6 August 2005
Church and State

Filed under Everything Else

Nothing, it appears, is sacrosanct, at least not anymore. Maybe I’m the only one who cares, but shouldn’t things in the Bible stay, you know, in the Bible?

I guess I don’t understand, and to be fair, I’m not going to bother to try. And perhaps Bible re-enactments occur frequently and I’m just not aware. There’s nothing wrong with having an electric manger scene set up in front of your house, nor is there anything wrong with having a sukkah built and living in it for a week (though, for the Jews, that does serve a purpose: A sukkah, children, is a large hut built in the field during Sukkot, or the festival of the harvest. When families had too large of a field to harvest, people would live in the decorated sukkah. And, if my childhood is any indicator, eat rasins. And shake giant lemons and palm fronds. Seriously. Ask a Jew. They’ll tell you.)

To cut off the complaints, I don’t have a problem with religion. I don’t have a problem with expressing your religious beliefs. I’ll go so far as to say I don’t have a problem with you, within reason, acting out things of historical significance from your religion. Want to drag a giant cross through town, then strap yourself to it? Awesome. Want to dive into cold, murky water to look for a cross? Go for it. Want to fast for one, or even thirty, days? Fantastic.

But I think there’s a big difference between having a low-key bible re-enactment and having CNN.com Mel Gibson ‘recreate’ a scene from a movie ripped off from the holiest book. That would be like asking the director of Gone with the Wind to ‘re-create’ the Burning of Atlanta scene during a Civil War rememberance day.

Oh, wait, we don’t *have* a Civil War rememberance day. Actually, huh, we don’t have days specifically devoted to any war. Sure, there’s Memorial Day, which honors all who have bravely fought defending our country. And we have Labor Day. And Veterans Day, which is the closest (as November 11th marked the end of the first World War). And people remember D-Day, and Pearl Harbor Day. And, of course, if you cut through the hot dogs and fireworks, there’s some meaning behind Independence Day. But still, when was the last time you remembered the war of 1812? Or the Civil War? Or, without mentioning current conflicts abroad, Vietnam?

But we have Easter. And Christmas (which is a federal Holiday). And people take off Good Friday. And Palm Sunday. And, to be fair, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur.

Which is more important? The Church or the State? If we take the time to remember Christ, shouldn’t we also take the time to remember men like Baldomero Lopez, a casuality of the Korean War. Lopez was wounded as he prepared to throw a handgrenade into the next pillbox whose fire was pinning down that sector of the beach. Taken under fire by an enemy automatic weapon and hit in the right shoulder and chest as he lifted his arm to throw, he fell backward and dropped the deadly missile. After a moment, he turned and dragged his body forward in an effort to retrieve the grenade and throw it. In critical condition from pain and loss of blood, and unable to grasp the handgrenade firmly enough to hurl it, he chose to sacrifice himself rather than endanger the lives of his men and, with a sweeping motion of his wounded right arm, cradled the grenade under him and absorbed the full impact of the explosion, saving who knows how many men from his company.

Which man made the larger sacrifice? Arguably, whatever your religion, you can say that there are perhaps men alive today because of Lopez’s courage. And even if those men are dead now, the probably had children. And even if those children are now dead, they had children of their own.

Maybe, just maybe we can figure out a way to say to the agreement of everyone of all faiths that Christ’s death has had the same effect. But I doubt it.

But who do you know more about, regardless of your religion (or lack thereof)? Jesus Christ or Baldomero Lopez?

The Jews control the media? Bullshit.

 ::  Adam