You can find yourself in interesting conversations at the barber shop.
One topic Saturday was our news story reporting that the school with the most applications for the state’s $10 million voucher program was the Greensboro Islamic Academy.
This did not sit well with my barber.
“I blame Kay Hagan,” he said.
Hagan is a Democratic U.S. senator who had absolutely nothing to do with North Carolina’s school voucher program.
I said it was the Republican state legislature that created this program, including House Speaker Thom Tillis, who happens to be running against Hagan for her Senate seat.
Pause.
“Well, I blame Obama for letting all those Muslims come over here.”
I like my barber, who is a fine fellow and good at his craft. I can’t fault him for experiencing some, uh, confusion about a new state initiative that uses his tax dollars and mine to pay for Islamic education at a Greensboro private school.
This is just the sort of thing that some Republicans would naturally attribute to President Barack Obama — and Kay Hagan, too. Processing the information that the actual architects are the supposedly conservative Republicans running our state government — Tillis, Senate leader Phil Berger and Gov. Pat McCrory — can overload the mental circuitry. It doesn’t compute.
These are the guys who also passed a measure prohibiting the use of Sharia law in our courts — which was about as sensible an action as banning flying camels, since our courts don’t employ Sharia law.
(Credit where partially due: McCrory declined to sign that silly bill, letting it pass into law without his signature. But he should have vetoed it as an embarrassment.)
I don’t think Republicans meant to make an Islamic academy the state’s top beneficiary of their voucher program, which provides up to $4,200 in tuition assistance for each student attending a private school. They might wish only Christian schools were involved. But, in opening the door for participation by religious schools, they couldn’t discriminate.
They should have excluded religious schools.
Nothing against them. I am all for the Greensboro Islamic Academy, as well as other local religious schools on the voucher list — Tri-City Adventist Junior Academy, Vandalia Christian School, Wesleyan Christian Academy, High Point Christian Academy, American Hebrew Academy, B’nai Shalom Day School, Caldwell Academy, Hayworth Christian School, Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School, New Garden Friends School, Our Lady of Grace Catholic School, Prince of Peace Christian Academy, Shining Light Academy and St. Pius X Catholic School.
I just don’t think tax dollars should fund them.
My kids got their religious instruction at home and at church, without any assistance from taxpayers. That was appropriate. What’s more, I thought that was a conservative position.
Our same “conservative” legislature cut off public funding for judicial campaigns because it believes taxpayers should not have to support candidates with whom they might not agree. But it wants taxpayers to support religious instruction with which they might not agree.
Monday, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that some businesses don’t have to pay for medical coverage for services that conflict with the religious values of their owners.
Does that mean North Carolina taxpayers would have a case in challenging a law that requires them to pay for education that might conflict with their religious values?
It’s certainly prejudicial to get upset about state funding for Islamic education while never batting an eye if tax money goes to a Christian school. But a principle underlies the prejudice. It is that government should not pay for Islamic, Christian or Jewish instruction. Religious activities should maintain a separation from the state. They should neither be suppressed nor advanced by government.
I’m sorry for the Greensboro Islamic Academy that it suddenly has been thrust into statewide prominence, and I hope no recriminations occur as a result. But this may have been the only way for average North Carolinians to become aware of the voucher program or at least to fully understand its ramifications.
The authors of this program should be aware of these barber shop conversations. As elections approach, they should be called on to explain to their conservative constituents why they think it’s a good idea to use tax dollars to support Islamic education.
Will they also blame Barack Obama and Kay Hagan? That won’t fool everyone.
http://www.news-record.com/opinion/columns/article_eeb44622-0162-11e4-91c0-0017a43b2370.html
