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As all faithful readers of The God Squad know, I am a big fan of holidays. Holidays, though Id rather call them Holy Days, remind us that there are two kinds of time: Secular time and sacred time. Secular time is the way we measure ordinary events. Every piece of secular time is equal. Every second is the same as every other second. Sacred time is different. Sacred times are set apart from the secular times in that they are special transformative moments that change us forever.

Some Holy Days are sectarian. Christmas and Easter and Passover and Ramadan and Diwali are all major religious holidays that are in America but transcend America. Christmas has definitely shaped American culture in many ways but it remains the celebration of the birth of Christ.

Some holidays are only holidays in the most superficial sense. Valentines Day and Halloween are the best of them but then there are many holidays that seem like they were invented by the Chamber of Commerce.

And then there are the holidays we celebrate as Americans that are actually examples of sacred time. Thanksgiving is a true sacred time because it is about gratitude and gratitude is a foundational virtue for any decent culture. Memorial Day is sacred time because it is about sacrifice and sacrifice is a foundational virtue for any decent culture.

And then there is Independence Day, which is approaching, and which invites us to celebrate America as a whole. In our deeply and bitterly divided culture, the Fourth of July compels us, particularly this year, to give thanks and prayers for our great experiment in freedom.

For those who feel most deeply that the American experiment in freedom has failed, I want to acknowledge and honor your anger. With all our wealth and will and all of our wisdom we absolutely should be doing more for the most vulnerable among us.

For those of you who feel that America still represents the best and brightest hope for a world in need of defense and aid and inspiration, I want to acknowledge your patriotism and love of country.

Let me suggest a way to bring the two sides in our culture wars together on this Independence Day, and on all the days after it. If you are angry at America, let go with your gripes and time them. Then, after say five minutes of griping, force yourself to speak out loudly for the same amount of time about all the things you still love about America.

The same advice for the other side. If you are a full-throated lover of the USA give yourself a measured amount of time to describe in detail what you love about America. Then give yourself the exact same amount of time to speak out about the ways America could be better, more equal, and more compassionate. I use this technique to counsel mourners and I call it spiritual balancing. We need to balance our awareness of what we lack with an awareness of what we still possess.

Take out a dollar bill. Look at it. Carefully. It shows both sides of the Great Seal of the United States of America, the national symbol of the United States that was designed by Charles Thomson. The Seal has three Latin mottoes on it, two on one side and one on the other:

Annuit coeptis, which means, Providence has favored our undertaking, is from Virgils epic poem the Aeneid. It clearly establishes the belief that the agenda of America is not merely political but is an expression of Gods will to see politics used to secure God-given freedoms. I will never forget that during the Capitol riots of Jan. 6 I saw a person hanging from the balcony in the Senate chamber right over the verse annuit coeptis. I remember saying to myself, I dont think so.

Novus ordo secularum is the second motto and it means, A new order of the ages. This is also from Virgil, in the fourth of his Bucolics. It is another proof that our founders considered the founding of the United States to be not merely the creation of a new state but rather the creation of a new order of human history.

The third motto is the most famous, E Pluribus Unum, Out of many, one. It has 13 letters just like the 13 stripes on the U.S. flag.

I think the three mottoes ought to be read as a single motto: If we try to make a single unity out of our plurality then God will bless our undertaking and we will create here in America a new order of the ages.

On this Fourth of July that is what I believe and that is what I pray.

Happy Independence Day!

Send all questions and comments to The God Squad via email at godsquadquestion@aol.com. Rabbi Gellman is the author of several books, including Religion for Dummies, co-written with Fr. Tom Hartman. Also, the new God Squad podcast is now available.

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The God Squad: The great seal of the United States of America - Walla Walla Union-Bulletin

America faces a challenge on the issue of crime. Whether we deal with it effectively or not, however, depends on the willingness of leaders from both the left and right to drop the slogans and culture wars and truly put public safety first.

Let them go. Lock them up. Defund the police. Back the blue. Conflicting messages from political leaders are not only confusing and divisive, they also miss the point that many people dont feel safe and want solutions that work.

Regardless of the historic decline in overall crime rates a trend that accounts for the current uptick in certain violent crimes some are demagoguing the broader issue to usher in an era of draconian sentences under the guise of public safety. Ironically, these tough-on-crime proposals actually can make things worse.

Locking up every offender for every crime is not the way to produce safer communities. We know that prison has almost no impact on crime. In fact, some studies show that long sentences can increase crime. So, why do we keep doubling down on this strategy?

People must be held accountable for their actions. But there is a point of diminishing returns for using incarceration to manage crime. Because governors and state legislators must balance budgets, solutions such as violence prevention programs, substance use treatment, job training, and mental health care dont get funding. Taxpayers instead shoulder skyrocketing costs to cover the building, operating and filling of prisons leaving people and communities worse off.

We can have safer neighborhoods while addressing incarceration rates and being smarter with taxpayer dollars. Here are some proven approaches:s

None of these is a new idea. Beginning in Texas in 2007, significant criminal justice reforms have advanced in jurisdictions across the country. Groups including the American Conservative Union and the American Civil Liberties Union have worked on policies in more than 30 states that have lowered crime and incarceration rates. These efforts culminated in landmark criminal justice reform legislation signed in 2018 by Donald Trump. That bill, the First Step Act, is helping transform federal prisons from warehouses of inhumanity to places where rehabilitation happens.

Unfortunately, the impact of the pandemic on crime and bitter partisanship on both sides of the aisle threaten to derail a real policy success: criminal justice reform. If we halt this momentum, politicians will send us back to days marked by high crime and high incarceration rates. If our leaders have the best interests of their communities in mind, theyll leave the scapegoating and political divisions behind in their pursuit of truly effective solutions that make America safer.

Ana Zamora is the founder and CEO of The Just Trust, which is dedicated to advancing criminal justice reform across the country. Follow her on Twitter @anarzamora.

David Safavian is director of the American Conservative Union Foundations Nolan Center for Justice, which works on policies that improve public safety, ensure accountability, and foster human dignity. Follow him on Twitter @DSafavianEsq.

More here:
The irony of todays tough-on-crime rhetoric - The Hill

A local woman has launched a charter of a grassroots organization in New Hanover County to bring parental rights back into schools.

Natosha Tew founded the New Hanover County chapter of Moms for Liberty, which held its first meeting on June 28.

Tew, the parent of a former New Hanover County Schools student, said she hoped to speak out for parents who feel they dont have a voice to defend their children from a school system that has far overreached their role and purpose.

Socialist, sexualized students?Or more misinformation at county school board meeting

I was really hoping we would be able to affect some positive change over the past year with the local school board, and it just didnt work out to the way we had hoped, Tew said. So, I took a step back and reevaluated and decided to launch this New Hanover County Moms for Liberty.

Moms for Liberty is a national non-profitsocial welfare group as defined by the IRS, which can advocate for causes. Itbegan in January 2021 in Florida and is considered aconservative parents-rights group.

They quickly gained traction in the Sunshine State, withFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis last springinviting a member to witness the signing of a bill that allowedparents more say in public school teaching materials.

The groupnow says it has 201 chapters across 37 states, totaling 90,000 members.

AR-15 raffle: Conservative group to raffle off semi-automatic rifle in support of school board candidate

In North Carolina, there are 12 chapters,including those in Mecklenburg and Wake counties.Tews efforts are the first in the eastern part of the state.

According to its website,Moms for Liberty welcomes all that have a desire to stand up for parental rights at all levels of government.

Its main goal is to fight for the survival of America by empowering parents to stand up to local governments like school boards and defend their rights in making decisions in their childrens lives.

For Tew, seeing Moms for Libertys success in other areas motivated her to get in contact with the organization after months of speaking at school board meetings. At times she was escorted from the Board of Education Center by law enforcement for being so vocal.

Across America amid the COVID-19 pandemic, school board meetings have become stages for the nation's culture wars. The same is true for New Hanover County where liberaland conservative parents regularly spar passionately overa host of educational issues ranging from social studies curriculums to book titles in libraries to LGBT issues.

As for Tew, sheeventually pulled her daughter out of New Hanover County Schools to homeschool her after she said she was targeted and bullied for not wearing a mask in school.

'You invite violence': Trans students' support debate gets nasty in Wilmington

I liked that they're a grassroots organization, Tew said of Moms for Liberty. I like the principles that they stand on and I wanted to be a part of the fight to defend parental rights.

While started by moms in school districts outside Orlando, Florida, the organization is open to anyone grandparents, dads, aunts, uncles, and friends, according to its website.

Their goals are to hold leaders accountable, oppose government overreach and promote liberty, among others. The group has targeted mask mandates and touched on other issues, including curriculums that teach LGBT rights and race and discrimination.

The group has also developed a book ranking system to identify books in schools that may contain inappropriate content. In Catawba County, for example, the school district reviewed eight books from a list of 24 that parents protested.Three were removed from middle school libraries, but none were banned outright.

In other parts of the country, Moms for Liberty chapters have gained public attention.A member in Arkansas made headlines there when leaked audio reportedly emerged of them threatening gun violence against a school librarian over book selections for young readers.

Tew said she can only speak for the New Hanover County chapter of the organization, and each chapter has significant liberty from the national organization to conduct itself and select issues to focus on based on the community it's in.

Tew said in the coming weeks and months, the group will begin identifying key issues they want to focus on in schools and their curriculum. She said shes already gained support from people interested in the organization in New Hanover County, as well as other surrounding school districts.

The group will then focus on engagement and education. She said she plans on continuing to show up to school board meetings, and additional efforts will depend on the initiative's members want to take up.

Proud boys in Wilmington: Why do the US Capitol storming Proud Boys attend New Hanover school board meetings?

Tew said while her own daughter is no longer attending New Hanover County Schools, she wanted to continue advocating for issues like parental rights because she believes other parents fear they could put their own jobs in jeopardy, or their children may be bullied at school if they speak out.

I really want to know that our parents have a seat at the table. I want to collaborate with our school board members, Tew said. I don't want to make it's just my fight. I want it to be a community effort to work together with each other and with our school board members to provide a safe environment that our kids can learn in.

Reporter Sydney Hoover can be reached at 910-343-2339 or shoover@gannett.com.

Read the rest here:
Organization in New Hanover wants to restore 'parent rights' in school - StarNewsOnline.com

Make America Whole Again

Which issues are most important? Extremism, white supremacy, racism? Culture wars, conspiracy theories, disinformation? Gun control, slaughter of children, power of NRA? Inflation, Ukraine, supply chain? Womens rights? Education, book bans, CRT? Climate change, extreme weather, the environment? Flag-waving jingoism, the Capitol assault? Gas prices, recession worries? Religious intrusion into government?

Overwhelming?

Yes, but more important than all is the extreme polarization in this country. Fighting each other is tearing the fabric of democracy apart. As Pogo said, I have met the enemy and he is us.

How do we heal the deep divide? I suggest: Place country over party. Vary your news sources. Think critically. Be curious. Reaffirm our nations values. Choose dignity and respect. Vote for people with a strong moral compass. Hold politicians accountable. Write civil letters. Be open-minded. Get to know your neighbors. Listen deeply. Create dialogue, not drama. Welcome others in. Remove mean bumper stickers and expletive laden slogans. Travel if you can. Practice love, not hate.

Idealistic? Yes. But our founding fathers based our republic on idealism. My bumper sticker will read: Make America Whole Again.

Nancy Teggeman, Polson

With sadness I see that the protections for true ethical action that were embodied in Roe V. Wade have been removed. This is a superficial victory: who does not love babies and want children to be born and thrive? It seems marvelous and life-giving. Yes!

But the deeper reality is that immediately the search for exceptions will begin. It has already begun. Unambiguous and simple situations are not the bulk of the cases that have now been changed. Each time a woman turns to this medical remedy, an ethical question is at the heart of the request. Ethical questions require knowledge of ethical principles: autonomy, beneficence, and so on.

By nature each ethical question is unique. In those states that will now implement a categorical ban on abortions, one of the ethical remedies has been removed. That decision has been taken from the individual ethical actor, the woman and her family. Ending the pregnancy has been turned into a crime.

And that is going to cause crimes (lying, impoverishment, physical injury to women, loss of livelihood, stigmatization) instead of giving the best ethical path forward in each unique case.

How did this deeply nuanced decision turn into a political cause?

We have all lost something with this decision.

Janet OFlynn, Kalispell

Stop abortion at the source. Vasectomies are reversible. Make every young man have one. When he is deemed financially and emotionally fit to be a father it will be reversed.

Whats that? Did the idea of regulating a mans body make you uncomfortable? The government should not regulate a womans body either. It should be her inalienable right to control what happens to her body and only her right. It should not be up to politicians, religious zealots, or people in black robes who sit on the Supreme Court, and those who lied to get there.

Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black famously stated The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state, and that That wall must be kept high and impregnable. That wall has now been shattered.

A monumental freedom has been ripped from every American woman. A freedom that should belong to all women to control their reproductive rights. Many of the same people who espouse freedom of religion, of gun rights and less government are celebrating the removal of a womans most significant liberty, a liberty that will affect her life for years to come. This ruling is the height of hypocrisy and injustice to every woman in America.

Barbara Palmer, Kalispell

A week ago the Inter Lake published a story about the increasing homelessness in the Flathead and possible solutions.

It was a good and useful article, but with an omission. Since its estimated nationally that approximately 40% of the homeless have serious untreated mental illness its logical to assume that a portion of the Flathead Valleys homeless have untreated mental illness and also lack insight. Some of these will end up in jail for various infractions and add to an already overburdened detention system. Ask the sheriff.

Montana is only one of five states that still has imminent dangerousness as a criterion for involuntary treatment. The other 45 states have changed to seriously disabled or similar designations, as well as laws to ensure follow-up treatment and conditional release from a crisis center or hospital. Time for our legislators to step up to the plate.

Mitzi Anderson, Whitefish

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Letters to the editor July 4 | Daily Inter Lake - Daily Inter Lake

Two groundbreaking steps, each contradictory of ideology, and governing branch structure have shaken America, as of last night. Based on the controversy, it would be unconscionable to even begin to describe, what these two decisions mean for the days, weeks, and no doubt years to follow. The Supreme Court of the United States has successfully overturned, the decades-old Roe v Wade decision, giving a woman the right to choose her health, in effect conceiving a child. The 1973 decision was for a long, a highly polarising, and sensitive issue in American society, catering as a base for the culture wars.

The SCOTUS decision is inconsistent, with the popular majority of Americans that believe the issue of Roe, should be one to decide by the individual and their belief, as a private issue. The President spoke moments later, calling it a sad day for America, going on to mention his predecessor Donald Trump, and his efforts to pack the court with conservatives. This aim was achieved, as archived by history. Justice Alito, who co-authored the opinion, questioned the idea of Casey (another established precedent), floating the idea, of challenging other rulings too. He went on to note And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.

This is the beginning of the end for Roe Activists across the country. There is no room for the President to codify unless Congress acts on the issue. At the odd chance that democrats do decide to codify cumulatively, they would need a super majority in the Senate, which is an avenue worth exploring this fall, for the mid-term elections. For Americans, voting pro-choice this November is the only way to avoid socially regressive policy fronts. Speaker Pelosi had this to say about Fridays Decision: The hypocrisy is raging, but the harm is endless. She called the decision by Chief Justice John Roberts stunning, as she was at a loss of words, something the President re-iterated later in his speech.

Conservative Agenda wins again, despite the other two branches of government being of Democratic dissent.

After the ruling, another divisive issue seemed to account for more backlashes but this time from the opposite spectrum of the political landscape. Now, its worth noting, that a majority of Americans side with upholding Roe and limiting second amendment rights in America. The issue of the Second Amendment is the right to bear arms, for self-protection purposes, to some effect.

The problem is, that the law has been used excessively to incite and carry out violence in cities and states across the nation. From Parkland to Uvalde, schools to Churches to Mosques, to synagogues, each tragedy has been a push forward, attaining the overall image of Background checks, and gun reform in America. The biggest gun lobby, the NRA, has in the past endorsed support for liberal measures surrounding the issue. Today, as the House passed the Bill, with an overwhelming majority, it goes to the President, acting as a setback for the NRA, and pro-arm-bearing activists, even in the United States House of Representatives. The bill, passed Friday, now heads to the Presidents desk, and is likely to be signed. It includes various background checks, from the age of 18 to 21. The bill further goes on to expand restrictions to close the boyfriend loophole, in gun safety laws, which, as the name suggests, is a loophole, that is now closed, restricts, people with underlying records of abuse with their partners, from owning guns. This includes mental health checks and funding for crisis intervention. An important point to note is that Democrats across the nation wanted to see more done, in terms of banning assault-style weapons. However, in terms of first steps, this is important legislation, that caught bi-partisan support, with its super majority.

A similar number needed to codify Roe, too-And while many across the board endorse more steps to counter ultra-conservatism, the Supreme Courts decision gives leeway for more hate speech, to a few million, to undercut the rule of law, and decide the fate of society.

A possible reminder here-The Supreme Court was also given a ban on riffles, concerning health and safety laws in the state of New York. Something the court objected to, noting no reference to the argument of constitutional disenfranchisement.

With this culture, war, well underway, to its commencement of the end, many are looking to see what the November election can bring for legislation across dozens of states. From Texas, whose Governor, has expressed intent multiple times to overturn Roe locally, to Arizona state representatives, who are willing and able to restrict travel, charting a series of data breaches due process.

Conservative Agenda wins again, despite the other two branches of government being of Democratic dissent. The Honourable Justices, win again, with their ever-so-controversial decisions to contradict decades-old precedents. Its plural, since Obergefell along with others, is being challenged by states across the country, seeking to virtually destroy a centurys worth of reformist progression.

The writer is a columnist and a linguistic activist.

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The End of the Culture War - Daily Times