Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Killings at VA Tech/Morality

After the horrible killings at Virginia Tech University there are once again calls for religion to be taught in schools. But, no religious instruction would have stopped this deranged individual. Teaching morality is fine, but not all individuals in schools are Christians or even religious. To force the children of the non-religious or non-Christians to undergo a Christian religious education fundamentally violates their free exercise of religion. Moral rules can be taught without appealing to a specific deity in support. Not harming one's fellow man is a universal rule throughout the world and doing so would honor those in schools who aren't of the majority religious belief.
On another issue in the state of Wisconsin, a "Body Worlds" exhibit (where organs are displayed on a human skeleton doing everyday actions) a woman speaking for the Catholic church in that region stated that theologians should be consulted on how the specimens are presented. Should secular humanists and atheists be consulted on this or should only those consulted be of a religious belief? These individuals donated their bodies, and not all the individuals who did so are religious. A religious body shouldn't have the veto authority on how their bodies are displayed. That a purely secular museum exhibit needs the approval of religious authorities disappoints me greatly.
Lastly there is a plan for a full voting member in the House of Representatives for Washington, D.C. I agree with this idea. Maybe the U.S. Constitution has to be amended to allow for it, maybe not. But the point is people shouldn't be taxed and not given full representation. To calls that they can always move away from D.C., didn't our Founding Fathers also have the option of moving away from America and going to England to be represented in Parliament? They shouldn't have had to and neither should those who have raised families for generations in D.C.! After all we support democracy in Iraq, but we do not state that everyone but those who live in the capital city of Baghdad should be able to vote for legislative members to represent them. Most residents of D.C. aren't wealthy/powerful government officials (most of them live in Maryland or Virginia) but common and average Americans.

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