God bless free speech

The Post (Ohio U.) ^ | 2/18/03 | Joshua Sterns

[NorCoGOP]

ATHENS, Ohio -- The free speech police are back again, but this time instead of the ACLU, it's our own government. A story mostly ignored by the media suggests certain commonly used phrases may be too offensive to liberal sensibilities to be uttered without strong repercussions. One of these phrases: "God bless you." Formerly used to show thanks, sympathy or acknowledgement of someone's sneeze, wishing God's blessing upon someone can now get you fired.

Vietnam veteran Patrick Cubbage, a military honor guardsman at Brigadier General William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in New Jersey, was fired after saying, "God bless you and this family" during a burial service last fall. Cubbage has obtained the services of the Rutherford Institute, who is now looking into the right of the government to censor a citizen's speech about God.

Cubbage had taken part in over 2,000 funerals, and had offered this same unacceptable blessing hundreds of times. The cemetery claims Cubbage wasn't dismissed for saying the blessings, but for not following the "standard phrase for each service." This despite the cemetery's own protocol covering flag presentation: "If the next of kin has expressed a religious preference or belief, add: 'God bless you and this family, and God bless the United States of America.'"

So was it the family's complaint that got Cubbage fired? Nope -- the family was religious and wanted the blessing. It was, in fact, another cemetery employee who was offended and filed the complaint that initiated the firing. That's right -- according to the state of New Jersey, the right of the cemetery employee to not hear the name of God supersedes the right of the family of a dead veteran to receive a blessing.

One important question to ask is what is so offensive about a blessing from God anyway? Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe in God, so presumably the word "God" wouldn't cause them great mental anguish. And what about the minute number of atheists in the United States? Do they have the right to go through life without any of the hundreds of millions of religious Americans voicing their beliefs in the general vicinity of them? Not if the First Amendment still stands. If you don't believe in God, what does it matter to you if someone else does? It's like talking to an adult about Santa Clause -- should that too be censored?

This is simply a case of the absurdity of political correctness crossing the line and breaking the law. The separation of church and state implied in the Constitution was originally intended to keep the government from interfering in anyone's right to practice his or her chosen religion. The new mutation has the government and liberal interest groups not allowing people to practice their faith in any arena where public funds may be involved for fear of litigation.

In typical "sign of the times" fashion, this policy does not carry over to treading on anti-God folks. The federally funded National Endowment for the Arts routinely wastes taxpayer's money on talentless "artists" whose masterpieces include pornography and paintings of the Virgin Mary -- in feces.

I hear gasps of outrage when President Bush has the nerve to mention the name of God during speeches like the State of the Union or his address after the Columbia shuttle tragedy. A small group of people celebrated when the 9th Circuit Court -- the most overturned court in the land -- approved of a man's objection to the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. The First Amendment protects the views of these people, and the separation of church and state is supposed to protect the rest of the population from them.

Surely Cubbage will eventually be fully reinstated as a military honor guard, but with the U.S. Constitution, he should have never been fired in the first place. God bless you all.

[stands2reason]

Damn.....just....damn.....