May 16, 2005
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John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
HOW CRAZY IS THE "CHURCH Vs. STATE" BATTLE GOING TO BECOME?
Seattle, WA. ( from station KOMO and the AP, reported by Yahoo News)
Jane Milhans has had her personalized license plate for 21 years. The plate displays the chapter and verse for the above quoted passage from the Holy Bible : "John 3:16"
A local woman filed a complaint recently against Milhans' use of the plate, and she might have to give up using it. The complaint states: "I was offended that I have to be prayed over by a license plate." and "What happened to keeping church and state separate." Jane stated that her first response to this was shock. "It's not profane, it's not bigotry, it's not hatred,it's not evil". "Somebody was not happy that there was a state issued license plate that had a religious component." said Brad Benfield, Washington State Dept. of Licensing. Milhans will have to make an appearance before a review board. She claims to fight to keep the license plate under the auspices of free speech.
What?
How far will this kind of crazy bullsh*t go, dear readers? Each year, it seems, some really "stupid" (for lack of a better word) "debate" goes on between people who are "religious" and those who put "secular concerns" above spirituality. The secularists always fall back upon the division between "church and state". In the above "example", the state of Washington issued the license plate. 21 years ago I might add. I wondered at what age the offended motorist was when the plate was stamped.
Am a alone in thinking that this "fight" is ridiculous? Utterly ridiculous? Crazy? Yes, and even "stupid". This isn't a "religious right" versus "secular liberal" issue either, in my mind. This is just downright nuts. Last year, during the "debate" over whether to take the words "under God" out of the Pledge of Alliegence", I wrote the following poem:
"Under God "
Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
Monday, June 14th , 2004 : 5:56 p.m. pdt
I slip into the sheets after a short but silent prayer
Under God
I awaken to the sounds of chirping birds in the trees
Under God
I emerge into the blaring secular world unscathed
Under God
I am thankful for each moment of my existence
Under God
I look at a flower in bloom and feel elation
Under God
I gaze in awe and wonder at the cloudscapes
Under God
I hear the pleading screams of humanity
Under God
And the thankful blessings that come my way
Under God
I sup with splendor of heartfelt sustenance
Under God
I am so lucky to live in America
Under God
I thank my Christ and my Jehovah
For my personal epiphanies
Under God
I pledge Allegiance to the United States of America
Under God!
(50 years ago members of Congress added the phrase "Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.
WASHINGTON 6/13/04 - The Supreme Court on Monday allowed millions of schoolchildren to keep affirming loyalty to one nation "under God")
I can not be called a "Bible Thumping Christian" under any definition of the phrase, although when I attended the Pentecostal Faith (and one of many reasons why I don't practice the Faith anymore) I did my fair share of "witnessing" which is looked upon as "good works" where Churchgoers essentially harass the common man on the street encouraging him with tales of hellfire and damnation if he doesn't "repent his sins" and accept J.C. as his personal savior right now this minute! I found this behavior somewhat rude, even when I practiced it. Now I am more of a "spiritualist" and I decry the "Religious Right" movement which is tied very closely with the Republican Party. I don't even call myself a secularist. In fact, to get right down to the bottom line, I hate labels of any kind.
The "issue" we confront with Ms. Milhan's personal license plate is the "issue" of stupidity on the part of our translation of the words of the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. We all studied these revered documents in school in America, and we can't agree over 225 years later what the words actually mean, and we "waste" hundreds of thousands of dollars (tax dollars out of pocket) to take these "issues" to trial. Hot button issues are contested all the way up to the Supreme Court in some cases (in most cases) and there is a heated battle going on in the past few Congresses about who should sit on the Court and how liberal or conservative (or impartial) our judges should be. The answer is they should be completely impartial, but then there is the "issue" of translating these early documents in "modern terms".
I don't care how modern the term in use. (The age of "information" has created more lies and mistrusting than at any time in history I would surmise) If Ms. Milhans' plate read: "Fu*k You" I might be offended. "John 3:16" is merely a reference to a Bible verse, and if you don't read the Bible, you probably don't even know what it means, so where's the beef? Why complain? The reason why the complaint is to "stir things up". There are other underlying reasons why anyone does anything. Perhapst the woman who complained didn't get her "Fu*k You" license plate approved, and it taking it out on Jane Milhans. I don't know. It wasn't in the news feed I listened to with utter "shock" this morning on my Yahoo browser.
A mind like mine starts extrapolating these "events" however and I wonder how long it will be before we read that "all" personal license plates are "offensive". After all, I can be offended by anything I want to be offended by. I don't like your name, buddy, I'm offended, so I'm taking it to the courts. Well, actually I live in Southern California, where the norm when you don't like what somebody does on the freeway is you shoot them. That'll teach you.
What would Jesus think?
IN OTHER NEWS: I went to the Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire this Sunday. I vowed not to go and spend any money this year, so made the video "Renaissance Day" "instead" but hey, I just couldn't stay away. There's only two weekends left and it was at a new venue. I was accompanied by my new friend Elizabeth, who is a fellow Xangan living nearby in East L.A. She writes under the name of "The Queen of Swords" and I have mentioned her before in these News and Notes columns. Liz had never attended a Renaissance Faire before, and when I watched the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" last weekend, even though it takes place in the 12th century and not the 16th, (and in Jerusalem and not England) I think I made the decision there and then to go see the Faire this weekend. I even "announced" it a work on Friday, meaning to myself that since I "told" people I was going, I would in fact go.
Although I saw some of the singing and performing groups which I had not seen in a couple of previous Faires, on the whole I was somewhat disappointed that there weren't as many "strolling" musicians as in years past, or else they just weren't out in force on the day I attended. Also, and this is an ongoing complaint, in the "old days" of the 90s, more people "dressed up" and were "part of the play" and now it's more like "Disneyland" filled with tourists.
In 1999, I saw this girl at the Faire. I joke about not being able to "fall in love again", but I think I fell in love with this girl when I attended the Faire in 99, but I didn't "approach her" because 1. she's probably young enough to be my daughter, and 2. she's impossibly tall, over 6 feet. But she sure was "cute" and was probably in her late teens in 1999.
I saw her again yesterday, and my heart melted. I didn't "mention" that I even saw her. She was sitting a row behind us when Liz and I saw the Poxy Boggards show. (They're the group who sing "I wear no pants" in the Renaissance Day video. She was wearing a top and shorts, is a trifle older now, but still had that long impossibly red hair, wide smile, and open dreamy eyes. She caught the eye of one of the singers in the show, and I observed her heading "backstage" after the show was over. She towers a full head above me, and I'm an old man, but she stoked my fires a bit. I wanted so much to just go up to her and tell her I'd been in love with her since 1999. Such a coincidence that I saw this gal again four years later? No, not really. There are a (dwindling) few people who go mulitiple times each season, even though they are not "part" of any of the performing guilds.
Perhaps I shall compose a poem for my nameless red haired beauty. (Cathy, the recipient of my 60 Cathy Poems, was taller than I am. I have a "thing" for tall women. I don't know why. I wish I were taller, I'm 5'6" which is somewhat "short" for a guy, but at my age, I'm not going to complain about anything. I accept all. )
Well, that's it for this week's News and Notes. Upcoming entries here at WhenWordsCollide will include a rather interesting "article" about character actors at Disneyland. My roommate Joel (whom I sometimes call "Cancerboy" in this blog) was a "character actor" at Disneyland in the mid 70s.
He "performed" Winnie the Pooh, King Louie from the Jungle Book, and Captain Hook for the Electric Parade, and I "interviewed him" the other night about his experiences. He is usually rather closemouthed about his tenure at Disneyland. (He hates the place now for some stupid reason) but he talked at length about the crazy times he had while a "cast member". This is just one of the planned articles I have in mind for the 50th anniversary of "The Happiest Place on Earth", which was always a yearly family destination for many families here in SoCal.
(NOTE: For some reason as soon as I put this entry online, there is a need for "horizontal scrolling" on the first page to my blog. This should not happen. All my posts are designed for word wrapping, and I make no image larger than 450px so that the page should show up with no problem on all types of computer screens. I have already deleted and reposted this entry twice but the problem is still occuring. Probably nobody will notice except web designers, but I notice, and I get bothered by things like this, but am at work, and can't worry about it right now. MFN)
Comments (16)
:sunny:Good morning! I guess you are off to work ! Just read your new post! Could not sleep also read some of your poetry. You have so much! Truely a life's work! Looking forward to reading your interview with your roommate. Gosh I haven't been to Disneyland in sometime used to go several times a year!! Well maybe now it is morning I can get some sleep! Crazy ! Sometimes I get wrapped up in Xanga!
KArolyn @-}-}-
:wha:Thanks for the note at the bottom of your post! :rolleyes: I went to comment and your post was not there so I thought I had read something previous
...I thought I had lost my mind. :giggle: OH! Thank goodness I attempted one more time I thought I really lost it this morning. :yes:
K
Hello Mike, i agree with you completely. Your poem "Under God" says it all! It's really sad, honestly. I remember saying the Pleadge Of Allegiance in elementary school alongside all my classmates. And Under God was a right and priveledge to every person there, and for every morning's begining at school. It reminded us all of the founding of our country, and the values that sprang this nation forth. A thankfulness for all that we have, an affirmation, and a great show of respect to those who died to protect this country. I remember the reverence that we all felt for those who had passed on in that last effort to serve and protect that which we hold dear today and always.
I wonder if the nation had been founded by the Shintoists, Buddhists, Islaamites or some other kind of religion back in those historic days, would people today complain and demand 'seperation of church and state' as they seem to for almost all forms of Christianity? Just a poser to think about.
I wonder how many soldiers, those who never came home, prayed, in an action of 'the state' on some battlefield somewhere? God was involved in their final moments, no less than any other. I think often of my many family members and friends, and people i never knew, who breathed prayers of thanksgiving for being revived from injuries in some theater of battle. Many came home with prayers on their lips, prayers of heartfelt thanksgiving and for their continued safety. Many did thank a God so many want us to ignore, for being able to come back home to those they love, and fought to protect. And i know for a fact that many prayed for the safety, health and wellbeing of their loved ones during their absence. All one has to do to confirm or deny my words is merely talk with the surviving veterans of our wars, to know this for themselves.
It occurs to me that it is easy to ignore and disdain a deity when everything is fine and good in everyday life. All seems to be going too well to need one. But in truth people, (whether some like to admit it or not), do call out for help to that deity in question when life is coming against them, and no other help seems available. So it seems to me anyways. It's always easy to decry deitic references when life is in the saddle for a person, and all is going as well as possible. But hard to refuse to when things are not so.
Great article Mike, it really made me think this morning, and appreciate all the more what i do have in life.
And i hope one day you do get to talk to your Lady Fair at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire. Seems a kizmet that you have seen her like that again.
Can't wait to read your interview with Joel. I have heard some odd rumours about employees of so many theme parks, Disney not the least of those. It would be super to read his thoughts and 'take' on the situations he encountered there.
Hopefully, the horizonatal-scrolling issue will resolve itself soon. The Xanga Team page said they were doing a bunch of html overhauls, so perhaps it is a temporary bug due to that.
Take care Mike :sunny:
~Lynxkatt
First off, if I lived near you I would seriously give you a huge hug and kiss for playing Beatles on your site this week!! I know, I am silly. I apologize...Sort of.:shysmile: Anyway, I find it quite a waste of time myself as to going to court over a license plate. Such a waste of time... Do people have nothing better to do?! All right... I'm going to end this before I step up onto a soapbox. By the way,the red head... She is a cutie.
Now what you need is a tall, leggy, not too bosomy and beautiful lady with lustrous long red hair and a certain type of energy and charisma to fall just as in love with you as you would with her. Wishing this for you, my friend. You deserve the very best, and heck, you've waited long enough! Wish I was a witch, could twizzle my wand, and poof! the perfect woman. Barring that, my minstrel, yes, keep writing about her. Some of the most beautiful love poetry in the English language from loving from afar... & pretty Medieval, with the courtly love tradition, come to think of it. -:) *hugs!
Mike...I wonder why our society takes things to the extreme. I'd like to learn it all and make my own decisions.
Great article -- what are your thoughts on this one?
In Kansas, A Sharp Debate on Evolution
Educators Consider Intelligent Design
By Peter SlevinWashington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 6, 2005; Page A01
TOPEKA, Kan., May 5 -- Debating a question that the scientific establishment considers settled, Kansas education authorities put evolutionary theory on trial Thursday in a hearing marked by sharp exchanges over Earth's origins and what students should be taught in science class.
Scientists who support the idea of intelligent design, a set of assumptions that challenges established scientific thinking, told an approving Kansas State Board of Education subcommittee that modern Darwinian theory relies too much on unproven reasoning. Gaps in the science, they argued, leave open the possibility that a creator, or an unidentified "designing mind," is responsible for earthly development.
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The debate draws a range of people, including, from left, John Yost, Dick Unruh, Wayne Stringer and Greg Lassey. (By Thad Allender -- Lawrence Journal-world Via Associated Press)
live discussion
The Evolution Debate
Washington Post staff writer Peter Slevin will be online to discuss the latest evolution trial in Kansas at 11 a.m. ET.
It would not be far-fetched, said William S. Harris, a Kansas City researcher who favors intelligent design, to conclude that DNA itself is the work of an intelligent being. Students, he said, should be told that.
Outside the auditorium, scientists and educators dismissed the arguments as claptrap.
"It's clear from the beginning that this is not a real science discussion. This is a showcase for intelligent design," said Jack Krebs, vice president of Kansas Citizens for Science, which is boycotting the four days of hearings. "They have created a straw man. They are trying to make science stand for atheism so they can fight atheism."
The debate is the highest-profile confrontation over evolutionary theory in years, pitting the impassioned corps of anti-Darwinists against a scientific establishment that considers the evidence of the chemical and biological origins of life to be beyond dispute. It was made possible by Republican gains in November elections that gave the Kansas board a 6-4 conservative majority.
Local and national science organizations are so disturbed by the proceedings that they are boycotting them, apart from advising Pedro Irigonegaray, a civil rights and defense lawyer recruited to defend the existing Kansas science standards. On the eve of the hearings, he predicted a "whitewash" but said he would fight nonetheless.
"I had a delicious fantasy," the Cuban-born Irigonegaray said with a smile, recalling the offer to defend evolutionary theory. "I saw myself in a large courtroom, the fan moving slowly over my head, perhaps a skull in my hand, while I'm cross-examining a key witness."
Take away the television cameras and the PowerPoint presentations, and Thursday's scene bore a resemblance to the 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton, Tenn., where a high school science teacher was famously convicted of violating a state law forbidding the teaching of evolution. This time, said Bruce Chapman, a former Reagan administration Census Bureau director, "This is the Scopes trial turned on its head."
Chapman heads the Discovery Institute, whose Seattle offices overlooking Puget Sound have become the headquarters of the intelligent design movement, which posits that modern Darwinian theory is limited and that life is too complex to be explained by evolutionary theory alone. An early witness was Jonathan Wells, a Discovery senior fellow who described himself as "an old Berkeley antiwar radical" who loves controversy.
Wells confirmed during cross-examination that he was a member of the Unification Church when he earned doctorates in theology from Yale and in biology from the University of California at Berkeley. In an Internet posting distributed outside the meeting by Kansas Citizens for Science, Wells refers to church leader Sun Myung Moon, saying, "Father's words, my studies and my prayers convinced me that I should devote my life to destroying Darwinism."
Testifying to the three-member education committee, Wells described himself as an embryologist and theologian, and said evolutionary theory "has left the realm of science" and instead has become a given, leaving many conclusions unproven. He described the common scientific conclusion that all living things come from a common ancestor as essentially an act of faith.
Harris, a specialist in omega-3 fatty acids, delivered the opening statement and outline of the testimony ahead. He said an essential goal of the hearings is to prove there is a scientific controversy about evolutionary theory and hence criticism that should be added to the school curriculum. A 26-member science standards committee concluded in March that the curriculum should remain unchanged. Harris and seven other members disagreed.
Harris disputed the accepted wisdom that ancient simple life forms became ever more complex, evolving over billions of years into human beings, beavers, tarpon and a multitude of other life forms. He also said it would not be an "irresponsible deduction from the data" to say the genetic code contained in DNA was produced by an intelligent "mind."
"Who's the designer?" asked Harris, a co-founder of Intelligent Design Network Inc. "I don't know."
Usually it is the evolution forces that accuse the intelligent design side of wanting to teach religion in science class. But Harris said educators who teach Darwinian evolution effectively introduce religion by rejecting the possibility that God created the universe and all living things.
Asked where he saw atheism in the Kansas science standards, Harris replied, "I see it between the lines."
Early in his remarks, Harris projected a strategy letter from a Kansas Citizens for Science member onto a large screen on stage. It said the way to defeat the anti-evolution forces was be to portray them as political opportunists, evangelical activists, unprincipled bullies and ignoramuses.
"Are we ignoramuses?" Harris asked the committee members. "Well, you'll have to decide."
Catbert
Great commentary, Mike. You always treat topics with candor and realness. I like that in a guy. *wink* And hey, don't sell yourself so short (no pun intended). You're still a sweetheart.
To the first part of your blog concerning secular vs. religious rights, I am so with you and say AMEN to that. It's almost as if they protesteth too much. You know how they say people who are homophobes really are the ones with the most inhibited homosexual tendencies. Likewise, these people who take such offense by others' religious espressions are similarly afflicted, as if they are repressing their own inner struggle with the issues. Why can't they just live and let live? It's not like the lady was trying to convert any motorists by threatening them "that they might perish" at the hands of her beplated vehicle were they not to align with her religious convictions.
To the second part of your blog, I saw Kingdom of Heaven this weekend and loved it. I was truly refreshed to see a hollywood protrayal of the Crusades that didn't rely too heavily on the trite renditions of the churches histories in which the Crusaders are viewed as blindly forging into the east wielding their weapons unquestioningly at the command of the Pope. Instead, the truly spiritual struggle that it must have brought out in many of these men was brought to light in the character of Balian. Balian embodied the modern day dilemma that people like myself have with Christianity or any religion for that matter. Religion is artifice and in it God is reduced and made secondary to the means. I was so amazed to hear my own thoughts about religion come out in a hollywood script when Balian said the true kingdom of heaven, Jerusalem, is the kingdom of consciousness and that a man is only as good and true as the deeds that he does.
Thanks for subbing me, by the way, and giving me kudos on my fledgling site.
i'll be back for a long thoughtful discussion, but for now know that jeri isn't my given first name so you're safe and welcome to refer to me by it!
Mike,
It truly is a waste of everyone's time ... energy ... and tax dollars to even worry about such trivial matters as a personalized license plate. It is true that if one is not aware of the bible, then one wouldn't even know to be offended. Yet, there are so many other things in this day and age that offend ... and if we just start going all out in enforcing supposed "offensive" persons / places / things we will have nothing left ... including our freedom of speech.
As for the young lady at the Renaissance Faire ... all I have to say is that when I read that you should have sang that last song to her ... wink ... you know which one that was ... (I'm sorry but that's the first thing that came to my head). But, I have to admit that I really enjoyed the day quite a bit. I am seriously going to save up and go all out (and buy more of those wooden figures) next time. Thanks so much for taking me along.
Love & Friendship,
Liz
Hi Mike, I practise the Tarot only in a personal capacity. Generally I do not do readings for other people. I find studying the symbolism facinating and love the creative process started when one introduce their random element into one's life. I will write more about that on my Xanga. In the mean time if you are interested in more info as beginner, the best online resource I know is the free online course at the following URL: http://www.learntarot.com/
Hi, Mike~
You're not at all out of line with your thinking here. The pecking between those with "religious" and those with "secular" interests is, well, in NOBODY's interest at all. It brings out the worst in people, doesn't it? When will we ever learn?
I'd also like to thank you for starting my morning with "Ticket to Ride"--what a treat to hear the Beatles today!
Finally, your red-haired love is beautiful indeed. I don't care how old we are, it's great to feel that kind of attraction, even if it's just a passing fancy. In fact, most of the pleasure is in the mystery and the fantasy, isn't it? Enjoy!
PS~ I remember seeing that Electric Light Parade the first time I visited Disney World, back in the 70's. I was completely charmed by it, more than by any of Disney's subsequent parades. Boy, your picture brought back memories!
Would you be offended in a similar way if the situation were reversed? What if some Christian protested the word Atheist on a plate? The non-christians are the minority and the current cultural war seems a little one-sided with the Christians winning nearly every battle.
Hi Mike,
I dislike labels as well but if I tell anyone that I'm not religious they automatically assume atheist, which I'm not. However, I feel that I am immediately labeled as "evil" because of my non-religiousness. I find this ironic because I consider that I am more tolerant of everyone's religions or beliefs. However, I find that this license plate thing is totally ridiculous. I believe some people have nothing better to do than become offended in order to secure their fifteen minutes of fame. I guess I'm not tolerant of stupidity.
I have no problem with "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance but I wish that those who would prefer to sit during it should not be considered any less American than those who stand, or any less moral.
Now on to your love...
I think that is the sweetest thing I've heard. She is very pretty and I think that if you ever run into her again you should say hello and ask to interview her. I think we want to know about the people who visit Renaissance Faires year after year. *hint hint*
~ Becky
So I invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy my blog as I will update regularly with all things that are relevant to this awesome industry.