Bookworm: Separation of church and state?

Separation of church and state?

When I walked up to our neighborhood public elementary school today the flag was at half-mast. For the pope.

Does this bother anyone besides me?

I'm going to pretend it was at half-mast for Saul Bellow.

6 Comments:

It was a half mast at the Golf Course of all places! I agree with you re. school. Whatever happened to seperation of church and state.

posted by Unknown on 7:51 PM
I don't remember what happened after the death of Paul or JPI, but this pope was an acknowledged head of state. We have an embassy at the Vatican.

Or it could have been Saul Bellow. (I missed that he died!)

Thanks for visiting!

posted by Bryan on 12:46 PM
Hmm, interesting point, Carson. But still, he's not just any old head of state. As a non-Catholic (I'm Jewish), I am uncomfortable with it.

But not nearly as uncomfortable as I was the day after Arafat died and our school flag was at half-mast. It turned out to be pure coincidence: a Michigan soldier had died in Iraq.

posted by Julie on 4:34 PM
Now that Carson has pointed out the whole "head of state" aspect I can deal with it a little bit more, but I'm not sure we would be lowering our flags if the prime minister of canada or the queen of england died.

Yeah, I've seen it everywhere. And I can't help but think as I'm driving around town, "I never knew there were so many catholics around here."

posted by Sleeping Mommy on 10:48 PM
I have issues with the flag to start with, let alone what position it flies in. If the Pope is a head of state then I'm all for consistency, so go ahead and lower it.

But what about having the kids at the school say the pledge of allegiance with "under God" in it? Burns me up. I was happy to see that it wasn't a routine part of every morning. But it is the first act at every student council meeting.

posted by doulicia on 11:09 AM
I am uncomfortable with this, too. I firmly believe in the separation of church and state. To me, head of state doesn't matter, but I'm not an attorney.
Like Doulicia, I have major issues w/ the flag including the ones D mentions and espcially the Pledge of Allegiance. Argh!

posted by Gel on 12:14 PM