Thursday May 1st was the National Day of Reason (and for theists it was the National Day of Prayer). Since the majority of people observe the Day of Prayer, our local newspaper had a story about the God pep rally held on the west plaza of the Ohio Statehouse. A building meant to govern all people was turned into a church and the minister was Ohio State Auditor David Yost. The photo with the article made me ill. Elected officials shouldn’t be preaching their religion when acting in their official capacity and government buildings shouldn’t be used as churches.
Here is a screenshot of the front page of the Columbus Dispatch on its website:
Blue Jackets Making Central Ohio Proud
I’ve been a fan of the Columbus Blue Jackets since they were created in 2000 so I am thrilled about their appearance in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They are making all of us in Central Ohio proud. I’m just glad it hasn’t been a sweep like in 2009 against Detroit.
I have gotten a chuckle out of the people, and local TV media, who jumped on the bandwagon for the playoffs.
Unvaccinated Children Should Have To Register Like Sex Offenders
There is an outbreak of Mumps in Franklin county. Even though it isn’t known what led to the outbreak, the event started up discussion on the need to vaccinate. A friend of mine posted a story about the rates of vaccination in the county and I learned that there is a religious exemption to the requirement for childhood vaccinations. This bit of religious privilege makes me angry. I think that if parents decide not to vaccinate their children for non-medical reasons, those children should be registered with the state, like sex offenders are, so we can avoid those children and excluded them from public activities if an outbreak flares up.
To Be More Inclusive Stop Using Interfaith
I hate the word ‘interfaith’. I’m not religious and don’t have a ‘faith’ so anything labeled ‘interfaith’ doesn’t include me no matter what word spinning you try to do. You just can’t add nonbelief to ‘interfaith’ and be inclusive. Using the word reduces nonbelievers to the level of unwanted step-children. We need a new word to express cooperation between people who have faith and those who don’t. I nominate ‘interpath’.
There has been a call in the nonbeliever community to participate in interfaith groups. One such group we have here in Columbus is called B.R.E.A.D. In my twenty years in the humanist movement, I am very familiar with arguments like those made by Chris Stedman:
Local GOP Candidates Forum Turns Into Bible Debate And Attack On Education
Ohio State Senator Cliff Hite and challenger Corey Shankleton explaining what other rights they would like to restrict in the 1st Senate District.
A news story concerning a Ohio state senate primary race for Republicans caught my eye the other day. I didn’t attend the luncheon hosted by the Hancock County (Ohio) GOP, but from the news reports it turned into a bible debate, conservative purity check, and an attack on public education.
The attack on education was kind of ironic because two of the candidates, current State Sen. Cliff Hite and Corey Shankleton, are former teachers. Of course Senator Hite got appointed to the Ohio Senate by promising to sell out his teaching colleagues by voting for SB 5 back in 2011. SB 5 attempted to take away public employee’s rights to collective bargaining. So, I wasn’t surprised at Hite jumping on the bash public education bandwagon.