'Infidel' book ban repeal unlikely
"Kentucky's century-old "infidel" books ban might be archaic and unconstitutional, but don't look for it to disappear any time soon, lawmakers said this week.
"Republicans and Democrats alike predict legislators will shy away from the issue when they convene in 2007.
"Many of my colleagues are fearful of taking a vote that would tend to put them on the side of infidels," said state Rep. Kathy Stein, D-Lexington.
"Lawmakers expressed shock when they were told of the existence of the law that says "no book or other publication of a sectarian, infidel or immoral character, or that reflects on any religious denomination, shall be used or distributed in any common school."
"But as news spread this week, politicians questioned the wisdom of removing it from the statutes.
"There's nobody that wants to get on record saying 'I'm against God and Christianity,'" said state Sen. David Karem, D-Louisville."
This ran in the Lexington, KY HERALD-LEADER. While my first instinct was to laugh out loud at the language of the Kentucky law I quickly caught myself as I thought about the fact that in America, founded on principles of freedom of expression, religion and the like that political hacks of either party felt they had to be more like the Taliban than enlightened Americans. Banning the infidel runs through fundamentalist thought but thinking like that that cannot stand up to critical examination is, I submit, not worth the paper it is printed on. To be fearful of a handful of radical religious "nuts" that, although they have captured the presidency of the United States, are, and will remain for some time to come, a fringe group is simply unAmerican. Stand up Kentucky lawmakers. Repeal this law and join the 21st Century.
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