Excuuuuse me!

Oops! I erred! Well, excuuuuse me!

The young man stopped me in the parking lot of the shopping center and wanted to know why I opposed the posting of the 10 Commandments in public buildings? He was not convinced by my reply and pointed out that our money has "In God We Trust" printed on it. I told him that was done in 1954 when General Ike was president. I was wrong. In 1954 General Ike had the phrase "under God" put into the pledge to the flag. But either phrase is not true. Our nation is not "one nation under God" and neither does our nation "trust in God." It could be argued that we trust in everything but God in fact.

The Fox News crew from Atlanta came to Habersham County to talk about the 10 Commandments flap and the local newspaper interviewed myself and other interested parties. Turnerville resident Nancy Schaefer, president of Family Concerns, Inc., said she supported leaving the 10 Commandments posted in public buildings. She believes we are facing judicial tyranny from our courts and that "...the ACLU and the atheists are at work to strip the country of every trace of Christianity from our public life and culture."

Now wait just a cotton pickin' minute! How can Ms. Schaefer make such a claim concerning a good ole boy from Eastanollee, Georgia? Sounds as though she could have broken one of the top ten herself that has to do with "bearing false witness against one's neighbor." Why, Ms. Schaefer has never met me in person nor has she ever talked to me at all. Besides, I am not smart enough to intellectually and philosophically discount the existence of the Almighty himself. And probably few people are. Maybe Ms. Schaefer said this because she was having a bad day trying to figure out how her hero George W. Bush is going to get re-elected with his poor record since he has been president.

Any way you look at it, there is no justification for putting the 10 Commandments in public buildings. Does this not mean that our religious institutions need the government to help them promote their own religion? Are we religious people so inept and is God so impotent to need politicians and the government to do the work of the churches? Fundamentalist Christians should be ashamed of themselves to admit to such blatant incompetence.

That's about all I have to say for now on that subject except to point out that I have observed that the more conservative one is the less of a sense of humor one has. Why not loosen up a bit and enjoy life more? It would be good for you and a smile just might transform you from your conservative chains to a more liberal world view.

Try it. You may like it.

SHALOM!

This article was first published in the Gainesville Times in 2003