Religious Radicals Ban Band Shirt

Sometimes it seems that the forces of sheer stupidity are winning in America. Radical clerics and their followers turned the faith of a man who said the greatest rules are to love God with your whole heart and to love your neighbors as yourself into a religion of hatred and intolerance. Not content with merely denying people an equal status within the walls of their own churches, they have led the charge to keep people down as second class citizens for no greater crime than loving the wrong kind of person. And now these same ignorant and backward fools have stepped up their efforts to drag America down into a cultural and intellectual Dark Age.

When the Smith-Cotton Marching Band appeared in the Missouri State Fair, they debuted a new T-shirt design. This design, tied to their program showcasing the changes in the use of brass instruments in music from the 1960s on, used the common image of a man emerging from a line of primates and was emblazoned with the words "Smith-Cotton High School Brass Evolutions." Instead of chuckling at the clever design, parents actually called in to complain to the school about the shirts.

While this story would have been bad enough had it ended there, the stupidity marched on. Assistant Superintendent Brad Pollitt actually took action in support of these parents, and so the shirts have been retired. In a stunning showcase of ignorance, Pollitt has stated that he made this decision because the school must remain neutral on the issue of religion. News flash to Missouri: Evolution is a scientific concept, and as such it has nothing to do with religion.

Well, that may truly be a news flash to some. Take Sherry Melby, for instance. Melby is not only a band parent but a teacher in the district as well. She stood behind Pollitt's decision to ban the shirts stating, "I don't think evolution should be associated with our school." Yes, that's right; the single most important concept underlying all of the life sciences should not be associated with this school.

It is no wonder, then, that the US has been slipping behind many other nations in science education. As of a 2006 study cited by the Washington Post, The US ranked in the bottom half of the 30 richest nations in both math and science education. Reading stories like these, it is easy to see a major reason behind this disgraceful result.

It is time, no it is beyond time, for rational people to take a stand and tell these radical and fundamentalist believers to take their faith back inside their churches - where it belongs. Our schools should not be the place for them to indoctrinate children, nor should those children be kept from scientific truth because they fear it will dispel the fantasies they are trying to weave on Sunday mornings.