Author: Nanette

I am going over the DKos community guide, and attempting to modify it to fit this site better. It’s okay… I volunteered to do this. Really!

And now I am volunteering everyone else to help 🙂

First thing I see we need to do is come up with our own community definition of what the Boo Trib is, and how we’d like it to be. Begin as you mean to go on, and all that.

I think there was a diary similar to this a long (internets-wise) time ago, but there are a lot more people now I think, and also it’s better to have it all in one place.

So… what is the Boo Trib Community, what standards for diaries and so on? Am looking more for a mission or vision type statement thing than nuts and bolts, I think.  But both are welcome.

Your turn.  

Our policy towards the former Soviet Union has always puzzled me.  

Wounding a dangerous adversary, and then walking away… not really caring if it lived or died, but apparently assuming that if it lived… it would be on your terms, not theirs.

Well, you know what they say about assumptions…

Follow me over the fold and see how well they’ve worked out this time.
LA Times Stalin Has Foot Back on the Pedestal

MOSCOW — The last public statue of Josef Stalin in Moscow stands forlornly in a postmodern graveyard of Communist-era monuments here, missing part of his nose.

But more than 500 miles away, in the city once known as Stalingrad, the infamous Soviet leader is getting more respect.

Authorities in Volgograd are planning to unveil a statue of Stalin next week as Russia celebrates the 60th anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany. The dictator’s supporters see it simply as proper recognition of the key role he played in World War II.

And really, what could be more innocent than that? He may have been a tyrant, but he was our tyrant, after all.

To critics, however, the move reflects an ominous and growing infatuation with a tyrant many Russians revere as a symbol of strength — never mind that he killed millions of his own citizens.

“Stalin’s return to the pedestal…. would signify the political rehabilitation of one of the bloodiest dictators in modern history,” said Memorial, a Russian human rights organization…

[…]

At the Reading City Bookstore, a window display is filled with copies of “Stalin: Throne of Ice,” a sympathetic account of the dictator. “Without Stalin, neither this Great Victory nor this country in general would have been possible,” author Alexander Bushkov says. “Those were heroic times, and such people will never be born again.”

The store carries about two dozen titles on Stalin, reflecting the sharp increase in interest over the last year, said Olga Panina, 24, a sales clerk.

“It’s our history. We can’t change it or get away from it,” she said. “During the war, our grandmothers and grandfathers were fighting and dying with the name of Stalin on their lips.

“I don’t think we can whitewash Stalin,” she added. “On the other hand … we should remember that we are all human, and it’s in human nature to make mistakes. Some make small mistakes, and some make huge mistakes.”

Whitewashing history seems to be the “in” thing nowadays… not that it’s every been out of fashion, I imagine. I guess as these days the brushes are working double-time to paint out history even as it happens, one shouldn’t complain about those who wait 60 years.

After all, “mistakes” are only human, even if your “mistake” was to kill millions.

A recent poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center found that half of the respondents looked favorably on Stalin, with 20% describing his role in the life of the country as “very positive” and 30% calling it “somewhat positive.” Only 12% described it as “very negative.”

In Russia today, Stalin is a kind of poster boy for those who favor a stronger state and are angered by the post-Soviet erosion of job security and government-paid social benefits.

[…]

Igor Dolutsky, author of a high school textbook banned for being too critical of both Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and Stalin, said that popular memories of the dictator amounted to a myth that could do great harm in the future.

“The essence of this myth is that violence, terror and repression can be effectively used to build a great country,” Dolutsky said. “I think that the return to Stalinist traditions is actually dangerous.”

Putin has taken care not to associate himself too closely with Stalin nostalgia. But he and those around him still benefit from the strong-state symbolism, Dolutsky said.

I’ll just bet he has.

There’s lots more to the article, and very interesting reading.

I am far from an expert on Russia, but years ago when some were looking at Putin’s “reforms”, I was looking at the increasing rumours of his stifling of independent media, because that’s where it all begins.  Well, and Bush seeing into his soul and seeing someone he could work with and understand, or whatever… that was fair warning right there.

Not that Putin will turn into another Stalin or anything… I hope. But trying to change over to a capitalist society, or whatever they did, seems to have been a basic disaster for Russia. Between the oligarchs, the Russian mafia, people freezing in the streets, starving to death, and lacking the basic social structure that used to be there, no matter how repressive… I’d say the stage was well set for a strong-man/state government to establish itself.

Hopefully, some of you guys know way more than me about this stuff (not difficult at all), and will give the benefit of your analysis.

I wrote this a couple of months ago, when time and life and circumstances came crashing down one day. Figured a sleepy Saturday would be a good time to post it here. One can always do with a reminder.

I’ll get to the political stuff, I promise. Just not today. I’ll take keyboard in hand and slice and dice right wing tropes and memes into confetti. I’ll chatter on about Social Security, Iraq, Iran – will we or wont we?, sex, lies and Gannongate, and the crooks and liars of the right. Just not today. They’ll all still be there tomorrow, and the next day and the day after that. Isn’t there some saying, “and the freaks will be with you always”?

The good, now… well, sometimes they die young.

<there’s more>
When my brother died a few years ago I found a to-do list in his wallet, on a tiny piece of paper, and the first or second item was: Call Louise. I don’t know why, but I must have put the list in my purse or pocket, because I somehow wound up taking it home with me.

I’ve moved a couple of times since then, but that little list always goes with me. I don’t keep it in any special place, or anything. I’ll be tidying up the house and see a small scrap of paper on the floor, or on top of the dresser, or in my purse or… well, just about anyplace. Naturally, I pick it up and while it may sometimes be a receipt, or a just a stray piece of nothing, sometimes it’s the to-do list. I’ll open it, read it, and then set it back down on the table, or in a drawer. I don’t know why I don’t just throw it out. I would say that it’s because it’s in his own writing, and I want to keep that, but I have other things he’s written out by hand, entire stories even.

I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore why I keep the list. I don’t know who Louise is, although I hope he did call her and didn’t wait. But now, the list has become my little talisman… and Louise? We’ll, she’s become everyone that is close to me, and everything I need to get done. I only find the list every few months or so, and when I do and see `call Louise” I make sure to set aside a time to to give my old mom a little extra attention, and to call my other brothers, my daughter and other family and friends.

The good old Fabric of Life is full of those little tendrils that weave in and out of your existence, some leaving little impression, others becoming a treasured part. And sometimes one breaks off and floats away, leaving a huge hole in the fabric, before you are ready for it to go. If you ever are.

I don’t know how to end this. I guess I’ll just say… when it’s time to call Louise, don’t put it off. Everything else will still be there tomorrow.

I figured we’d tackle this one first, get it out of the way. The left side of the blogosphere (and maybe the right too) has been going through convulsions recently over the topic of religion, lots of words thrown about, lots of hurt on all sides. Thankfully, that’s not what this diary is for.

In case you are just joining the conversation (and all are welcome), we are undertaking a collaborative project between the bloggers of BooTrib and Human Beams Magazine. Goals are to help build up a reader base for the blog of “I don’t usually read blogs” type people, as well as to guide people into taking further action or joining an overall liberal/progressive movement to effect change, worldwide. You can read more about the project in this diary, and some informational type stuff in this one.

[ note: while the first special topic is women, it will be addressed in the context of the connections between women and their specific issues, and overall liberal, leftist, progressive, Democratic, whatever issues. Men are encouraged to participate. My mantra: we are all in this together :)]

Okay, so on to the discussion. I’ll set out some issues I’ve been thinking about, everyone else can add their own, or bring up points or whatever. As this will be the diary for discussion on this topic, so that we can keep it all in one place when the time for writing comes, you might want to hotlist it or something so you can find it once it disappears from the page.

Onward…

First, while touching on the history of the religions is good, the articles themselves will mostly deal with not how various religious were supposed to be, or what they were supposed to do, but what they are today, how they affect people, women specifically at this time, today, and what we can do about various issues today. We can have “for further reading, see…” type boxes available with the articles, for people to do more research on historical topics or something not covered in the articles.

I would suggest that those who have knowledge and an interest in the history or whatever, write up a companion blog post, on BooTrib or their own blogs, and people can be pointed to that one, instead of to an unrelated (to the project) site. This would go for any of the other topics covered too, of course, which will work to build up blog profiles.

I wasn’t sure whether to tackle each religion separately, or the three main patriarchal religions together, and the others separately or what. I suppose we’ll see how it shakes out, and go from there. For now, we can just do all here. I’d like to get some input from people not only in the main religions, but also the earth based ones, and buddhism and so on, in relation to women.

Connections:

[note: Homosexuality and religion is a big topic, and I was considering making that all one on its own… but I believe that plays into the “divide and conquer” strategy. Gays and lesbians are one of our most vulnerable (to hate and bigotry and bad laws) groups right now, and, to my way of thinking, one puts the most vulnerable right in the midst so that everyone else can stand beside them and surround them for protection and solidarity. Thus, I feel that the issues affecting lesbian women should be addressed in the same context of issues affecting all women, regardless of sexual orientation. Show the connections and why non-lesbian women should be concerned at the rights of all, and all that.]

The Gag Rule was reinstated by Bush when he got into office at the urging of the religious right, and was just recently repealed again. Therefore, US policy had the direct effect putting women across the world from us in harm’s way, creating the conditions for lifelong illness and death. I know this… many people know this, although I am not sure some are aware of the extent of the harm. One thing I don’t know though, really, is… who are the women on the receiving end of the policy? Even just one… what’s her name? Is she religious too, and does she understand where these people are coming from? What about her family? Can we make her into something besides the generic “Woman in a Poor Country”?

Why care now, now that the rule has been repealed? For one thing, I’m sure it will come around again, and there are other issues related to it, like the UN conventions and so on.

I won’t write much more, so as not to inhibit discussion, but a couple of more points.

We want to cover as many areas of the world as we can.

Connecting the dots… how one thing affects another and affects all of us is a main goal, so keep that in mind.

Even if you are not a ‘writer’ — information, commentary, research and ideas for action or getting people involved and such are all part of the project.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, nor probably do I even know all the questions, so please add your opinions and/or expertise to all this.  

So, let’s see what we can accomplish together.

I love words. Only, it seems that loving them and keeping them handy are two different things. If you don’t use it, you lose it and all that. When I was younger, I used to write a lot… maybe not well, but I still had a pretty good command of a wide vocabulary. Nowadays, though, I find myself reaching for the perfect word that seems just beyond my grasp more often than not. I find it frustrating, and will sometimes just put stuff aside because of it. Nothing to do with age, I’m sure.

Sometimes words catch on, and then they seem to be used all the time, and everywhere. I remember a time (might still be the case, in fact) where when you read a romance novel by any author, if the female character had emotions, they were sure to be “roiling”. Online it was also almost impossible to escape the word “meme” for a while there.

Anyway, with the various projects starting that concern writing, (and the everyday excellent writing going on) I thought it would be fun to re-introduce ourselves to old favorites, or to learn new words and phrases from each other. Of course, there are always dictionaries and thesauruses… (thesauri?) but they lack the personal touch.

My offering is below.

quintessence (kwin-TES-ens) noun

   1. The fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies

   2. The pure, concentrated essence.

   3. Most perfect embodiment of something.

also, the more familiar form: quintessential.

Not a new or very exciting word, but not one I use often, for some reason.

In addition to just words, there are phrases both in English and other languages, as well as regional ones, that are fun to use.

So, what have you got? A word that opens up endless possibilities for you? A turn of a phrase that seems like magic (but which is really usually the result of very hard work)? A good diary title?

Play along and help make the BooTrib the quintessence of good writing, research and investigative, collaborative journalism ;).

That’s the general persona I see this special issue taking. Also humorous, contemplative, spiritual, and meditative.

[I was going to make this a comment, but it’s too long, so if you have no idea what I am talking about, please refer to this diary (which has somehow ended up on the recommended list… whoa!). ]

One note… while the first special collaboration issue will center around women, the ultimate goal is not to start a women’s movement or anything, per se. It’s to show the connections between women around the world, and why someone thousands of miles away should matter to us. And to show how all our issues are intertwined… from the environment, to politics, to education, to feminism, to human rights, to… well anything. The participation of men in this project is not only welcome, but necessary. We’re all in this together, remember. Subsequent special projects will begin from a different point… say, labor. Why is that more important now than ever, how it interconnects with all our other issues, and so on.

 Another goal is to funnel people through the magazine into more activity with blogs, as well as into more activity in helping to make changes politically and in their communities, working together to promote progressive values. diane101 had some suggestions about that, and I have some ideas as well, to pull people in from reading about the specific issues that interest them to showing them what can actually be done about them and how they can participate in an overall strategy.

Here I’ll give the basics of each area of interest. In later diaries, per BooMan’s suggestion, we can cover each area individually, and people can contribute research, writing, suggestions, etc. I hope to be able to find people actually within various countries outside of the US as well, especially in “third world” countries (I dislike that term), or at least people who know about them. Anyway here are the sections, as they appear in the magazine:

Politics – politics affect us all, in one way or another, whether we are interested in the subject or not, or if we participate in voting, or whatever. This can be approached in different ways… women in politics, their effect on legislation and overall political issues. Women shut out of politics, as they are in various countries. What changes can and should be made through the political process, and which changes should take a different tack.

As we begin discussions and research, I’m sure a number of different avenues will come up and we can decide which ones to go down, and how to connect the various issues.

Our Humanity – this area is fairly new, as it used to cover only human rights. Now it is human rights, the environment, labor and building society. My interest in showing connections pre-dates this diary, and one thing I’ve noticed is that sometimes labor, environmentalism and human rights are at odds with each other, competing for the same space. Or there is the issue of jobs and the environment, etc, an argument often promoted by those who don’t have the best interests of either group in mind. Divide and conquer. So, women and all these issues, and how all these issues connect to one another.

Areas also covered in this section would be religions, body image, education, war and its effects, and so on.

Page Break – Fiction, poetry, movie and book reviews, photojournalism

The Fat Man’s Kitchen – recipes, herbal uses, foods in different countries, etc. I have a tremendous amount of material I am still recapturing from the internet archive, for this and the other sections, that was lost due to computer crashes and server moves and such. Sigh. Anyway, thank goodness for the Wayback Machine!

Life… at Large  – general life matters. How we live within our societies, personal anecdotes and so on.

Finding the Lion Next Door – ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things. All over the world there are people who are standing up against tyranny or oppression, or who are making a difference in their communities, or the world. Most unheralded and without the backing of international organizations or funds. They start with what they have, and do what they can.

Both Sides Now opinion/editorial. Mostly

Travel self explanatory, although for the special issue it can be used in a variety of ways.

Young Minds issues dealing with young people… kids, teens, young adults. Some stuff written by them, others about. How any of the above areas affect young girls and women around the world could be a topic here.

I’ve run through some of the areas pretty quickly, as I just wanted to give a brief explanation of what they were, and then let the project participants discuss and define how each thing will fit in. When we begin research and discussions in the specific areas, we can also discuss ways to promote action or sustained activity on various issues. Such as the pharmacists thing… I am in the midst of making a page on that now, but I always try to do too many things at once, so am not very far along yet ;).

Hi Booiacs,

I’ve been a bit busy lately, so have not been able to post or comment much. Well, that and I’m a natural lurker. I even lurk on my own blog! But anyway, things are a bit freed up now, and I have a proposal for a collaborative project. And connecting the dots.

As some of you know, I’ve published a small, international magazine online for a number of years. It has waxed and waned through the years, as time and finances allowed… as it’s been an all volunteer operation, focused on opening up communication and on promoting a world without borders, and has not be for the purpose of making money, it has gotten put aside from time to time when circumstances required.

Anyway, over the past few months, a few things have converged for me, that have not only allowed me to focus on building up the magazine again, but also to think about the direction — a brief window of time where I am in a position to devote time and energy to it, the election of 2004, and the certainty that what we need is a new international progressive movement renaissance, in the small spaces as well as the large. More than that, I think that we must hang together and stick up for one another, regardless of our personal pet interests.

What does any of this have to do with you, you may be asking?

Follow me over the flip and I’ll tell you.

First, not all that many people read blogs, comparatively. Yet. Some don’t know what they are, and others have a mental image of some loser sitting around in their basement typing out their opinions on everything. That is slowly changing. I have an older Democrat friend who will only visit “mainstream” blogs… Josh Marshall, Tapped, and so on. When Markos appeared on C-SPAN, all of a sudden he too was in the “approved” section (one good argument for bloggers not disdaining offered air time).

Anyway, I’ve been thinking for a time on how to build bridges… bloggers, writers, wonks, thinkers, doers, readers and so on. And also various interests.. feminism, environmentalism, labor, etc.  I don’t have any software or programming skills, so that was out. I’ve published a couple of pieces from the kos site, but regardless of what the site says, I don’t feel comfortable not working directly with the authors – which I am actually doing with a few now, but even that doesn’t accomplish what I think is needed. I could start my own blog, but didn’t quite see where that would get me. I did have a glimmer of an idea for one organization, which I still think is viable, but I did it backwards so it needs more work. So, I decided to fall back on that old adage.. “go with what you know”.

I’d like to put out a special issue of the magazine that is the collaborative effort of Human Beams and the Booman Tribune writers. Others as well, if they are interested. Actually, I’d like to do a number of such special issues over the next few months, as I have a specific purpose in mind… not only funneling people through the magazine to the blog(s), but also into effective action and involvement. More on that later.

The theme for the first special issue would be women. Why women? Well, at the moment, women’s rights are under assault, sometimes way under the radar, all over the place. And this affects different people in a variety of ways. While poor or middle class women in the US are humiliated and inconvenienced by nutty religious scolds masquerading as pharmacists, poor women in other parts of the world are dying from lack of needed medication or information, that they have been prevented from accessing due to yet another group of nutty religious scolds. While people are busy trying to shove lesbians back into the closet and bring back full discrimination, in other countries they are not even acknowledged to exist, and some risk very bad stuff if it’s found out they do.

Anyway, what I was thinking is not so much a bunch of disparate articles about women (although those are nice too) but collaborative research and writing, addressing the core subject from specific directions and connecting the dots. Women and environment, labor, education, human rights, and so on, worldwide. Not any sort of anti male thing, in fact I hope men also join in the project. And not a US centric thing, although I do think if women in “the most powerful country in the world” are unable to secure their rights, we have little chance of helping others do so.

A later theme would address all the topics from the point of view of environmentalists, again connecting all the dots. Or human rights, or any of the other subjects. We are all in this together, and we must all stand up for one another, especially these days. Separating out into individual interests, without clear acknowledgement of the interconnections, reminds me of the ‘divide and conquer’ strategy, which right wingers have certainly taken advantage of.

If it turns out like I think it could, there could be a pdf or e-book thingy of each special issue, available for printing out, which is another way of funneling people who are not online into online communities, and also into online/offline involvement in a progressive movement. I am working simultaneously on the action/involvement areas… such as drawing a line in the sand for those pharmacists and other things (anyone interested in helping with that is more than welcome as well).

Anyway, there are of course more details, but this is getting super long. I’ll be happy to answer any questions, and if anyone is interested in this project, we can start a discussion of just what form it would take and all that.

Below are the first suggestions for Frog for a Day (we may need a new name) winners.

In case you missed the first diary, the basic idea is to attempt to both expand the readership/membership of the BooTrib, and the site’s own horizons, by reaching out and touching someone. And then um… frog marching them (in a nice way!) over to booland to get an award thingy, and have a discussion about their blog content, or stuff in general. They could have time to announce it on their own blogs, so that their readers could also make the trip over to comment and such. Hopefully, this will be fun, eventually a broaden membership and we and they will learn some new things.

Anyway, to this end, I requested that people submit their suggestions. I’ve listed the blogs and their addresses below, and the original commentary submitted along with the blog in the order in which they were received, so that we can look at the content and vote on them. Also any comments on the general idea itself, ways of making it better and so on are always welcome.

Feel free to add any additional blog suggestions, they can be saved til next time.
The list:

Free North Korea relays non-violent campaigns in support of human rights in North Korea. It especially focuses on the plight of North Korean refugees.

North Korea Zone
A collaborative blog posting news about North Korea, one of the “most secretive countries in the world”

“Left in the West: Views from a Dryland Democrat” is a great Montana political blog. Matt Singer (of NotGeniuses) writes about national and state politics amusingly and concisely, which is a plus when you read several blogs a day. Not sure if there’s anyone from Montana here, but people seem interested in Schweitzer, so…

The Carpetbagger Report–insightful, incisive reporting on politics. Updated daily, by a guest blogger on weekends, with comments enabled just recently with no sign-up. Carpetbagger catches important stories that are often overlooked.

This Is Not Over is by the DHAK crew–they run Tomato Nation, HissyFit, ChickLit, Television without Pity. Funny, enraged, and short entries on various issues that don’t always make the mainstream. Comments enabled, but you have to sign up off site. WARNING–if swearing offends you, then not the site for you.

Beautiful Horizons
This blog deals with events and news in Latin America, human rights, and just general stuff. Well written, lots of information.

I hope I’ve done the poll right. If I did, please take it:

Okay, guys you’ll have to work with me here. I can think up stuff, plan the campaigns, but I can’t write the copy. I know this. In my usual writings, if I ever have a point, I just wander somewhere close by – eventually – and then gesture vaguely at it. (No doubt a result of haivng it drummed into me as a child that it is “not polite to point!”). And usually I’ll leave it at that, but this is for a community thing, so I’ll try again. Is not my new title very exciting?

I know… just pretend I’m maryscott. Only not as young. And, not as pretty. Okay, and not nearly as talented. But other than minor details, everything else is exactly the same. I can even do profanity!

Shoot! Darn! (and the kicker…) Horse Patootie!

Hah! I bet that got your attention. Now, follow me over the fold and I’ll get right to the point. Real soon now.

We need to grow the pond! There are a number of ways of doing that, but this way is fairly simple, free, and beneficial to all parties. And fun! After all, who wouldn’t want to be Frog For a Day? Of course, this means we may have to give them the Darwin (the frog) Award, but we could just explain to them that we don’t think they are stupid or dead!

Okay, wait… back to getting to the point. Here’s what we do…I think most all of us wander the internets from time to time, looking at various blogs. Some may be favorites, others just ones we’ve stumbled on. And sometimes we seek out new ones, to expand our horizons. However we come up with them, there are lots of them out there to find.

Anyway… the point: Explore and Bring Back.

1. Do your normal exploring (unless you already have one in mind) and bring back to this thread an interesting, or informative, or something blog.

2. Put the name and the url and a general idea of the content and why you like it.

3.After we have a few (collected), we as a community will vote on the one we think should be Frog Blogged

4. We inform the winner of the choice and let them know that we have opened a thread to discuss their blog and invite them to participate and bring their readers. And to stick around and contribute to the community themselves, if they wish.

Everyone wins. Booland gets free advertising, and hopefully new sign ups, and we get to hopefully learn new things or about new places. The winner gets to say that they have been profiled in the famous BooMan Tribune and they also get more traffic. And since we (ideally) will already have a collection of good blogs listed, we can just either take the second place one and invite them, or vote all over again because we may have new listings.

Post early and often, so your favorites will.. well, have as much chance as any of the others, but still.

So, good idea (if so, it’s mine) or bad idea (it’s all Susan’s fault)?

This is a reposting of a diary I did on kos earlier this year. I thought it had a bit of relevance to some of the discussions going on this week, so am reposting it here as an expression of my views. Hope no one minds

I’m often saddened (and puzzled) by the push to break down the walls between church and state, sometimes not only the goal of religious radicals in government and the citizenry, but also seemingly rational people.

Why don’t we just…

allow some talk of God in the classrooms (outside of Comparative Religions).

let just a little school sanctioned prayer be said

teach Creationism/ID along with evolution

just give Government money directly to the churches.

And so on. This worries me. I’ll give a couple of reasons why I think it’s a really bad idea.

#1. When there is a meeting between a train and a passenger car on the tracks, car loses. Every time.

(more after the fold)
I believe the separation between church and state is for the protection of the churches… not the state.

I value freedom of religion. I think it’s a very important, and sometimes beautiful, part of the fabric of our lives… the ability to believe in whatever deity we wish, or in nothing. To worship how we see fit, or not at all. To raise our children according to our beliefs, whether they be in a God, or in the value of humanity, or in Fred the Turtle. That’s part of what makes a society a functioning one, and gives people avenues of seeking comfort and centering and community.

But what happens when you put religious beliefs up to scrutiny?

Bring religion into the public square and put it on par with politics and policy, and it will be subject to debate and debunking, to charges of hypocrisy and attempted theocracy and more besides. Does this mean I think the religious should just shut up and keep silent? Not at all. It’s just that when people attempt to legislate their morality, that morality, and the stated basis for it, will be put under a microscope.

If religious institutions take money directly from the Federal Government, and not through a firewalled secular setup, eventually their books, their teachings, their uses, their schools, programs and so forth will be under public comment and oversight. There will be charges of corruption and actual corruption, and few will care which is which. And there will be pushes from one side or another, even within the religious communities, to limit this or modify that or dispense with the other thing altogether. Compliance, you see.

But, these are the adults, and they know what they are getting into.

Reason #2. You don’t want me, or someone like me, discussing religion with your children in school.

I’ll stand with any of the religious, although I have no religion of my own, in order to protect their right to believe as they see fit. And to worship in their churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, woods, whatever.

But remember… I, and others like me, do not necessarily believe as you do.

Teach your children the tenets of your religious and other beliefs at home, or in the religious venues. Let them be taught reading, writing, math and science at school. Let them be taught about all the great religions, and their historical significances, in classes set up for that. But not the doctrine. The doctrine belongs in the hands of those that believe.

If you put religious beliefs under the microscope of logic, rationality, science in schools; if you seek comparisons between the beliefs of Creationism and the scientific theories of evolution; if you take the beauty that is faith and pit it against the harsh reality of fact, only one will survive intact.

Take a child’s belief in the impossible, the improbable and show them that it is also unprovable, take each part of doctrine and slice it up into tiny pieces for observation and testing and hold it up to the light of rational thinking, and soon you will be left with children who question the very bedrock of their faith. And fewer children following in the faith of their monthers and fathers.

Most people reach adulthood having, usually in their younger years, questioned their religious beliefs, if they had any, or tested them against science or logic, some way, regardless. They either make the decision to never believe in a religion, throw their former beliefs off entirely or partially, or to continue with the religion because faith requires no proof. That is the essence of faith.

This questioning is not a bad thing… in its place and in its time. If you want me, or someone like me, to start your children on the road to questioning when they are quite young, I don’t mind. If you want me, or someone like me, to put their faith to the test, to ask them to justify a belief in something they cannot see, hear, or prove, I don’t mind. Send them into the public school, the open forum, the state’s hands to have their religious views challenged.

Just don’t forget to be on the lookout for that train…