*Note* OK, so I’ve been meaning to write about this for a
couple of weeks now and just haven’t gotten around to it … now that it’s old
news I guess it’s time for me to do it.
When I started this blog I intended it to be for topics
outside of my usual writings (entertainment and sports). Topics that I was
interested in like politics, human rights, morals, wrongs and rights in this
country and the world. I honestly didn’t really think that I’d ever write about
a local incident (thought there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of them around)
that I found despicable, but here I am early on in this blog doing just that …
A couple of weeks ago I either read or was told about a
story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about the Little Rock Christian Academy
rejecting a student who they initially were going to accept when they found out
that the child was a Mormon.
The 35-year old Christian Academy no longer allows members
of the Mormon Church to attend its school because as school board member Carla
Emanuel puts it in a quote from the ADG: “It’s very, very sneaky when people
come in, especially in elementary and junior high grades where the kids are
very influenced. It’s frightening how quickly things can get turned around. They
are called to do that, which is fine. But then start a Mormon school.” (By the
way, it’s interesting how people are OK with being outed as bigots by having
themselves quoted in newspapers)
Emanuel’s quote today about a Mormon student being allowed
into LR Christian Academy honestly doesn’t sound much different than what I’m
sure some white people were saying back in 1957 when nine African-American
students tried to integrate Little Rock’s Central High School. However, people
do more frequently and freely seem to throw their bigotry around when they feel
like they’re backed up by religion.
I understand that the Little Rock Christian Academy is a
private school and that private schools can dictate who they allow into their
schools and why they will or won’t let someone into their school, but I’ve got
to say that what Little Rock Christian Academy has done in this scenario goes
beyond that because it seems to be completely against everything they are
supposed to be about. Not allowing a Mormon student into their school because
he is different (it’s a four-year old kid by the way who likely doesn’t know Mormonism
from Jupiter) is decidedly un-Christian. It’s bigotry. It’s prejudice. It’s
hate. That’s evident in quotes like those of Emanuel’s. If this is the kind of
stuff that the Little Rock Christian Academy stands for than I’d hate to see
the kind of adults they turn out. Is the school a breeding ground for bigots?
It’s probably not, but if many of them are taught to treat other religions,
other peoples differently than maybe, at the same time, it is. I’m sure most of
the students will follow the lead of their institution. If this is the lead
that they’re following than I feel they’re being poorly educated in the ways of
true Christianity.
I don’t see how parents can allow their children to remain
enrolled at the Little Rock Christian Academy when seeing the school
participate in something as un-Christian as not allowing a student because
their faith is different than the majority of the others. I don’t care how
great a school may be academically if they’re showing my children that it’s OK
to banish those who aren’t like us.
Upon seeing this story I don’t believe it’s right or fair
for this school to include the word Christian in their name. I feel bad for the
young boy and his family who’ve been refused and I also feel bad for the students
attending this school, for fear they’ve been shown the wrong way.
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