To Believe, Or Not To Believe

To Believe, Or Not To Believe

D. S. Michell

In 2015, after years of debate on the separation of Church and State issue, a Republican controlled State Legislature passed a bill authorizing the placement of a Ten Commandments Monument on the Arkansas Capitol grounds.  A group of fundamentalists raised $26,000 to fund the creation of the Ten Commandments monument. That monument was erected last week on the Capitol grounds at Little Rock, Arkansas.

Within 24 hours of its erection, the Ten Commandments came tumbling down, after being rammed by a Dodge Dart, driven by Michael Tate Reed.  Reed, posted a video of himself running into and destroying the newly placed monument. Reed reportedly yelled, “Oh my goodness—-freedom,”  as he rammed the 6,000 pound granite slab.  Reed 32, was arrested and secured at Pulaski County Jail charged with, criminal trespass, defacing object of public interest, and First degree criminal mischief.  Reed has subsequently been transferred to mental health authorities.

Reed in 2014 rammed another vehicle into a Ten Commandments monument at the Oklahoma State Capitol, in Oklahoma City, OK.  And, in fact, Reed is currently under court order to maintain mental health treatment and therapy.

Wednesday afternoon, maintenance crews were cleaning up the mess.  Arkansas officials intend to replace the monument as soon as possible. A state official confirmed the vow to replace the monument, “we won’t let this bitterness and hatred stop us.”

The separation of Church and State debate is not expected to tamper down in the near future. The ongoing, and increasingly loud dissension seems to increase as partisanship policies polarize respective groups.

Nationwide school boards, city and county hearings, state legislators and citizens are debating the place of religion in American life. One of the most contentious arguments centers around the display of the Ten Commandments and other religious invocations on public buildings and grounds. The display of the Ten Commandments has led to numerous legal battles and poisonous debate.

Through a spokesman, the ACLU issued a statement,  “We are committed to seeing  unconstitutional monuments struck down, but safely through legal means.” A group called Freedom From Religion, has threatened numerous laws suits across the country and have successfully had religious monuments removed from government properties in Mississippi and New Mexico.

My opinion is simple. You as an individual, or a business owner can decide to put religious decors, monuments, plaques on your property.

I as an individual do not want such religious monuments on my property, nor do I want any such affirmations on public property, EVER.

It’s a big week end here in my little corner of the world.  The annual HOA garage sale is going full force. People come from all over the county for this huge event.  The community picnic will be Sunday, another big event. The 4th of July, because it is on a Tuesday this year, is making it a really long week end, and thousands of tourists are flooding our beach side  community.  Traffic on our narrow little roads gets risky for walkers and bikers.

Calamity Politics wishes all my readers. HAPPY 4TH! Stay Safe.

Join the Resistance

Dar