The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1269344
C-6 Wednesday, July 15, 2020 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Race for the Cure By Star Parker Points to Ponder By Rev. Ford Bond Joe Biden, the Anti-American candidate The Supreme Court strengthened the separation of church and state Wednesday and, for once, that's a good thing. The "separation" most people think of was created by the Su- preme Court by interpreting the First Amendment's ban on an "estab- lishment of religion" far too broadly. That has fueled a campaign to keep religion, and even religious people, out of government or public life. The separation recognized in Wednesday's 7-2 decision works the other way, however, keeping govern- ment out of decisions by religious in- stitutions about who may teach their faith. This comes from a properly balanced interpretation of the First Amendment, which also protects the free exercise of religion. The high court's decision com- bined two cases in which Catholic schools in California each fired a fifth-grade teacher, who then sued under a federal employment discrim- ination law. In Our Lady of Guada- lupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, the teacher said age was the real rea- son for her firing, while in St. James School v. Biel, the teacher claimed it was disability. The issue in these cases was whether religious institutions, such as schools and church- es, may make cer- tain personnel de- cisions without government inter- ference. Federal courts have recog- nized that the First Amendment creates what is often called a "ministerial exception" to employ- ment discrimination laws regarding certain positions. In the 2012 case Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, the Supreme Court said that this ministerial exception protects the "important… interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission." In Hosanna-Tabor, the court was unanimous that the ministerial ex- ception exists and why it is import- ant, but split several ways on how to define and apply it in future cases. Should courts focus narrowly on an employee's job title or specific cre- dentials, look more broadly at an employee's actual functions or duties, or rely on the reli- gious employer's conclusion? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit took a very narrow approach in these cas- es, refusing to recognize the ministerial exception. Even though the teacher at Our Lady of Guadalupe had "sig- nificant religious responsibil- ities," the appeals court said, she had a "secular" job title, no for- mal religious credentials, and did not "hold herself out to the public as a re- ligious leader or minister." The court also said that the teacher's situation at St. James School was not exactly parallel to the one in Hosanna-Tabor. In an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that the 9th Circuit "misunderstood our decision" in Ho- sanna-Tabor. Rather than following a "rigid formula," Alito wrote, courts should consider "all relevant circum- stances" and be guided by "the fun- damental purpose of the [ministeri- Among the Nobel Prizes awarded each year is the Nobel Prize in Phys- iology or Medicine. It was first awarded in 1901, and through 2019, 219 have received the award. Of the 219 recipients, 100 have been American, according to Statis- ta. This one piece of information leads me to conclude there is a high likeli- hood it will be an American who de- livers the medicines we seek now in the battle to defeat the coronavirus that plagues us. Am I looking for a reason for pride in America? Not really. I'm looking more to shine light on what it is that makes America great. Sadly, the truth and reality of America are being broadly distort- ed by media and others on the left, and it's having impact. According to a new Gallup poll, 63 percent of Americans say they are very proud or extremely proud to be American. This is the lowest reading ever recorded since Gallup has mea- sured it. The first time it was done, in 2001, 87 percent said they were very or extremely proud. Among Republicans, 67 percent say they are very or extremely proud. However, among Democrats, it's on- ly 24 percent. Forty-nine percent of white Amer- icans say they are very or extremely proud compared with 24 percent of nonwhite Americans. The drop among nonwhites in recent years has been particularly sharp. Just four years ago, 45 percent of nonwhites said they were very or extremely proud. I focused above on the number of Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Med- icine achieved by Americans, rather than economic growth and prosper- ity, because it gives more concrete perspective on the impact of Ameri- cans on the quality of life. In 1901, when the first Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded, life expec- tancy was 49.2 years. Now it is 78.87. Certainly, the major improvement in life expectancy largely reflects ad- vances in medicine and medical tech- nology, and it is clear that Americans have played an outsized role here. Americans have contributed dis- proportionately to improving human life around the globe. Of course, Americans have made outsized contributions in science and technology in general. We must ask, then, what is the con- nection between the disproportion- ate American contribution to improv- ing the quality of life and what Amer- ica is about? My answer is that America itself was an innovation. It was the first nation in the world founded on an idea and a truth. That idea and truth is that God created man to be free. This powerful truth on which our na- tion was founded and built explains America's outsized achievements. The reason why we even know about the bad things that happen in our country is because it is free. Hor- rors like what happened to George Floyd occur all the time in China. Do the Chinese people know about it? The great disparity between Re- publicans and Democrats regard- ing pride in their country tells the whole story about how confused ma- ny Democrats are. Now we have a recovery under- way. Forty percent, about 8 million, of those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic have returned to work since April. According to the Wall Street Journal, it took the U.S. 20 months from the bottom of "the 2009 recession to recover an equiv- alent share of lost jobs." Now Joe Biden is campaigning for the votes of the 76 percent of Demo- crats who are not very proud of their country — who long for the failures of socialism. He wants to roll back the Trump tax cuts that created a booming economy and the lowest black unemployment on record, the same tax cuts and deregulation that are enabling the current economic bounce back. Americans do great things be- cause America is a free nation under God. And this free nation under God is open and honest about its short- comings, and strives to fix them. Democrats want neither freedom Minority View By Walter E. Williams Heritage Viewpoint By Thomas Jipping Charter schools and their enemies Supreme court protects religious freedom Dr. Thomas Sowell has just pub- lished "Charter Schools and Their Enemies." He presents actual test scores of students in traditional pub- lic schools and charter schools on New York State Education Depart- ment's annual English Language Arts test and its Mathematics Test. Sowell gives the results of student tests in charter schools such as KIPP, Success Academy, Explore Schools, Uncommon Schools, Achievement First as well as the traditional New York City public schools. On the En- glish Language Arts test, a majori- ty of charter school students, most of whom were black or Hispanic, tested proficient or above. Their achievement ratio was nearly 5 to 1. On the Mathematics test 68 percent of charter schools' 161 grade levels had a majority of students testing proficient. In the traditional public schools, 177 grade levels, just 10 per- cent had a majority of their student testing proficient. In April 2019, The Wall Street Jour- nal reported that 57 percent of black and 54 percent of Hispanic charter school students passed the statewide EL A compared to 52 percent of white students statewide. On the state math test, 59 percent of black students and 57 percent of His- panics at city char- ter schools passed as opposed to 54 percent of white stu- dents statewide. Sowell says: "In a realm where ed- ucational failure has long been the norm — schools in low income mi- nority neighborhoods — this is suc- cess, a remarkable success. What is equally remarkable is how unwel- come this success has been in ma- ny places. What has been especial- ly remarkable is that it has been the most educationally successful char- ter schools that seem to have drawn the most hostility, both in words and in deeds." The most common form of that hostility are simple legal limits set on the number of charter schools permitted without regard to whether charter schools are producing good or bad educational outcomes. The education establish- ment, having the nation's most powerful labor union, has the ears of political lead- ers. They see a huge loss po- tential if more parents are able to opt out of poorly achieving public schools. For example, in New York City there are more than 50,000 students on waiting lists for admission to charter schools. The per-pu- pil expenditure tops $20,000 a year. If all the students on the waiting list were able to be admitted to charter schools, that would translate into a billion-dollar loss by the tradition- al public schools. A substantial de- cline in traditional public school at- tendance would mean fewer teachers employed. That would mean declin- ing union dues since most charter school teachers are not union mem- bers. Charter schools' rate of growth since the 1990s has been significant. From 2001 to 2016, enrollment at tra- Continued on page 7 Continued on page 7 Continued on page 7 Continued on page 7 Continued on page 7 Wrestling with evil When serial killer Ted Bundy was executed by the State of Florida [Jan- uary 1989], columnist Jack Anderson wrote, "Justice was served, but there were no winners." Anderson was acknowledging that there was, at least for him, room for the death penalty for the most egre- gious crimes, yet at the same time evil had not been vanished from soci- ety. There will be more Ted Bundy's. The US Penitentiary at Terre Haute is in the news. Three execu- tions are scheduled for July and one in August. A small group has been gathering almost daily at the prison southwest of Terre Haute to protest the death penalty and these upcom- ing executions. Those scheduled to die are Dan- iel Lewis Lee found guilty of kill- ing a family of three in Arkansas; Lezmond Mitchell who stabbed to death a 63-year-old grandmother and her 9 -year-old granddaughter in Arizona; Wesley Ira Purkey who raped, murdered and dismembered a 16 -year-old girl in Missouri; and Alfred Bourgeois of Texas who tor- tured, sexually molested and then beat to death his 2-year-old daughter. The only purpose for describing these men's crimes is to provoke us to wrestle with the concept of evil and the need for law and order. It is obvious that the crimes committed by these men are considered heinous and evil and the perpetrators deserve severe punishment. Nevertheless, why punish with death. Crimes are crimes and any- way how can you call these men evil. Humanists have rejected the con- cept of sin [evil] but still debate its causes, and who, if anyone, is to blame. These are not just academ- ic questions because our entire sys- tem of morality hinges upon the le- gitimacy of punishing "lawbreakers." Because there are men and women who live among us who without some form of social restraint- i.e. law and punishment - would terrorize their community. We can argue until the end of time if there is evil and why, but the reali- ty is there are some individuals who prey upon others unmercifully; for civilization to exist, evil must be re- strained and for the public good a mechanism for accountability and punishment be established. The question remains what do you do with individuals who are a literal threat to the stability of civi- lization. Throughout human histo- ry all groups of people have enacted "laws" for those who will not follow proscribed rules for group living. For capital crimes, universally the sen- tence was death or banishment. That was how the "ancients" dealt with evil. We are far removed from superstition and ignorance and are more sophisticated than our ances- tors were. Nevertheless, evil still confronts us and still shocks our sense of de- cency. The objection to using the death penalty is: it is unfair, it is not uniformly applied, it is barbaric, and what about the criminal element in government? Other protest saying, "When we have a law against X YZ, then I'll sup- port the death penalty" is ludicrous because it suggests all acts of evil should be considered equally; steal- ing a birdbath from your neighbor's yard is not morally equivalent to mur- dering eight student nurses. Most objections to the death pen- alty rest upon legitimate issues, but talk does not offer solutions to the is- sue of evil and how to punish the evil [doers] among us. One protestor at the Terre Haute Penitentiary said, "The Bible speaks of love." Absolutely! At the same time is also says "lawlessness leads to more lawlessness," and "sin is law- lessness." As previously mentioned, human- ists dismiss sin as the root of lawless- ness; but sin is the definition of evil. Sin and evil are defined by the Ten Commandments. Within this frame- work is the foundation for the family and sexuality, the prohibition against murder, lying, theft, and greed. The purpose of the Law of Moses was to establish a "law" or a "code of conduct" for the Hebrews. With- in the "Law," there were blessings and curses, or penalties for capital offenses. As the western world slowly adopt- ed Christianity as the moral for daily I was so glad to read the story of our beloved dentist, Dr. Howard Dun- igan. It is a fitting honor to have him featured in our local paper and learn about his career, like the time be- fore he decided to enroll in the Den- tal school, his education, and his ser- vice in the Armed Forces during the Korean conflict. Many times during my visits to his office, we would talk and com- pare notes about his journey and my father's journey in the field of den- tistry. My father, now deceased, was a captain in the Medical-Dental unit of the Philippine Army and Red Cross during W W2. When my Dad returned to civilian life after the war and did a combination of private prac- tice and employment with a couple of companies, I learned first-hand how dentists practiced their profession. I got to be my Dad's assistant while I was in college. I saw how hard the work was in doing a variety of things such as cleaning teeth, giving anes- thetics, drilling through very hard tooth enamel, and how they sweat when trying to extract firmly im- pacted teeth. I saw the relief pa- tients got when the severe ache from an infected tooth and gums were re- lieved, the new look and smile patients had when they got fitted with partial or full dentures. I can imagine how re- warding it is for Dr. Dunigan to have helped thousands of patients coming from the local and the outlying areas. For a dedicated human being giving his life to his profession, working very long hours, and doing a super great job, that is in- deed marvelously amazing. Dr. Dunigan, there are not enough words to say thank you for 60 years of faithful work. You have been a bless- ing to this community. Now the lega- cy has transferred to your son, Greg, who followed in your footsteps. Let us not forget the very import- ant supporting cast like Dr. Dun- igan's wife, Grace, who ran the of- fice so efficiently, and who took care of so many things as well, scheduling appoint- ments, dealing with insur- ance, keeping schedules on time, budgeting, order- ing supplies, organizing the support staff, and on and on. Grace, our gratitude also ex- tends to your great contribu- tion to the success story. It proves there is truth in the saying,"Behind a great man is a great woman who is the hidden force." To those who served in Dr. Dun- igan's office such as dental assis- tants, hygienists and receptionists, we extend our appreciation. It indeed takes a great team to handle a com- plex operation like a dental office. ••• Having gone through the same path called retirement after my 45 years of work in the health care field, my advice to Dr. Dunigan is to contin- My Point of View By Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Dr. Dunigan deserves recognition for career