Religion

 Religious Beliefs All Share Common Themes

All are Important

 

Growing up in Southern California in the 1950s, my mother took me to her Episcopalian church for Sunday School and services. I was baptized in her church, served as an altar boy, and joined the youth group. I learned lessons from the Bible and participated in services without ever questioning any of it. I learned there were Jews in Palestine and some of the Old Testament tales of their travails. I suppose I knew there were other brands of Christianity, but I had little exposure to them or their followers.

 

At my progressive high school, I was exposed to many other religious beliefs. The kids in my school came from all over the world. Some were Jews, some Muslim, some Quaker, some atheist, some agnostic and some from a sprinkling of Christian denominations. Some of them went to Sunday services in nearby churches, but many of us went to a patch of woods by the Main House and had our own. Those services were less about God than about spirituality and the many ways that gets expressed. 

 

My post high school anti-poverty work in Southern African American communities exposed me to Gospel and other segments of Black churches. I saw emotional connections to religious beliefs for the first time in their services. I later learned of Kwanza and, Glen Grothman’s criticism notwithstanding, felt their unifying messages. 

 

Later in my professional career, I worked with Greens and Native American Tribes in Northern Wisconsin trying to protect the water and our treaty obligations. I attended many Anishinaabe pow wows with my family and experienced a nature-based spirituality unlike any of my other religious experiences. 

 

Older spiritual systems, Pagan and Druid, added their own elements. We still observe the Solstices and passage of the seasons.

 

My own spirituality combines elements from all of these. I still tear up at the Hallelujah Chorus or Ode to Joy. Other classical music of the season is as familiar as when I first heard it. I do know many of the traditional carols by heart and have been known to sing along. I rejoice in Gospel and the songs of the drum from Africa and Northern Wisconsin.  

 

All of these share, at this time of the year, a thankfulness for the bounty our Earth provides, the joys of family gatherings, and a reconnection with the core tenants of their belief systems. It is a time of giving and sharing that is all too fleeting. 

 

On this Christmas Eve, one of the holiest of the Christian faith, my family and I wish all of you, no matter how or what you believe, all the joys of the season and for a peaceful and healthy New Year.

 

Don Kriefall

 Don Kriefall, Seriously?

 

Washington County Board Chair Don Kriefall once again graced these pages with a fact free attack on public-school educators and Democrats. For a supposed non-partisan elected official, Kriefall showed his true colors as a partisan hack spewing nonsense. 

 

Kriefall’s column last week Friday was a thinly veiled call to arms for all those itching to dismantle public education. Perhaps his continued vitriol was stoked by the serial losses by those who challenged sitting school board members across Wisconsin in recent recall elections, most notably, the ones in the nearby Mequon-Thiensville School District. 

 

Without a shred of evidence to support his assertions, Kriefall claims that public school students forced into virtual learning during the pandemic allowed their parents to witness first-hand the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

No one has produced any evidence to show that our county’s K-12 schools teach Critical Race Theory. I seriously doubt that Kriefall even knows what that obscure law school course even contains. From his previous comments, it appears that he has bought into the unfounded conspiracy theory that conflates all teaching of truthful American History about slavery, native American genocide, and other not so nice actions of our Caucasian ancestors along with the teaching of concepts like empathy, kindness, respect and caring into the CRT cauldron. 

 

Having whipped up the fears of his like-minded cohorts, he further fanned the flames by accusing the government of branding those who stand up to speak at school board meetings as “terrorists.” The Department of Justice was asked to investigate actual threats of violence and physical harm to public school board members from those who were unhappy about the blown- up version of CRT they were led to believe infested their public schools. 

 

No one has ever claimed that merely voicing an opinion about public school curriculum or policy at a school board meting is “terrorism.” Given the First Amendment’s right to petition the government for the redress of grievances, no government prosecutor or law enforcement agency would ever brand mere speech as “terroristic.” Civil discourse is critical to the continuation of our democracy.  Threats of violence against individual public servants not protected speech are quite another matter, clearly warranting governmental response. 

 

Finally, Kriefall lumps all Democrats into to group that must be eliminated from the public sector for their supposed support of “leftist” “Marxist” public education. Our Republic is not and never should be a one-party state. It’s improvement, growth and prosperity depend upon the multitude of voices in the body public. Democrats and Republicans, Independents and Greens, Socialists and Conservatives have and can work together to find solutions to our common problems in a civil and constructive manner. Our elected officials should welcome such constructive activity, not condemn it. 

 

Public education is supported by tax dollars and entrusted to locally elected school boards to spend those dollars wisely and in accordance with accepted educational policies and practices. Unlike private or charter schools, public schools must take on every child that walks through their front door. They are charged with teaching each child where they are on the education spectrum in a caring and nurturing environment. That is exactly what our schools try to do each day with dedicated and professional educators guiding students to become productive members of our society. 

 

Kriefall is correct in one part of his argument. If you don’t like what is going on in government or public education and want your voice to be heard, you should run for public office. If your campaign offers constructive ideas to fix a problem, sensible solutions to difficult issues, a positive view of what can and should be accomplished, you might be lucky enough to convince enough voters to rally to your banner. Don’t bother if your goal is just to dismantle what you do not like, most voters will see through the charade. 

 

We might dare to hope that our County Board Chairman one day might tell us what he is for and not just what he is against. We would do well with a Chair who offered a meaningful response to the low percentage of COVID vaccinations among Washington County residents when compared to our Ozaukee County neighbors and the rest of Wisconsin. We would prosper with a Chair who acknowledges that we need to learn from our history to avoid the mistakes of our ancestors.

 

Mr. Kriefall, the time of divide and conquer politics and the demonization of your opponents is coming to an end. We want solutions, not condemnation. We want constructive and civil dialog from our public officials. Elected officials are put in their offices to represent all their constituents, not just those who might agree with you. It is time to grow up.