Lies, Damned Lies, & the News
The article to which I've hyperlinked is not a hack job, it is a fairly objective piece of journalism but for one error, one seemingly small misstatement that few people would even be able to recognize as a misstatement, and yet which reflects a pernicious and incalculably dangerous falsehood that has gotten its hooks in the American conscience. Hyperlink. That misstatement? That there is a "constitutional requirement for separation of church and state." Read your Constitution—at least I'm hoping each one of you has a copy of the U.S. Constitution in your home. If you do not, for shame. Acquire a copy posthaste! There are numerous organizations that distribute them free of charge—and nowhere therein will you find the words "separation of church and state." Nor is even the idea to be found in the Constitution.

Those words, which so many Americans in their blissful, irresponsible ignorance assume to be part and parcel of our nigh-scared Constitution, come from the personal correspondence of Thomas Jefferson. The same Thomas Jefferson who was neither a participant in the Constitutional Convention nor a signatory to said Constitution. Not even in a public essay such as those we know as the Federalist Papers, no, but in then-President Jefferson's personal correspondence, fifteen years after the Constitution was written, fourteen years after it was ratified.

What does the Constitution actually say on the subject? The relevant excerpt from Amendment I to the Constitution of the United States: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." What does this mean? The Congress has not the power to declare an established church, a state religion; the Congress cannot create a "Church of America" analogous to the Church of England or the Danish National Church. That is not nearly the same things as a separation of church and state. The innumerable ways in which Jefferson's "wall of separation between church and State" is used to prohibit the supposedly Constitutionally-guaranteed free exercise of religion is a subject for another day, a subject to which one could devote an entire life. The important takeaway from today's brief remarks? Think about the implications of the lie that our great republic is meant to be governed by a "separation of church and state" and try to be aware of the myriad ways in which this lie is perpetuated casually every day, such as in the aforementioned Yahoo! article. (Note to self: consider posting to The Secret Base the paper written on this very subject a year ago.)

Step 1: recognizing the existence of a problem.

Ink
I patronized the hardware store Tuesday afternoon to purchase a few mowings' supply of the enormous, double-lined paper sacks into which Grand Blanc Township's waste removal contractor requires all grass clippings and yard waste be placed for curbside collection. While waiting for the HALs to talk to one another, I set my wallet down on the counter and took up the proffered pen with which I would sign the charge card receipt. The cashier, a girl still in high school were I to hazard a guess, saw the skull-and-crossbones tattooed on my forearm and the different skull-and-crossbones pattern on the wallet and ejaculated, "Hey, your wallet looks like your arm!"

I replied, "Yep, almost like there's a theme." I meant this to be lighthearted and amusing, but fear it came out as snarky.

In Colorado a couple weeks ago, a one-off teammate (explained in the forthcoming "Master Debaters" post) named Warren made the asinine observation that I am an extremely unlikely person to have a tattoo, because possessing a tattoo stands in direct opposition to my personality. (I am forced to paraphrase, but I swear that I am capturing as accurately as I can the tenor of his words.) A few days later, on the final night before our departure, Warren, who espoused the usual atheist line that possessing religious faith and any significant degree of intelligence are mutually exclusive, was shocked to learn that I am an adherent of the Catholic faith. This revelation knocked his socks off, figuratively. I would be nothing without my faith; every decent thing inside me, every kind or charitable impulse I've ever felt, comes not from my darka nd wretched soul, but from the Holy Ghost, Him operating the levers of my heart. If Warren's pompous and superficial observations had failed to glean that I am—or at least try to be while fairly drowning in my own wickedness—a man of faith, what possible stock could be placed in his opinion that my personality is incompatible with having a tattoo?

In a similar vein, Amelia, one of my economics professors (who is, in fact, younger than me), has observed, more kindly, that I don't seem like the sort of person who would have my specific tattoo, a skull-and-crossbones, worn very publicly on my almost ubiquitously exposed—due to my love of short sleeves—left forearm. As I explained to her, or attempted to explain, that is entirely dependent on what one takes the skull-and-crossbones to mean. Many have asked me if it symbolizes poison, an idea that not once occurred to me before my tattoo was inked; most of these individuals have been involved with elementary education, a field with which I've had no interaction since "graduating" from the fifth grade in 1990. Others have asked if the skull (not so much the crossbones) symbolizes death. My specific skull-and-crossbones tattoo, nor far that matter the distinct skull-and-crossbones design on my wallet, symbolizes neither death nor poison. I am far forgiving of Amelia than Warren for two reasons: a) she knew me far better when first she made her observation, and b) her insight, although incorrect, was based on the (I must admit) easily misconstrued design of my tattoo, whereas Warren's was based on a far broader, and thus even more incorrect, set of assumptions about the nature and purpose of tattoos.

I try not to let people surprise me, yet I am continually staggered by the sweeping assumptions we make based upon the flimsiest of evidence. It boggles the mind.

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Vampire Weekend, "Bryn" from Vampire Weekend (T.L.A.M.)

Donnerstag, 29 April
Less Than Jake, "All My Best Friends Are Metalheads" from Hello Rockview (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: Inspired by the above "Ink," which I began composing on Thursday.

"Do you know about his strength and convictions?
Or how she puts all her faith in religion?
Did we take the time to really discover
How little we know about each other?"

Mittwoch, 28 April
John Barry, "The James Bond Theme from Dr. No" via iTunes (T.L.A.M.)