First Baptist Church Buys Public School for a Mere $5K

To anyone who actually follows this blog, it's been some time now since I last posted anything. As the school year drew to a close, the stress of wrapping things up at work by predetermined deadlines sort of sucked the "piss and vinegar" (as my dad would say) out of me for a while. Now, however, after a few weeks off, I have regained said P and V and feel the need to come out and rant a bit.

The first thing that has me up in arms is a recent article regarding a school in my home state that is clearly tearing down the wall of separation between church and state. Below is an exerpt. You can read the entire article here at
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704875604575280422614633564.html

By JENNIFER LEVITZ and STEPHANIE SIMON



"LAKELAND, Fla.—When his budget for pencils, paper, and other essential supplies was cut by a third this school year, the principal of Combee Elementary School worried children would suffer.


Then, a local church stepped in and "adopted" the school. The First Baptist Church at the Mall stocked a resource room with $5,000 worth of supplies. It now caters spaghetti dinners at evening school events, buys sneakers for poor students, and sends in math and English tutors.


The principal is delighted. So are church pastors. "We have inroads into public schools that we had not had before," says Pastor Dave McClamma. "By befriending the students, we have the opportunity to visit homes to talk to parents about Jesus Christ."

Here, the pastor prays with the principal before handing out gifts of shoes to students.

Am I the only one who finds anything wrong with the fact that the church pastor openly admits that any financial aid provided to the school comes with the explicitly stringy condition that he (and other church representatives) be able to evangelize to students and families attending the school? Even worse is the school principal who is quoted as saying, "My personal conviction is that I hope through this they'll know Jesus and they'll get saved."


WHAT THE HELL!?!? Isn't that the purpose of privately funded parochial schools? I thought the idea was that some organization would help provide the basic necessities that the school cannot afford to provide due to severe budget cuts. Silly me. Obviously, preparing students for real life in the here and now is secondary to saving their souls for the afterlife and filling church pews and coffers.


Would any other school "business partner" be allowed such privileges for such a small donation (or any donation, for that matter)? I find it difficult if not impossible to believe that the store manager of the local Wal-Mart would be able to plunk down $5,000 worth of school supplies and then have the opportunity to visit with students and their families at their homes in order to share the "gospel" of saving money by shopping at Wal-Mart. Of course, I could be wrong....

Quote of the Day:

"The rivers of America will run with blood before they take our holy, God-inspired Bible from the schools."

--William "Billy" Sunday