Hallelujah
by digby
Fred Clarkson over at Daily Kos addressed Mike Huckabee's heinous comments blaming the killing of little school children on the lack of prayer in public schools. It's really good. But this part really speaks to me:
Our country has wisely taken the step that we no longer use government employees as de facto priests and religious instructors in the public schools. Our teachers are there for broader and different educational purposes. The kind of omniscient God, the Creator of all things, can't be removed from anywhere, let alone the heads and hearts of believers. And surely such a God does not require that we hire government employees to hector our children about Huckabee's notion of his eternal wrath. Good grief.
Let's be clear about this. We don't need Christians leading non-Christians and non-believers in Christian prayers. And we need not insult the varieties of orthodox Christian with watered down ecumenical or interfaith prayers that mean nothing to them. Nor do we need anyone to teach the Word According to Huckabee as a condition of employment. (But if we did, what would the criteria be and who would get to decide?)
It is not easy navigating a religiously plural society. And there have always been Huckabees around who stand in opposition. But pluralism is what we have and I wish we would do a better job in all parts of our society to develop the knowledge and skill set that goes with it.
I do too.
Clarkson ended his piece with a paean to Leonard Cohen's beautiful piece "Hallelujah" that's really worth reading. And he put this up which made me cry. Again: