Posted on 08/25/2003 3:03:27 AM PDT by StACase
Phil Stinson - 08:56pm Aug 24, 2003 EDT 458
Carpe Carpium
I'm a teacher and also a member of a national commitee of school textbook consultants. We removed the fourth verse of the song "America" from the recent music textbooks.
The first verse was fine.
"My country, 'tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty
of thee I sing..."
The fourth verse says
"Our Father's God, to Thee
Author of liberty, to Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
with feedom's Holy light,
Protect us by Thy might, Our God, our King."
That verse was deemed unsuitable and requiring students to read and sing it a travesty and a clear violation of the separation of church and state. It's "outa" here, as it should be. It's not in the new textbooks. I'm happy and proud to have been a part of that national decision.
Why do so many people insist we continue calling these people "liberals" when they are in fact COMMUNISTS?
Even Ed Asner said (on FOX) that communism was good, it just hasn't been implemented properly!
How often have we heard THAT bit of garbage?
You're right, because Allah has nothing whatsover to do with the civic culture of the United States.
The United States is culturally a Judeo-Christian nation, not an Islamic nation. This is reflected in our civic culture, which gives special honor to the Judeo-Christian God alone. The men who created our country were either religiously or culturally Christian to a man, and made frequent reference to the God of Christians and Jews in their writings (including the Declaration of Independence); foreign gods are not mentioned in their writings. Our (legally established) national motto, flag pledge, and national anthem make specific references to the God of the Bible, and the many legislatively established (i.e. state-supported) churches that were created by the legislatures of the several states were all Christian churches.
The idea that Allah could be substituted in any way for the God of the Bible in our civic culture is truly a novelty -- as novel as the idea of a legal separation of church and state. Such a separation did not exist in the United States as originally constituted; the idea that atheism would someday be de jure the established religion of the federal government would have been regarded by the founders of the nation as blasphemous insanity.
Which it is, of course.
Toward the bottom of the list on the welcome page choose "Talk of the Nation." Click on it and "The Ten Commandments" is down a several topics since it was introduced last week.
You might also try "People to People" a few lines below "Talk of the Nation" and click on "NPR Community" The place is a Coffee Klatch of liberals spewing Left Wing hatred. Mr. Stinson is a regular contributor.
Do a little sleuthing and send it to people in his community.
OK, What does INTREP mean?
Does that help?
I don't think I could argue with your paraphrase.
On a different note, I fail to see the cuteness of the current craze of using initials to represent what the writer thinks should be intuitively obvious. It usually isn't! If I wanted a puzzle, I would pick up the morning newpaper and do the crossword.
The "initials" you refer to are not for you, they are for me. So, If you don't like them, ignore them. It is a little like typing "read later" - it is for the author, not the reader. Those are standard terms used in the military for many decades. Of the many people who have asked me about them, you are the first to express concern. Sorry
I guess if you chose to be a ludite, that is your business.
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