The Grand Rapids Press, the paper that broke this story, is run by Christians. Furthermore, if the people from the other listed Christian denominations protested every time a street corner Christian did or said something like this, they wouldn’t have time left for anything else.
It’s weird. The whole ‘Christian Zionist’ thing is very weird.
Part of the strangeness comes from the strangest of all books, Revelation, which seems to have some end-of-time requirements per a sacrifice at ‘the Temple’ in Jerusalem. The sacrifice of a red heifer. End-time business is laced with some very Old Testament Jewish stuff. Contemporary evangelicals seem to see Israel as an essential component of history yet to unfold.
Even worse, there’s a white supremacy subset of the GOP that absolutely despises Jews. It’s a strange coalition, in deed.
Not to mention the part in the Constitution (Article VI) saying that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” A superintendent of a public school certainly falls under that definition.
Separation of who and what now…???
Oh, thank Flying Spaghetti Monster… I was looking for a career change…
1 Like
Grand Rapids, the clasp in America’s Bible Bra.
1 Like
Oy, gevalt!
How about Ben Carson for the job… he’s christian… isn’t he?
Let me see if I can help you out at all. I went to school in McBain. While it is a very small town, its school system serves an extensive rural population, and there are actually two high schools in town, a public school and a Christian school. I attended the latter. It is, as you infer, a very conservative place, but I don’t think “Podunk” gives us a very full picture, so let me give you my perspective, having gone over to the dark side of liberal politics years ago. I have voted for both Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren. I am a member of an interfaith book group. But growing up, I knew no African Americans, Latinos, Jews, or Muslims, and only one family of Roman Catholics, who lived in Detroit and came up north in the summer. The area was settled mainly by Dutch Calvinists and it remains largely white and Protestant. That’s its identity, and it’s unfortunate that ignorance of the law led someone - or a group of someones - to let that identity dictate a job qualification in a way that seems exclusive or even hateful. I can’t defend the wording or even the motive, but it’s true that a person coming to work in that town would need to understand and appreciate its history and culture, just as a person applying for a public job in Dearborn would need to understand and appreciate its (admittedly much more diverse) Arab-American population. What bothers me is when people assume that rural conservatives, because they vote for Republicans, and because they claim membership in the country’s dominant religion, are hateful or anti-Semitic or racist, and are contributing largely to the oppression of minorities. Some are, of course. My feeling is that they are, more than anything, taken advantage of by the Republican powers-that-be, who can count on these votes as long as they say they’re against abortion. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked those rural roads and wondered how anyone who is struggling financially can vote for anyone from a party whose policies hurt rather than help the poor. Is it still the responsibility of the voter to understand that health care is a good thing and that the Republicans’ plan - or lack of one - will make it harder for them to afford it? Of course it is. But when that Christian-conservative identity runs deep, and is exploited by Republicans who can count on it, these people - who do show a tremendous, even sacrificial, amount of charity among themselves - are going to keep organizing spaghetti dinners to raise funds for neighbors going through cancer treatment, instead of dropping a vote in the box for a Democrat. I still go back there all the time. And things are changing. There are rants against Republicans in the local paper - by people who have lived elsewhere and, like me, gone to the dark side. A gay friend who is also from McBain still goes back there too, and people still love him. Have hope. Peace out. And try to stay open-minded even toward people who seem not to be.