Dalai Dalliance

Okay, I can never catch up on my friends’ blogs. It’s not just that they write way too much (they do), but they are also way too interesting.

I get sucked in, lose track of time, forget to release the pressure valve on the nuclear reactor, blow up Springfield, and, well, after that things start to get bad.

And thus went today, as I tried to catch up on Jeff Overstreet’s blog.

First off, I learned that Michael Moore and I agree on something – only it took Mikey longer to figure Hillary out than I did.

And real world Homer is freaky looking.

But the thing that really made me sit back and wonder, “What do I think about that?” was this post.

Go on, scoot over to Jeff’s blog and read it. I’ll wait.

I’m waiting…

Okay, so you only skimmed it. Let me fill you in: a public school made all the kids go to a talk by the Dalai Lama, and made them wear pro-Buddhism t-shirts.

A parent wrote a letter to the paper, pointing out that this action on the part of the schools seems a tad hypocritical, considering that if the leader in question were a Christian, this would never be allowed.

So here’s what I came up with after sitting back and pondering:

I gotta go with G. K. Chesterton on this one.

"Religious liberty might be supposed to mean that everybody is free to discuss religion. In practice it means that hardly anybody is allowed to mention it."

I’d hate for my kid to miss a chance to hear a talk by the Dalai Lama.

And I would want my kid to get a chance to chat with the Pope if he were in town.

In fact, if I ran the world, I would make it a standard part of the school year to hear from different religious leaders. Hey, I would be a bit picky, but still open.

I agree with the letter writer’s frustration that only other people’s religion is appropriate for the public square; but I think I would have kept my mouth shut for fear of restricting religion even more by my complaint.

You can be sure that the ACLU will be suing (or someone looking for notoriety or money will) – and you can be sure that the next time a major world leader is in town, the schools will think twice before exposing their charges to an outsider.

And that makes me a little sad.

Just my thoughts,

Sean