Separation of Church and... School?

This article discusses a Colorado school which recently prohibited a student's practice of religion on campus. This student, senior Chase Windebank, has lead a prayer group with his friends for the three previous years of his career at Pine Creek High School during a class period that the school calls "seminar." During a portion of this period, students are given free time in which they can discuss with their friends "virtually unlimited topics, i.e., TV shows, sports teams, upcoming test, politics." However, the school has banned Windeback from discussing anything to do with religion, citing the First Amendment "applied by the 14th Amendment." Pine Creek also stated that topics for discussion must connect to a class; if this is true, than religious conversations would not be allowed because the school is not able to teach classes on religion.

Stories like this are such great reminders to me of how grateful I am to be enrolled in a Catholic school where my faith can be expressed and nurtured. I am interested to see if the school and Windeback will resolve this on their own, or if more news on this particular issue will follow. So far, it is difficult to say who is right; much depends on the validity of the statement that topics must be drawn from classes taught at Pine Creek. It is a fairly complicated fight, as all separation-of-church-and-state issues are; however, simplified, it really boils down to the conclusion of the article: "Schools may not preach religion. They also may not oppress any student's free exercise thereof." I'm interested to see how far this fight will go.

Something about WWII We'd Gladly Repeat (and Some Historic Firsts)

In this article by CNN highlights the many "historic firsts" that yesterday's midterm elections brought about. For example, many southern African-Americans made a first with their election to Congress, including Mia Love, the "first black Republican woman to be elected to Congress-- ever."Other firsts included women Senators and Governors, war veterans, and most-expensive campaigns. Although not a "first," this article touches on one particular historic accomplishment of Congress' domination by Republicans-- the GOP has the "largest congressional majority since World War II."

This is very important because Republicans had been feeling dominated by the Democratic-lead executive branch and House of Representatives. Republicans now believe that they can push their own agenda easier because they have control of both the Senate and House. I think this is very interesting, and I'll be watching to see what the GOP does with its newfound control. In addition, I like that more women and races are being involved in our government. Also, the fact that Republicans have not had this large of a majority in Congress since WWII is extremely interesting to me! I know that history repeats itself, but hopefully we can be selective about what we bring back from the that time period...