{"id":707,"date":"2012-08-14T10:46:40","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T16:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/billintheblank\/?p=707"},"modified":"2012-08-14T10:46:40","modified_gmt":"2012-08-14T16:46:40","slug":"separation-of-church-and-state-at-a-water-park-really","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/faithwalkers\/2012\/08\/separation-of-church-and-state-at-a-water-park-really\/","title":{"rendered":"Separation of Church and State — At a Water Park? Really?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

You want to swim?<\/p>\n

Sorry. You\u2019re going to have to pay more.<\/p>\n

All you church people who want to swim with your church youth groups in Willow Springs Water Park in Little Rock, Arkansas, are going to have to pay more thanks to complaints from a non-profit that serves children but is not a church. Eager not to miss an opportunity to evangelize, an\u00a0humanistic group has also jumped in with both feet, seeking to impress their secular faith upon the private business owner.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Willow Springs Water Park, Little Rock, Arkansas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can read the entire Fox News story here\u00a0<\/a>recounting the horrific practice this park has engaged in for decades \u2014 offering discounts to church groups who brought kids to their park. One non-church group that works with youths\u00a0tried to get the same discount \u2014 and the whining began.<\/p>\n

The park yanked the discounts for everyone rather than deal with a legal battle. Just to be sure, the Freedom from Religion Foundation\u00a0 (a national non-profit for the separation of church and state according to the Fox story) sent a letter threatening to force their own secular religion upon the park\u2019s owners if they dared to offer such evil discounts to church groups again. It especially warned against \u201ccovert\u201d methods. You know how sneaky those Christians can be trying to get away with practicing the free exercise of religion.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the issue again?<\/h3>\n

All sarcasm \u2014 mostly \u2014 aside, what state issues are at stake here exactly? Based on this convoluted logic, churches should also not get any \u201cdiscount\u201d on their taxes that all other government designated non-profits also receive. Perhaps this group would agree. As best I can see, this situation involves a for-profit, free-standing entity deciding to encourage religion in its community by offering discounts to churches. That word church<\/em> does have a definition. If your organization\u00a0doesn\u2019t fit the definition, then you don\u2019t get the discount.<\/p>\n

Some critics might claim that offering a discount to some without extending it to all is discriminatory. Yes. And what\u2019s your point?<\/p>\n

We live in fear of that word as if all discrimination is necessarily evil. We just finished watching athletes compete in the Summer Olympics on the world stage \u2014 and yet not all, or even most, athletes were allowed to participate. One might say that all had the same chance to compete for a spot. Really? The Vietnamese orphans whose adoption couldn\u2019t get through the paperwork hurdles a decade ago had the same chance as the Chinese gymnast forced to train against her will? Shouldn\u2019t we cancel the entire games if all don\u2019t get the same opportunity or privilege?<\/p>\n

Why are we so quick to embrace this thinking that if everyone doesn\u2019t get it, no one gets it? If I can\u2019t afford or find a Sunday newspaper, should others be permitted to use the coupons they get in their copy? After all, it would speed up the checkout lines a bit for all of us if we just banned coupons altogether. And then no one would feel left out. If we\u2019re going to apply this principle across society, a lot of atheists will be paying more and getting less out of a lot in life.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the irony:<\/strong> the park\u00a0continues to\u00a0offer discounts for public-service employees of the government \u2014 firefighters, safety officers, and military personnel. Not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that. But why are the complaints not directed equally at that discriminatory practice? Those are all honorable callings, to be sure, but why are they more honorable than pastors and church youth leaders? If churches\u00a0do their jobs\u00a0well, you won\u2019t need as many safety personnel.<\/p>\n

Could the discriminatory nature of the complaints be due to the fact that public-service employees work for a\u00a0government\u00a0compelled through fear and legal jujitsu\u00a0to\u00a0function by the tenants of a secular faith?<\/p>\n

I will fear no evil<\/h3>\n

We as a society are paralyzed by the fear of legal action.<\/p>\n