History disproves teacher’s claim

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To the Editor:

In response to Rose Hess’ letter regarding the Bowling Green City Schools Board of Education decision to not allow students to attend an off-campus religious program, there are many false statements.

President John Adams stated that “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Both Adams and Thomas Jefferson were signers of America’s Declaration of Independence

(1) “Religious instruction can be easily done on Saturdays and/or after school.” On the contrary, all instruction, all life, is ‘religious instruction’ to a Christian who cannot nor should not compartmentalize or separate their faith and beliefs from everyday life, nor should they be told to. It is the essence of who they are.

(2) “Teachers reinforce values such as honesty, truthfulness, respect, integrity and responsibility every day.” Not according to what I hear, watch or read, showing that today’s teachers are not permitted to discipline students, teachers are assaulted daily, and administrators tend to protect the perpetrators, not the victims.

(3) You “ended up with 11 commandments in your classroom.” Don’t you mean rules? A big difference, and therein lies much of the problem. Christians know the difference: only God makes commandments, not teachers.

(4) “This country was founded on separation of church and state and it should remain so.” Anyone who has had an American History class (at least prior to our history being rewritten), especially a teacher, should know this is not true. First, the term “separation of religion and state” appears in none of our founding documents. It was written in a letter from Jefferson to a group of Baptist men in Connecticut for the purpose of protecting the church from the intrusion of the state — not the other way around — because he knew that without separating church from state, there could be no real religious freedom. Secondly, Adams wrote, “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Both our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were crafted by a religious people, for a religious people.

We all are entitled to our opinions, but no one has the right to promote misinformation in an attempt to validate theirs, nor tell others their opinions are wrong.

Barbara Brunner

Bowling Green

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