Prayer

The battle is still being fought. Known as the Bible Belt, the South is enveloped in a dogmatic atmosphere that hangs in the air like the humidity. Just yesterday, a friend said to me, "Religion takes otherwise independent, free spirited people & corrupts their being for power & control." Nothing new here. He added that organized, denominational religion is as Karl Marx coined, "The opium of the masses."

A delicate subject this, in any venue. The catalyst for our moment on the topic was just a common bumper sticker seen frequently in the Pensacola, Florida area that reads, "Pray for our schools, we are one nation under God." Prayer in public schools? In this country? Don't First Amendment guarantees protect us? The fight continues.

My good friend is a son of the South. He kids me about my Yankee heritage. Born & raised in New England, I'm a damn Yankee. The difference between a Yankee in the South & a damn Yankee is that a damn Yankee never went home. I own the moniker.

As a teenager learning about Darwin, evolution, the Scopes Monkey Trial & basic civil rights & liberties, I took it for granted that the issue of prayer in school was put to rest. Never once was a prayer uttered - the Pledge of Allegiance yes, prayer no. Not so in the South.

Recently in Pace, Florida, a small town just east of Pensacola, the principal of the Pace High School was under fire for supporting students who wanted to pray openly at school events. Not a moment of silence, not an inter-faith "blessing." Make no mistake about it, I'm talking about Christian prayer, damn me if I'm wrong.

Please don't get me wrong, either. My friend is involved with his family in church activities and scouting. For him, the social milieu provides an important link to the community, and even, perhaps, a bit of "spiritual" guidance. I, too, feel that churches are important this way.

Y'all should know that I was baptized as an infant in the Episcopal Church & raised in a traditional, Yankee conservative, republican home. Although I consider myself liberal minded, I am a firm supporter of States rights & individual freedoms. Community solidarity is important as long as it does not violate the spirit of the law, if not it's letter.

In 2009 the Pace High School principal and former school superintendent were named in an ACLU lawsuit on behalf of two students, & ordered to stop prayer. In August of that year the principal and athletic director faced criminal contempt charges for continuing prayer during school functions.

Also that year a bill was introduced in the State Legislature:

"The bill would prohibit school districts in the future from entering into an agreement "that infringes or waives the rights or freedoms afforded to instructional personnel, school staff, or students by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.""-PNJ

In April, 2010 the Florida Senate OK'd the bill:

"With blistering criticism for civil libertarians and some harsh words about the "overreaching" religious climate in Northwest Florida schools, a Senate panel today overwhelmingly approved a watered-down school prayer bill."-PNJ

June, 2010 brought school graduations across the land. Reginald Dogan, editorial staff, Pensacola News Journal opined in his column titled, "God Don't Like Ugly":

"It’s too late for the class of 2010, but maybe Pace High School will listen now to reason and move its graduation to a safe, dry place away from the threat of the storms of nature, called an "act of God."
It's worthy of consideration. Maybe they ought to pray about it. But for God’s sake and the law of the court, do it at home, in a church or in a closet."-PNJ

And the fight goes on. I don't need to point out what my sister said to me this month, "Religion is the stuff of wars." Is that not what's happening in the world today? And leading the charge is the United States of America.

God bless us, & I do mean that seriously, for there is a power that penetrates every molecule, every atom of our being, every scrap of matter throughout the Universe, binding us together from the instant of the Big Bang(creation) until we get sucked into a Black Hole(eternity).

I am saved as we and all things are. We live together, it would be nice if we could really live together, "Give peace a chance."-J.L.

Searching For Oil

Since the modern discovery of oil in Pennsylvania in 1859, Americans have been searching for Black Gold west to Oklahoma & California, south to Texas & the Gulf of Mexico, & north to Alaska. At times elusive & the rock unyielding, vast reserves have been tapped to quench our thirst, making the U.S. one of the worlds largest producers.

Now the search continues along the Gulf Coast shores after thousands, millions, perhaps "billions" of barrels of crude have been "spilled" into Gulf waters. The near pristine beaches of Florida's Emerald Coast, over 100 miles of fine, sugar white sand & aquamarine water, stretching from Pensacola to Panama City, are now threatened by an ecological disaster that is wrecking havoc on the marine environment.

With hand tools, machines, hazmat suits, boots & gloves, an army of paid workers & volunteers are today's beachcombers searching for oil-searching where Florida residents never anticipated, expected or allowed it to defile our coast by rejecting offshore drilling. The pity & shame of the debacle has not yet sunk in. Having passed from the disbelief stage of grief into the anger stage, acceptance of this nightmare is more elusive than oil itself in the early years of exploration & production.

Now that the Deep Sea Horizon well has been capped & the oil flow staunched, at least for the while, the time to breathe easy is not now. This is especially true for BP executives, government officials & residents along the Gulf who's woes will linger into the future, along with our dependence on the substance that is both our salvation & our bane. Petrochemicals fuel the engine of civilization, driving us ever closer to the brink of human existence.

Perhaps I am wrong to discount the tenacity of human nature, but at the very least I would like this coastal crisis, this ecological disaster to be the defining wake up call & call to arms for opposition to offshore drilling.

Oil can be found all over the planet, and the search will continue throughout our lifetimes. For my part, I can only look ahead thirty years. If our legacy is one of social decline on a global scale, then I hope I can be forgiven for being short sighted. Alternative fuels & sources of power may be a viable solution in the future.

People along the Emerald Coast get baptized in its waters & wed on its sands. Families enjoy the sun, sand & surf, ashes are cast into the waves & livelihoods are bound to it.

Searching for oil, too, is a way of life - people are dependent on it. For this dilemma I have no answer. The search continues.