While I recognize that Mikie Kerr’s “Constitution Corner” is, as labeled, her opinion, I must take issue with statements she presents as fact with no supporting evidence.
For example, in her latest — “The fallacy of separation of church and state” (WHT, Feb. 18) — she claims it is “nearly illegal to discuss Christianity in public schools.”
First of all, is “nearly illegal” like “nearly pregnant” or “nearly stopping for a red light?” Because we’re in the realm of opinion, I believe it should be perfectly OK for a public school teacher or textbook to describe Jesus as a rabbi, teacher or even prophet whom Christians believe to be divine; but to describe him as “Lord and Savior” in that public school setting would step over the line.
As an American Jew about to turn 70, I am old enough to remember mandated prayers and Bible readings starting the day in public school (in those days you could not “opt out”); and I recall confusion and a sense of exclusion when those were New Testament passages or concluded “in Jesus’s name, Amen.”
I am grateful that my children, who grew up in the 1970s and ‘80s, did not have to experience that kind of endorsement of Christianity in a school supported by my tax dollars. My personal belief is religious teachings are the responsibility of parents and clergy, not public schools. If you want religious content in education, there are plenty of schools operated by religious institutions to which you can send your children; but to expect the rest of us to pay for that, in my opinion, violates constitutional protections guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Alan Silverman is a resident of Kailua-Kona