Separation of Church/State issues

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on December 20, 2002

In James Taranto's "Best of the Web Today" he refers to the following story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

I can't make this stuff up:

A Venango County elementary school performance was canceled after parents objected to scenes in which third- through fifth-grade students re-enacted human sacrifices in the Aztec civilization.

The performance, titled "Bizarre Bazaar," was supposed to be the culmination of a monthlong social studies program to teach students about world cultures, including the Chinese, ancient Egyptians and Aztec Indians.

Administrators at Pleasantville Elementary School in the Titusville School District canceled the Tuesday night show after some parents who watched a rehearsal felt parts of the program were inappropriate for their young children. "Bizarre Bazaar" was to be acted out before first- through fifth-graders at the school in Venango County north of Pittsburgh.

"I was very disappointed that those in charge . . . didn't see anything wrong with this type of production, especially around Christmas," said Keith Klinger, the father of first- and third-graders at Pleasantville Elementary. "I had no problem with it up until the violent content of the human sacrifices."

Taranto suggested that they might have considered sacrificing a goat instead.

But really, where was the ACLU on this? Human sacrifices were part of the Aztec religion. You know they'd be screaming bloody murder if there was a Christmas play -- and school administrators are so conditioned that they know to not even try it.

However, any non-Christian religion always seems to bypass the Church/State line under the guise of multicultural instruction.

Of course, there's always the issue of school violence. Don't they think brutal human sacrifice may not be the sort of thing that you want to teach young children?

Someone needs to take those teachers and administrators out behind the woodshed and give them a beating.

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