does not understand the legal implications of the establishment clause of the First Amendment when seen in the light of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of these United States. Of course, Texans do need to be reminded that they are a part of these United States from time to time. I would not vote for any candidate who exhibited this failure. Second, he clearly thinks that atheists do not have the same civil rights that are regularly extended to others.
Posted by DuaneSmith at January 23, 2006 09:35 AM | Read more on Current Events |
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Comments
Duane,
Yes, I remember the Ten Commandments being in school. We did not make a big deal of it - they were simply posted on the wall as I remember. I think that the teacher maybe mentioned them once while I was in public school. Yes, it was in Texas.
Posted by: Joe Cathey at January 24, 2006 11:21 AM
I went to a public school in Wisconsin. The Ten Commandments were NOT posted in our school.
Posted by: Glen Griffith at January 24, 2006 11:49 AM
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