Religious Freedom: For once it isn't Creationism
The classic American hot-button issue of religious freedom once again rears its head, but perhaps the current face will draw fewer to its banner. CNN reports that a custody issue has come to the state Supreme Court.
• In Florida, custody of a minor child has been given to an accused molester and convicted murderer because the alternative--giving custody to a lesbian--was distasteful to the judge.
• I wonder about Christians and Creationism; certes, this is a different arena--the home--but a state endorsement of the right to teach a ten year-old polygamy would do much to advance the cause of forcing schools to rewrite scientific standards into oblivion in order to accommodate Creationism as a science.
• While people make much out of the gun issue at the Waco conflagration, less-mentioned are the allegations of polygamy and child rape.
• Every few years, a "religious cult" turns up on 20/20 or some-such in which battles seem to rage about whether or not the second and latter generations can opt out of the community. For instance, I only know of the Bruderhof because of bad press they got ten years ago. Custody fights, nasty allegations, nothing on the scale of Scientology issues.
In the meantime, I came across this innocuous story, which documents a secondary account of religious discrimination by a public official.
Seriously--people need to think thrice before asking a court to get involved in religion. Society can get scary, or as ... oh .... Well, I had a textbook once (in high school) that attributed to Noah Webster the quote, "Too much liberty is tyranny," but I confess that I cannot find an online reference, and so there goes that point. But seriously, society can get scary if "everyone gets everything they ever wished for."
The classic American hot-button issue of religious freedom once again rears its head, but perhaps the current face will draw fewer to its banner. CNN reports that a custody issue has come to the state Supreme Court.
Now then, random notes around:
• In Florida, custody of a minor child has been given to an accused molester and convicted murderer because the alternative--giving custody to a lesbian--was distasteful to the judge.
• I wonder about Christians and Creationism; certes, this is a different arena--the home--but a state endorsement of the right to teach a ten year-old polygamy would do much to advance the cause of forcing schools to rewrite scientific standards into oblivion in order to accommodate Creationism as a science.
• While people make much out of the gun issue at the Waco conflagration, less-mentioned are the allegations of polygamy and child rape.
• Every few years, a "religious cult" turns up on 20/20 or some-such in which battles seem to rage about whether or not the second and latter generations can opt out of the community. For instance, I only know of the Bruderhof because of bad press they got ten years ago. Custody fights, nasty allegations, nothing on the scale of Scientology issues.
In the meantime, I came across this innocuous story, which documents a secondary account of religious discrimination by a public official.
Seriously--people need to think thrice before asking a court to get involved in religion. Society can get scary, or as ... oh .... Well, I had a textbook once (in high school) that attributed to Noah Webster the quote, "Too much liberty is tyranny," but I confess that I cannot find an online reference, and so there goes that point. But seriously, society can get scary if "everyone gets everything they ever wished for."