Why do Republicans get to be in charge o f God liberals the atheists Terry Dillon T E R R Y DILLON Associate Editor MOMMY my year old daughter said to me this aint a good show for fot little kids to y watch She was talking about Toon es the Cat who could Drive a aCar aCar aCar Car which aired two weeks ago on at pm p.m. I had tuned into this program because I t thought my daughter could watch it while I did my homework I assumed that a prime time program featuring a pussycat would be appropriate for my child However I J was mistaken was not hot good for five year olds to watch It was incredibly violent my daughter was outraged by it She obviously had better sense about programming than the programmers at l. KUT Which leads me to a discussion of my conservative conservative conservative conserva conserva- tive values It is difficult for me to understand why we liberals get so angry over a prayer offered in school while being noticeably silent on the issue of childrens children's programming Study after study shows the damaging effects violent programming has on childrens children's psyches Still there are mindlessly violent television shows often wrapped in innocent packaging as unchallenged unchallenged unchallenged fare during prime time Why Why do Republicans get to be in charge of God Why do we l liberals get to be in charge of orthe the atheists Children are dying for moral values They want to believe in God Robert Coles a child psychiatrist and researcher has written a book look about childrens children's longing for a spiritual understanding of the universe in The Spiritual Life of Children 1990 Houghton Mifflin If If you exist primarily in a secular universe of discourse you dont don't think of religion as being important important important im im- im- im to children Coles told Peggy Fletcher Salt Lake Tribune journalist in a te telephone ephone interview All these hese years I didn't realize there was a whole new resource I could call upon to understand children childre a spiritual psychology Fletcher writes in her feature Hearing God in fn Childrens Children's Voices Salt Lake Tribune July 13 1991 Dr Coles and his wife Jane lane and their sons interviewed more than children childr n from North Central and South America Ireland the Middle East Africa and Canada representing Christianity Judaism arid and Islam Children everywhere they concluded weave their religion and nationalism into a tex finely that pro provides des constant shape to their sense of how one might or ought not to live a life Children see Gods God's face they hear heat His voice they feel His presence breathing g through their everyday lives Fletcher writes of Coles' Coles study Edwin Yoder columnist for the Washington Post Service appearing in the Tribune Nov 23 1991 writes on the subject of public prayers The public men who wrote the Constitution Deists most of them could distance themselves from enthusiasm in religion and its more abrasive modes of sion That's because the lithe First Amendment was designed to keep governments government's nose out of religion and offers dim counsel on what is so largely an issue of decorum and taste We have Yoder writes as it happens an admirable admirable admirable ad ad- mirable model of religious discourse and it is connected connected connected con con- appropriately with the state of Rhode Is Island Island Island Is- Is land In August 1790 the Hebrew Congregation of Newport noting that hat the new Constitution barred religious tests for office which then excluded Jews from public responsibilities in many states and most other nations directed Moses Seixas to write on its behalf to the new president Seixas wrote deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable invaluable invaluable able rights of free citizens we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty Disposer of All AllE E Events behold a government which to bigotry gives no sanction on to persecution no assis assis- tance We desire to give our thanks to the Ancient of Days Yoder continues George Washington's reply is isas isas isas as memorable in its ecumenical gist and phrasing The first president noted that the idea of toleration toleration toleration tion which implied the right of a majority to ration ration ration ra ra- ra- ra tion out y yit religious liberty to minorities as as best suited it was at atan an end And he added the hope that the children of the Stock of Abraham who dwell dwelt in this land fand continue to merit and e enjoy oy the good will of the other inhabitants inhabitants in in- habitants habitan s while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine vin and fig tree and there shall be none to tomake tomake tomake make him hits afraid May the Father of All Mer Mercies ies s scatter scatter scat scat- atter at- at ter light in our paths The problem of course with the prayer-in- prayer school controversy is that an obnoxious minority religious presence is dominating the discussion This my liberal Ii-beral friends fl is our own fault Wouldn't our li liberal eral values be better served through discovery of spiritual values through the gorgeous rhetorical of Higher Love The Ancient of Days Father of All Mercies Merdes the Almighty Disposer of All Ali Events Why d dp do we instead choose to align ourselves with the perpetually pre premenstrual ens rual Madelyn O'Hare's of the world when we cant can't even rid ourselves ourselves ourselves our our- selves of TV violence directed toward our most innocent innocent innocent in in- spiritually hungry little ones