Local Church Services State For Free
Here’s an e-mail we just received from a Friend that raises all sorts of questions, enjoy!
Eastside Church in Fullerton is conducting a large scale service day today. Not all, but most of the projects were at public school campuses. I am very appreciative of the service to the needy which is taking place with this initiative. Sending out hundreds of people to clean, make repairs and generally assist public schools in doing what they are paid to do already is further propagating what I believe to be that most tragic of notions, that PUBLIC EDUCATION IS UNDERFUNDED…HARDLY. Before reading on, understand that many Fullerton teachers have already expressed concern that this endeavor is “taking jobs.” Believe me, that’s the only part of this that makes me smile.
I understand that Eastside’s mission is to be ‘out in the community’ and not locked behind the confines of their church. I applaud that. However, I count on (increasingly foolishly it seems) traditional community church’s like Eastside to be populated by wiser-than-typical parishioners who understand many of the most obvious problems in our state and country.
As I write this as one who works to remain informed of local school government, I know that several of the current Fullerton School District Trustees are hopeful that a new parcel tax can be passed so that we can pay an even larger percentage of our incomes to an educational system which has allowed unions to lobby any possibility for significant fiscal or moral change for that matter, out of existence.
As public education has become a jobs program and reward for liberal public employees and voters, we cannot:
- Volunteer teach without union approval.
- Terminate incompetent teachers within a timeframe that does not waste tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. My daughter and her classmates are currently enduring this teacher union supported injustice and waste of taxpayer dollars.
- Break the back of the cancerous philosophy of compensation within a matrix of TIME SERVED and EDUCATION ACHIEVED which utterly ignores competence or performance.
- Liberally outsource functions which could drastically reduce cost and improve performance.
Those are just a small sampling of the changes which could literally solve the problems of public education but for the insane axiom dejour that teachers are heroes simply because they are teachers. Today, Eastside unwittingly (well…not so unwittingly) bolsters the notion that teachers are underpaid even though the turnover is nil for a job that thousands apply for and few ever leave before retirement. Public teaching is a job which offers a fixed pension, summers off and nearly ironclad job security for the tenured.
The votes and common sense rationale of Christian church communities in America is one of our only remaining hopes for a continuing America which is of, by and for the people. If they too drink from the Kool-Aid of mistaking subordinating taxes with our labor as being a form of service and not a form of foolishness, then our problems were greater than I previously thought.
Most depressing have been the arguments which I have heard defending Eastside’s service to government.
- This will somehow lead to a diminishing of today’s false understanding of the separation of church and state (which I certainly agree that this has become a misguided tirade of the left).I believe the reverse to be true. This foolish service will give fuel to the fire of those who ridiculously opine that any mention of God in a Public venue is a violation of the First Amendment.
- That end times are near anyway, so what difference does it make?I’m not sure how to respond to this. I guess then that we should just ignore any fight to preserve our constitutional government and just go pick flowers?
- Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s…Ironically, this is the best argument of all to think this stuff through. From the Christian perspective, I would certainly think that America and her accompanying freedom would be considered to be an amazing gift from God. I have news for Christians who use this as an excuse to remain blind (frequently mistaking this for politeness) to political issues. You are squandering what is one of the greatest gifts from God in our time. A free America.
I believe Eastside Church to be a great place both run by and attended by terrific people. However, it would be unsupportive to stand by silently as they contribute to the very problems which most threaten government’s subordinate position to the people and in so doing, weakening the very principles which protect freedom of religion in our country.
Lest anybody think that I am over the top, understand that I am a believer in local change. There is little hope for wisdom on a grand scale if there is none on a local scale.
As an atheist, and one who will cite the establishment clause at the drop of a hat, this has absolutely nothing to do with the separation of church and state.
I’m trying to figure out how that got shoehorned into this article.
Of course the teachers have nothing to do with the initial item noted. I can’t tell how this is anything more than an excuse to gripe about unions and the first amendment.
JC, attribute the title and the image to me not the author. If there is a disconnection between the post title, the image and the content of this post it is my fault.
Thans for the clarification, though I’m still concerned by the two out of nowhere attacks (one ad hominem, one argument from ignorance) by the author against supporters of the first amendment. As well as the tanget of the screed against the teachers union.
The post seems to be Eastside is doing good things (which I agree they are,) Teacher’s unions are bad, Screw the people that cite The Constitution. Followed by an odd interpretation of Matthew 22:21 and a reiteration of Eastside is doing good works.
I suppose I am just confused as I can see no better motive than the author using Eastside’s generosity as a vehicle to spread their own prejudices (which the author states isn’t in line with Eastside) in the guise of support.
JC, I think by admin’s own acknowledgement, his headline paints the letter as being focused on the first amendment. It is not. The reason I went down that path is that one of Eastside’s leaders cited the misunderstanding of what the first amendment is for as one of the benefits of this type of event. I did not agree with him on that point. However I do agree with him that the assertions by over-reaching first amendment supporters tend to be ridiculous. That amendment was not created so that people who don’t like Christians or any religion for that matter will not have to be subjected to any religious symbols or messages. It was only intended to ensure that there will be no state religion established. Clearly that has been no state religion established, nor do I believe we are in much danger of there being one established. While I’m sure they’re out there, I have yet to meet a Christian that does not agree that there should be no state religion in America. Religious peoples are free too. And they have a right to all of the same facilities and services as atheists and agnostics.
Though, according to the supreme court, government sponsorship of a religion is implied by funding or a government employee leading a prayer. Or allowing government land to be used to promote one religion over another.
As I said this has nothing to do with the first amendment, but to claim that sponsorship is not the same as establishment is foolish in the face of the rulings on the matter.
I’m glad that you agree that the government shouldn’t establish a state religion, but I’d hope that you realize that that can be done implicitly as well as explicitly though you seem to think the establishment clause only applies to the latter.
Actually I should shut up, if you feel you should reply to my latest reply feel free to do so, but I won’t proceed. As you said this was not meant to be a public letter and I apologize for dragging it out.
I also had an email to the admin publicly displayed when all I was asking was a private response. I’m sorry for going to that extreme.
Once again, sorry that I contributed to making it bigger than you were aiming for.
JC
Holy crap Admin! I just wanted your personal opinion on the note I was posting to my Eastside friends in Facebook, not a post with pictures and a provocative headline! Oh well. Spilled milk.
Please read this understanding that it was intended as a note in Facebook which I hoped would be read by my 20+ friends that attend Eastside and participated in their service day. It was not written with the blog audience in mind. It was an is my hope to get some at Eastside to understand the ramifications of their charitable support of public education. I may deal more with that below.
I just removed this image from the post:
Admin,
I think the bigger issue is that you should review your publishing guidelines. I previously wrote a letter expecting an individual reply that ended up being posted, and now I’m seeing a second example of the same, who knows how many others got more than expected.
Or maybe it’s only me that thinks journalistic integrity should default to off the record.
JC, you can forget the “journalistic integrity” thing since we are not journalists. We actually get a lot e-mails from people some of whom seem to think we are some sort of Dear Abby. Others specifically ask that their identities be protected – and we have done that.
The problem of one-on-one communication is obvious. We’ve done it in the past to ferret out an engaging issue. If you don’t want your thoughts published then please say so.
Well it’s interesting that you claim not to be journalists.
I think that at the very least you should mention on the contact form that any questions or comments sent via email are not considered private communication.
Hello Admin,
I do not know why teachers would say that Eastside Christian Church volunteers are taking jobs from classroom teachers They are not. The group that is concerned is the classified employees association whose union is the California School Employees Association (CSEA). CSEA includes instructional assistants and their jobs are not threaten by the volunteers work either.
Since the great depression of 2008 ( oops, let me obamasize this phrase to the great recession of 2008) parents can’t afford the overpriced exclusivity of Eastside’s private school. Eastside is indulging in propaganda via Bible scripture good works clause. Nice try, Eastside , but why should parents pay for some broad who can’t pass an eighth grade reading, writing, math test and thus can’t get a credential qualifying her to teach in a public school.
The only affiliation the school has with the church is the name. Legally separate entities with entirely different leadership.
Let me see if I can streamline my intended message.
Eastside Church should not donate services to public schools because it aids the cause of unions by bolstering their false message of financial need. Public education financing and management has been utterly polluted by the influence of unions which has come to pass because of foolish beliefs by the average voter.
To Minard’s point, it is the teacher’s union (rather than the classified) which holds most of that influence, because not only do they pour enormous sums of money into the pockets of politicians, but they hold the hearts and minds of people who do not know how to distinguish between great teachers which they love and the self-serving lying, destructive unions to which they belong.
A tiny percentage of the population understands that nearly all of the rules which regulate how schools can be financed and managed come from two places. The first being rules that were directly lobbied for by unions which are designed to increase their pay without respect to performance, limit their accountability, ensure that all new monies go in their pockets and to maximize their job security…again without regard to their performance.
The second is in direct response to the first. Anti-union forces have categorized funds in a way that disallows them from being applied to teachers salaries and benefits. The result in an unmitigated mess. However, unions have won. In the case of the Fullerton School District nearly 90% of revenues go towards salaries and benefits.
This entire problem could be substantively fixed in a couple of election cycles if the voters woke up. However, they do not wake up because the messages of “teachers are underpaid” and “public education is underfunded” are very powerful.
Even though all of the above is true, people continue to characterize public education as being in dire need of cash. The truth is that they are in dire need of cash in the context of the ridiculous rules which must be adhered to in managing school districts. In my post, if you look at the 4 bullet points under Admin’s street sign, those are examples of simple and dramatic changes which could fix the problems of public education if they were allowed.
So a friend of mine who probably has at least a dozen IQ points on me disagrees with my main point on this same post in Facebook. His comment was so good however, that it demanded being featured here:
“I won’t ask the “underfunded” question because I know you are right. I agree the notions are real, my description as “inane notions” was not meant to discount the reality of public perception. I agree that this public perception needs to change. I might actually add to your main point; the CA educational system is overfunded; our children are underfunded. I disagree with the generalization that “teachers are underpaid” but I would say many GOOD teachers are underpaid in their early years and thanks to the wonderful union demand of tenure; bad ones are overpaid by 100%. I believe we could provide better education, a safer learning environment, a better moral/social foundation, save taxpayer monies and at the same time attract and pay good teachers a good salary. This will be one difficult task given the entrenched supporters/propagators of this great scam. That being said I still applaud the Eastgate day of service with the caveat that I understand it is needed because our system has failed us not because we have failed to provide enough tax monies or the system is underfunded.
This whole issue reminds me of something I heard back in High school; “If you can’t teach, administrate, if you can’t do either; run for the school board.”
As far as being a “respected member” of my community I have to admit “invisible” might be a better descriptor when it comes to me and local politics. I need to do more; we all need to do more.”
Get rid of the extraneous, repetitive phrasing. Shorten your sentences. If you can’t say it in 600 words or less, then go back and edit for clarity.
I really have no idea what a “journalist” is but I know that I am not one. I believe our form does has a place to request anonymity; as for publishing your thoughts (without attribution), I don’t know what the objection is: if you’ve made a good point others may profit from it.
So there is, I stand corrected.
JC, please remind me what it was of yours I published that you sent to me via email.
The email I wrote asking about party affiliations. though as The Harpoon pointed out there is a checkbox for anonymity, so I apologize for my poor memory.