Just what is “separation of church and state?”

Does it mean you can’t force a public official to be a certain religion?
Does it mean you can’t show preferential treatment to people or organizations that have a certain relisious affiliation?
Does it mean “God” can’t be mentioned at anything that has anything to do with public schools, city hall or the governor’s mansion?

Or does it mean a high school marching band can’t cover the Charlie Daniels band classic “The Devil Went Down to Georgia?”
Yes: We are getting very stupid about “separation of church and state.” At least this time it involves the devil, and not recasting bronze that happened to have some mention of “divine justice” or “eternal truth” or just plain old, “God.”

3 comments

  1. If playing that song is enough to evoke the separation of church and state then the city of Salem, Mass., where I live is in big trouble. Everything from police cars to the high school to the city seal are adorned with witches. The city recently put a statue of a TV witch (Sabrina from “Bewitched”) in a public park. The city promotes and advertises for Halloween, a religious holiday for people who practice withcraft.
    The double standard is astounding as is the ridiculousness of those who twist a constitutional principle (this is not what the First Amendment was about) and take it to its absurd extreme.

  2. I can’t believe there was finally a marching-band-moral-societal-ills-issue-suitable-for-this-blog (not to mention for framing) and you, John, beat me to it!
    (I know the director in question; he’s always seemed to be a decent fellow. I can’t understand why he caved after one letter, but suspect he was told to do so. Not that it’s happened to me.)

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