July 30, 2006

Love it or leave it

Organized religion causes more problems than anything else in the world. Case in point:

After her family moved to this small town 30 years ago, Mona Dobrich grew up as the only Jew in school. Mrs. Dobrich, 39, married a local man, bought the house behind her parents’ home and brought up her two children as Jews.

For years, she and her daughter, Samantha, listened to Christian prayers at public school potlucks, award dinners and parent-teacher group meetings, she said. But at Samantha’s high school graduation in June 2004, a minister’s prayer proclaiming Jesus as the only way to the truth nudged Mrs. Dobrich to act.

“It was as if no matter how much hard work, no matter how good a person you are, the only way you’ll ever be anything is through Jesus Christ,” Mrs. Dobrich said. “He said those words, and I saw Sam’s head snap and her start looking around, like, ‘Where’s my mom? Where’s my mom?’ And all I wanted to do was run up and take her in my arms.”

After the graduation, Mrs. Dobrich asked the Indian River district school board to consider prayers that were more generic and, she said, less exclusionary. As news of her request spread, many local Christians saw it as an effort to limit their free exercise of religion, residents said. Anger spilled on to talk radio, in letters to the editor and at school board meetings attended by hundreds of people carrying signs praising Jesus.

“What people here are saying is, ‘Stop interfering with our traditions, stop interfering with our faith and leave our country the way we knew it to be,’ ” said Dan Gaffney, a host at WGMD, a talk radio station in Rehoboth, and a supporter of prayer in the school district.

[snip]

“We have a way of doing things here, and it’s not going to change to accommodate a very small minority,’’ said Kenneth R. Stevens, 41, a businessman sitting in the Georgetown Diner. “If they feel singled out, they should find another school or excuse themselves from those functions. It’s our way of life.”

This is freakin' Delaware, not some johnny-come-lately state with a long tradition of theocracy.

Posted by Linkmeister at July 30, 2006 03:58 PM | TrackBack
Comments

The General wrote that guy a letter.

Aside: HOLY CRAP! The General graduated from the Uni where I teach!

Posted by: Scott at July 30, 2006 05:12 PM

It is the backward-ass thinking of Christians like those mentioned in the article that make me ashamed to be both Christian and American.

Posted by: CNL at July 31, 2006 03:53 AM

Look, it isn't just Christians. Anybody who subscribes to an irrational belief system shouldn't be surprised to find nuts coming in through the opened door.

Posted by: terry in AZ at July 31, 2006 02:13 PM