Published: July 19, 2008 10:54 pm            

CUMMINS: The effect of gas prices on classrooms

Do you think the high price of gasoline might be because we took God out of the classroom? We understand He works in mysterious ways, although there are those who vehemently disagree. The God experts amongst us seem to know for sure that God punishes us when we turn wicked. If you remember, they claimed 9/11 was punishment for homosexuality in and around New York City, and particularly when same sexes began attempting to marry each other, which greatly weakened marriage between a normal man and a virgin woman. The same thing happened to New Orleans when God sent Katrina to destroy its iniquity and most of their houses. Hot Cajun food, loud jazz music and lewdness during Mardi Gras parades put God in a rage. That’s what those who have cell phone contact with the Creator say.

Not having insight into God’s overall plan, fuel experts can’t fully explain why gasoline is skyrocketing, other than it’s a good way for suppliers to make gobs of money when demanders drive too many big cars. But didn’t God supply crude in the first place? He either pumped large underground wells full of nasty, black goo on Day 4, or let nature takes its course over a couple billion years and filled the wells with rotting leaves and plastic bottles, which take about a century to decompose. Now which one of those theories, or truths, are we going to teach in the public schools?

People can get worked up over most anything, especially politics, religion and sex. Fearing God, voters or both, Gov. Steve Beshear of Kentucky wants to put “In God We Trust” (as an option) on license plates. A few years ago, their government put the twin spires of Churchill Downs on the plates, but as Albert Einstein said, “God doesn’t shoot craps.” So Kentucky eliminated the racetrack reference to gambling, or entertainment as it’s called in Indiana where you have the freedom to go bankrupt on a boat.

The state of Indiana initiated “In God We Trust” on their plates in 2006, shortly after thanking God for the gambling or entertainment revenue, which prevented higher taxes. When the plates became an option in January 2007,, 1.4 million Hoosiers replaced “Wander Indiana” with “In God We Trust.” Kentucky has been considered a backward state. It has faith in racing horses and distilling bourbon, but if affording a tank of gas to go joy riding, it can’t hurt to let your neighbors and God know what you trust.

Another area where all 50 states have fallen short is in the public schools, where it’s illegal to post the Ten Commandments. Disputes over the law are resolved in courthouses, and the main ten laws can’t be posted there either. It’s because the constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof;” What did they mean? Send your child to school with a “Trust In God” t-shirt and see what happens. If the school permits it, then government is putting preaching before teaching.

Don’t send your child to school with a gun, although you can carry one when dropping him off. But we’re not sure if the framers of our constitution meant that you had to be a member of a “well regulated Militia,” which is the preface to the right of the “people” to keep and bear arms. To be on the safe side, join a militia, change your license plates and stick the Ten Commandment on a non-obstructing window.

The insurgency continues. Proponents of putting God back in the classroom, so no child is left behind, is basically about how we got here. Were we created (dinosaurs pulled plows), did we evolve (man’s grandpa was a monkey) or were we designed by an intelligent being (if so, how come we’re so stupid?). A recent court decision declared intelligent design to be “thinly veiled religion” unsuitable for the classroom and unconstitutional. The latest legal challenge to the putting God back in the classroom involves the right to practice “academic freedom.” Why shouldn’t a biology teacher be permitted to use both Genesis and a microbe book?

There are many issues to be resolved, and the price of gas is a critical one. If God is involved in supplying it, then we’d better change our ways. If trust is involved, then I’m getting a bumper sticker for my car-Does God Trust Us?



Terry Cummins will try to demand less. Contact TLCTLC@AOL.com

        

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