It is absolutely frightening how many people have no idea that there are  other people with different beliefs than their own. I am constantly being assaulted by ignorance that I would never have dreamed as being possible. The current controversy taking place right here in Southeastern Wisconsin involving high school graduations taking place in a Christian church has spawned a  huge volume of breathtakingly uninformed bogs and letters being posted everywhere. It’s a big problem when people are arguing that non-Christian children should be forced to go to a church to receive their diploma. But, it’s an even bigger problem when they are trying to defend the church as being “non-denominational!” Yes, it is a non-denominational Christian church. These mind-bogglingly ignorant Christians just can’t understand that not everyone is Christian.

The school boards themselves are responding that the ceremony is secular in nature and religion is not invoked. Please see the below picture of the “non-religious” setting that the graduations are taking place in – the one with the twenty foot tall monolith representing two thousand years of intolerance and hatred to all who oppose their hurtful anachronistic talking snake / bastard-child myth. Christian churches – all of them, teach that the 30% or more of us that are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Shinto, Buddhist, Atheist, Agnostic, etc. are evil and will spend eternity rotting in hell. If any of these me-centric Christians were forced to attend their child’s graduation in a Shiite mosque that teaches that Christians are infidels and will go to hell, do you think they would want to attend?

I’m not angry at the church. It’s just doing what churches do and happily taking in donations from members – and school districts. I’m angry at the school board, the parents and everyone else who is so selfish and irresponsibly ignorant to the pain and suffering they are causing. I am angry at the money that is going to be wasted in lawsuits trying to protect our children from an institution that is supposed to educate them.

Perhaps if we taught comparative religion classes in schools, this wouldn’t be happening. In order to graduate high school our children need to profess a competency in reading and mathematics. How about a competency class for the teachers and parents on the diversity that makes up our great country. How about a class for adults on discrimination and prejudice and how to treat all people with the respect they deserve and not push their intolerant tribal beliefs on others.