Steven Herr, a non-student, took exception to my suggesting it was most likely somebody religious who took the MSU secular groups’ PZ Myers posters down. The rain and wind didn’t remove them in the Quad and no others, besides the weather wasn’t all that bad around the kiosks in the Curris center where only PZ posters also disappeared.
That leaves people, either religious or non-religious. Given that I stated our non-religious group members don’t take down others’ posters (or our own) as part of their heathen moral code, and hundreds of secular groups all over America regularly deal with having their advertising materials defaced or taken down, I’ll stick with my “probably someone(s) religious.”
And since 80 percent of Americans identify with some religion, if Mr. Herr can spare a moment from his chuckling, he can do the math.
Colton Givens, a senior at Murray State, took issue with my argument that personal faith has no place in Congressional debate. Yet he agrees with me that Rep. Broun’s comments were “fairly ludicrous.” I made no claim that Rep. Broun shouldn’t have a place in Congress representing his constituency or he shouldn’t be religious and I wholeheartedly concur with the facts Mr. Givens provided, although he skipped over Article VI of the Constitution where it states plainly there should be no religious test as qualification to any public office.
That clause is there precisely because Hugo Black’s statement that religion and history have been intimately entwined is so unfortunately true. America was founded as a secular nation in response to the ugly mixing of politics and religion which led to the persecution of millions across England and Europe for centuries.
Mr. Givens I’m sure remembers why Jefferson had to write that letter guaranteeing protection to the Danbury Baptists in the first place: because of the religious persecution rampant in the colonies. Jefferson wasn’t protecting the good Baptists from Islamic terrorists or godless atheists but from other god-fearing Christians!
Broun’s statement “ … evolution, the big bang and embryology are lies from the pit of hell” is not only ludicrous as Mr. Givens and I both describe it, but it is solely a religious statement. When Rep. Broun steps into the Committee on Science and Technology meetings, he’s involved in making policy for all Americans, not just his conservative religious constituents.
I’m glad Mr. Givens agrees that Broun should leave his ludicrous ideas, i.e. his religious based ones, instead of his brains at the House of Representatives door. Too bad the Connecticut Congregationalists didn’t set their religious ideas aside during legislative sessions else they would not have made policy that relegated Baptists to second class citizenry and often persecution.
If Mr. Givens ran for Congress in my district, I’d vote for him, regardless of what religion he practices or even if he didn’t have one. He’s obviously well-versed in US history, politics and most importantly in the 21st century, science.
Letter from William Zingrone, assistant professor of psychology.