Prayer, Jail, and the Tyrants of Men

I suppose I am not surprised by much anymore. So when I read that two men were potentially facing up to six months in prison for saying a prayer at a school event, the only thing I could really think was "better get used to it."

Here's the story on CNN if you haven't heard about it. There can be little doubt, at least from my perspective, that these two men are guilty of violating the law. A more important issue for any citizen of this country is that the law exists at all.

School systems already have guidelines for handling internal issues of this nature. The Supreme Court has ruled time and time again in ways that protect the basic freedom of every student in any public education setting to be free from unwanted religious instruction, prayer, or practice. These two men seemingly violated the standards set by the court and I am very sure, the standards set by their school as well.

Normal people living in normal places would expect a complaint to be issued, received by the school, discipline actions to be dolled out to all guilty parties. Sometimes the guilty get a slap on the wrist, other times they loose their jobs. That's the system, that's America.

The real story here isn't that a couple of administrators said a prayer in a school. The real story is that for whatever reason Pace, Florida has determined that "normal" responses to religious expression, even wrong-headed expression, are insufficient without the threat of jail time. That's the real story. And the real story still doesn't surprise me. It doesn't surprise me because in this culture war of ours, we have lost all perspective as a nation.

I won't be surprised if the crazies on the Right get this story swelling in the minds of the American people. In this particular case, I hope they do. Because the crazies on the Left managed to generate law with the threat of imprisonment over a crime of ideological differance. Such tyrants of the mind and heart are of the highest, most abusive order in any civilization. And these must be greeted with a great and ferocious intensity from free-thinking Americans on the Left and the Right.

My take: pray all you want, out loud and in public and in school. Don't expect to keep your job, and don't expect me to advocate that you should because I won't. But expect me to without question rise against any law that would put you behind bars for choosing to express your ideology in public.

One Billion Albums vs. One Billion Lives

If you were to tell me that there was a man who saved more human lives than any other person in history and that this man lived in my life time, and he would die this weekend without me knowing his name, I would probably say you were crazy. But that’s what happened.

If you were to tell me that there was a man credited with saving as many as a billion lives on the planet, or 1/6 of the human population and that such a man would pass with little to no fanfare, no hero’s parade, no moment of silence, no paparazzi, and barely a mention in the news, I would probably say you were crazy. But that’s what happened.

I’m not going to even pretend to know the first thing about Norman Borlaug who passed two days ago, because quite honestly, I had never heard of the man before this morning when I read a Facebook post alluding to the relative obscurity of his great accomplishments for humanity. This same post alluded to a much more recent passing that received almost a month of unmitigated fanfare – Michael Jackson.

Jim’s Facebook post this morning really got me thinking about the difference between these two men and the values of a culture that are perhaps more than just a little misplaced. I have to include myself in that critique.

I find myself wondering how it is that the accomplishments of Norman Borlaug have escaped me. I am a well educated person, with two degrees. I am a well read person, with a large library and very consistent reading habits with regards to modern news and events. I love science and read about genetics, agriculture, and pathology all the time. I want to believe that I am a compassionate person who cares about the state of world hunger and keeps up on humanitarians working to end it. How did I miss Norman Borlaug?

A few things come to mind here, so bear with me. The first is obvious – I am not as educated, well-read, current, or as compassionate as I thought. Borlaug won the Nobel Peace prize and the Congressional Gold Medal. I’ve no excuse to not know him. He’s been somewhat at the front of the Green Peace Movement, which I am at least aware of. I suppose it is enough to say that if it were in me to know the man, I would have found a way. I was never without the means or the ability to learn.

The second is not so obvious, and the more I ponder on it this morning, the more disturbing I find the thought to be. It is a general acknowledgement that saving a billion lives from starvation is not something an affluent society such as ours deems important. In fact, the likelihood is that starvation by the millions is something we conveniently (and collectively) repress. That Jackson’s death could receive such fanfare is further evidence of this since entertainment is often used as a mechanism of repression. I’m going to put it just as bluntly as I can:

Saving one billion human lives from starvation is simply inconceivable for us. Selling one billion albums isn’t.

Jackson sold an estimated 750 million records during his career, and since his death, sales have skyrocketed. I think there’s no reason to doubt that his album sales will top 1 billion very soon. The picture here is amazingly ironic. Two legacies, two lives: 1 billion records vs. 1 billion lives.

I just don’t know if I can say anything more about that. Frankly, I’m not sure that I even need to.