In yet another example of the attempt to "ghettoize" religion in our culture, OSU President Gordon Gee recently announced that Buckeye football coach Urban Meyer will not be allowed to offer optional bible study and chapel services to his players. Gee's rationale for this decision is based upon the same tired nonsense trotted out each time liberals seek to extend the "God Free Zone" around our nation's schools.
Gee's reasoning boils down to this ... since the University accepts federal funds, and since the Constitution guarantees a separation of church and state, it is the duty of the University to enforce that separation. That would be well and good if the Constitution actually provided for such a separation. No such clause exists, other than as urban myth sadly perpetuated in many of our public schools.
A similar example of the Left's effort to remove religion from the public sphere is the initial decision made by the Democrat Party to remove reference to God from the 2012 party platform. In order to accept Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz's description of the omission as a mere "technical oversight" candid observers would have to discount the unholy trinity of "No's" shouted by hundreds of Democrat floor delegates when they were asked to vote on returning God to the Platform.
It is clear based upon these examples, and scores of others, the secular Left is seeking to remove God and religion from the public sphere. In the end they may succeed, but they will not do so in the arena of ideas through reasoned argument. Instead they will seek to use the standard tools of the Left: Intimidation, guilt, political-correctness, guile and a willingness to prey upon the ignorant and apathetic.
Sadly this strategy has worked in the past. The latest victims of this nefarious political effort are likely to be those young athletes at OSU whose lives could have been enriched and given direction through a deeper relationship with their Creator. No doubt President Gee and the University will offer up a plethora of secular belief systems to fill the void.
Kevin Ritter
Marietta
