freedom from freedom from religion

Last week the superintendent of the Putnam City School District, Dr. Paul Hurst, received a letter from an organization called "Freedom From Religion Foundation" out of Madison Wisconsin. The subject of the letter was their objection to the baccalaureates of Putnam City West High School and Putnam City North High Schools respectively. This is a radical left wing Atheist organization (with a staff of only 7 people!) whose mission is to eradicate religion from the public square. The letter threatened a law suit because of the implication that these two events, neither of which were actually sponsored by the schools, were a violation of the principles of "separation of church and state" in the U.S. constitution.

It was somewhat ironic that Chris Wall was the guest speaker at P.C. West and I was the guest speaker at the P.C. North baccalaureate. A further irony was that the subject of my talk that night was the etymology of the word "baccalaureate" in the English language and in Western civilization. Despite what many secular humanists might think, the history and meaning of this event goes back into antiquity- even predating the advent of the most historic educational institutions. It is an old Latin word that means in essence "bequeathing authority to teach".

I am very proud of our school district for not backing down to a very small radical fringe group from Wisconsin that has probably never even stepped foot in Oklahoma City and wouldn't know the difference between Council and Rockwell. Although there was a lot of chatter from the parents, teachers and administration about the letter, the events went on undeterred.

The two primary reasons I believe our community should never stop this very important milestone for high schools seniors are:

1. History. The reason these events have a somewhat religious meaning is that the very first institutions of learning in Western culture were Christian institutions. That is a fact that even the single-minded and passionate "Freedom from Religion" organization cannot deny. For our schools to stop the tradition of baccalaureates would mean that they would end a tradition that goes back not just to the beginning of public school systems in America, but to earliest centuries in Western culture.

In fact, there is a place in scripture in which the implication of this concept is clear. In Acts chapter 4 the disciples were challenged for their very effective and authoritative teaching that had resulted in thousands of conversions. The religious leaders and political authorities were not so much upset by what the disciples were teaching, but by the authority and swagger of their teaching.

"The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. ⁶Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family. ⁷They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?""

They were in affect asking about their "baccaulareas"- their authority to teach- they wanted to know their credentials. How dare these uneducated men come into Jerusalem and teach with such authority!

The history of this event goes back much deeper into our culture than the concepts of school systems, school boards, and even democracy and the Bill of Rights. It is a sad day indeed when we as a people begin to deconstruct the very moorings upon which our philosophy of freedom and moral law have been carefully constructed.

2. The fallacy of their argument. A second reason I would object is that there is really no such thing as freedom from religion. Every human being is seeking meaning and purpose in something- whether it be the religion that is found in churches and synagogues and mosques or it is the religion that is found in an office building (ironically, a converted church building) in Madison Wisconsin that says its purpose is to promote Atheism. The issue at the center of the human heart is a need to find meaning and purpose - a person will look for that in God or in some substitute for God. In this case, this organization is passionately promoting their religion as aggressively as any evangelical church. They are not true atheists. Because a true atheist would be completely ambivalent about another persons belief and wouldn't care less whether a person attended a ceremony that just happens to have a tradition centuries old, regardless of the premise of the event. But they are not ambivelent- they are passionate and aggessive and are acting as if their very life (soul?) depends upon it. Thier behavior is the behavior of true religonists and believers. So if we truly seek freedom from religion it would mean that we would seek freedom from the Freedom from Religion Foundation and therefore we should not pay attention to their silly letter.

And that is exactly what I hope Putnam City Schools continues to do.

i'm just sayin

This morning I found an interesting article on msnbc.com called “Winning at all costs is for losers.”

In it, Bruce Weinstein from Business Week Magazine makes the following observations about good business leadership as he reflects on the current economic crisis:

1. What's good for the gander is good for the goose- If your cutting back on the compensation of your employees, then be prepared to cut back on your own compensation.

2. Know your product- Don’t sell something you don’t really know about- like bundled loans that turned out to be “toxic” investments.

3. Winning at all costs is for losers- It is unethical to try to make profits at the expense of the greater good.

4. Tell the truth.

5. Prevent harm- Don’t do something you know will cause harm no matter how much profit you might get in the short run.

6. Don't exploit- It is unethical and immoral to sell something to someone that will ultimately harm them.

7. Don't make promises you can't keep.

8. Take responsibility for your mistakes.

9. People, not profits- “For the good leader, this means that the ultimate goal in business — and life — is not hoarding riches but making things better for all, especially the neediest.”

10. Be kind, not king- “Yes, good leaders are enthusiastically devoted to accomplishing their mission, but this pursuit cannot be at the expense of the well being of others.”

What I found interesting about this article, coming from a secular website reprinted from a secular business magazine, is how closely these particular principles were related to the teaching of Christ on the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7. Look closely, and you will find the teaching of the Ten Commandments as well.

Listed below are just a few of the parallels between the teaching of Christ and what Weinstein sees as important leadership principles:


1. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (5:5)

2. Let your light shine before men that they will see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (5:16)

3. You cannot serve both God and money (6;24)

4. Enter through the narrow gate, for broad is the way that leads to destruction. (7:13)

5. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. (6:19)

6. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles (5:41)

7. Simply let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no”; anything beyond this comes from the Evil One. (5:33)

8. "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. (5:23-24)

9. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. (5:12)

10. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (7:19)

All of this has made me think- could there be a parallel between our current economic crisis and the loss of a biblical worldview in American culture?

Of course it is certainly true that all of the issues we deal with in our lives have some kind of derivative from our fallen nature.

It is something to think about for sure.

After all, if you buy into the secular humanist Western Enlightenment concepts of atheism, existentialism and relativism, from where do you get your moral bearings and final moral authority when making business or employment decisions? Why not exploit the weak and look out for number one and go for the short term gain no matter what the long term cost?

I’m not saying that Christians are not susceptible to the same greed and immorality that many have fallen prey to and that has brought about our current economic crisis, I’m just making the point that a good healthy understanding of biblical content and Christian principles is somewhat indirectly being promoted here by a secular business writer as something that is desperately needed in strong leadership to get us through the perilous economic time we are in.

Maybe the Sermon on the Mount should be taught in business schools.

Maybe the Ten Commandments should be posted on the walls of corporate offices.

I’m just sayin…