Freedom and double standards

Keep telling yourself, “It’s freedom of, freedom of, freedom of.” It’s not “freedom from, freedom from, freedom from.”
Seriously, it’s OF, not FROM.
I try my best not to get worked up over these things anymore, but it’s so very hard. Very hard.
Here’s one story: A teacher in Florida made a 12-year-old student, Giovanni Rubeo, stand up and make a call to his parents. His fault, mistake, error? He read from a book during the 90-minute free-reading time. The book? Of course, it was the Bible, one he had received from a local church. The teacher made the student call his parents in front of everyone as some sort of punishment. When the parents did not answer, the teacher took the phone from the student and left this message:”I noticed that he has a book -- a religious book -- in the classroom. He’s not permitted to read those books in my classroom.”
When Giovanni’s dad, Paul Rubeo, protested his son’s treatment, the school officials sent him a two-sentence reply that dodged the key issue of whether students could read religious material during free time.
Let’s be fair here. The teacher, who according to some headline writing “humiliated” the student, also said on the recording, “So, please give me a call. I need to have some understanding on direction to him about the book he’s reading as opposed to the curriculum fro public school. Mrs. S. Thomas. Thank you. Have a wonderful day. Bye-bye.”
That’s not exactly hate speech, for those conservatives who would brand the teacher. The parents, however, wanted a public apology. Lest a teacher be strung up, Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie publicly apologized. Runcie said, “Let me be clear. Broward County Public Schools respects and upholds the right to bring personal religious material to school, including the Bible.”
There. Done.
Uh, no so fast
A battle is about to begin that makes this little tussle over Bible reading seems like a, well, like a battle instead of a war. In Oklahoma City, a group wants to erect a monument of the Ten Commandments on the Statehouse lawn. At the same time, a group called the Satanic Temple (backed, of course, by the ACLU) is insisting that a nearly completed statute of Satan stand alongside the commandments. The group spokesman said that the bronze statute will represent the Baphomet or Sabbatic Goat. To make things even more disturbing (and I’ll have to say you have to go a ways to do that for me), the statute has a smiling child on each knee. It goes without saying much or often that the good folks in Oklahoma are not taking this, uh, sitting down. The Satanic Temple is, of course, attempting to prove that Oklahoma -- particularly in the permit department -- has a double standard.
Then on Monday, the Supreme Count decided to allow Christian prayer at city council and other public meetings. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “By inviting ministers to serve as chaplain for the month … the town is acknowledging the central place that religion and religious institutions hold in the lives of those present.” If some citizens hear prayers that “make them feel excluded and disrespected,” they should ignore them. “Adults often encounter speech they find disagreeable.
The plain fact, as plain as the dust storms that still scratch the eyes of Oklahomans, as plain as the standards the right grabs on to and holds so tight the commandment tablets begin to crack, as plain as the ACLU’s constitution it so willingly claims as its own Bible, is that they do have a double standard. Whomever they is.
The have one. We have one. The teacher in Florida did and does. The student and his parents the same. Like the ones who want Ten Commandments stuck in the ground as some sort of the liin the sand like at the Alamo. Like the ones who want to put up statues of Satan and smiling children
They, we, all of us have double standards. We want quite desperately to have things our way. We want to protect our constitution ... OUR constitution. Any other constitution need not apply.
The point is this, friends. If we’re going to go by our constitution, the one the forefather’s took great love and care writing, then we’re going to do that. And it says that we have freedom OF religion, meaning we have the freedom to choose any or none religions. Even dumb as bricks statues of Satan and little kids. We do. That’s the country we’ve chosen to live in.
Does it make it right? Nope. Does it mean I support it? Nope. Does it mean it drives me bat crazy? Yep.
But it also means the kid in Florida should have and must have the right to read that Bible. And it means the ACLU should be filing suit to protect his rights.
But, of course, that would mean the ALCU would have a double standard. Wouldn’t it?