Church, state separation upheld by courts

May 12, 2006

SPECTRUM/Kelly Blalock

I count Valley Voices columnist Larry Wood as one of my oldest friends, having known him since junior high, and we graduated from Palmer High School nearly 40 years ago. I agree with him a lot, but we also disagree frequently - often regarding politics - but I still count him as my friend.

We both support Sarah Palin as the best candidate running now, but for different sets of reasons. I feel she is the only person running now who has shown the ethics we need in our elected statewide offices, as evidenced by her resigning from a well-paid position because of the conflicts of interest she saw within her colleagues in that office.

I support her candidacy in spite of the fact that I don't agree with her regarding abortion and reproductive rights, prayer in school, and other similar &#8220conservative” issues. When Mr. Wood and I were younger adults, we were very active in the local and state Democratic Party politics, until they become too radical under the leadership of President Carter.

Since then, we both have moved to other locations on the political spectrum, mine more toward the middle than my friend. In that regard, I must disagree with him.

The separation of church and state has been upheld repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court over the last 90-plus years, including prayer in school and public displays if the opportunity is not available for all faiths to be represented. (The letter printed just below Mr. Wood's piece cited a small number of those decisions.)

That is why I am against prayer at public official meetings, not private meetings within public buildings. While the United States may be considered a &#8220Christian” nation, we may soon have a majority of people who don't consider themselves Christian.

The founding fathers understood the pitfalls of theocracy, being painfully aware of American and world history much closer to their times than ours, when persecution was common under &#8220cloud of law or authority” waged against people who did not believe as those in power, whether Catholic, Mormon, Anglican, Puritan, Moslem, Hindu or Buddhist. All of those religious groups are represented in our state, but I would rather not be subjected to one of their prayers at a public meeting, because my faith is different from theirs in substantial ways. And what would my &#8220conservative Christian” friends say if a Satanist would ask for the privilege of presenting his prayer at our meeting?

So, if you don't like someone objecting to the prayer done by a local official in a public official meeting, then say so, but don't blame it on the &#8220liberal courts” (and liberal media), who have been blamed for the existence of everything that you disagree with. Act like those Alaska statesmen we knew in the earlier days of statehood, men and women of both parties who would disagree radically, yet respect the rights of the others to hold their beliefs - people like Wally Hickel, Bill Egan, Bob Bartlett, Arliss Sturgelewski and Ernest Gruening. I feel Mrs. Palin represents that old style of politics, and I feel most Alaskans can work with her because of her style.

FYI: Only six of the last 20 U.S. Supreme Court Justices were appointed by Democrats (two each for Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton), and all of the chief justices serving since 1953 were appointed by Republican, conservative presidents.

Kelly Blalock, an approximately 40-year Valley resident, lives in Butte.