Each Day Already is a Challenge

Pondering

I asked a question in a moderator forum - because the question had been posed to me. I thought I would dump it here as well.

The E rating says that there will be no reference to violence. If one writes a children's story about Jesus that merely mentions that Jesus died, that should qualify as an E-rated story, right? Death isn't necessarily violent, although we know that in the case of Jesus' death...

If one uses the phrase "died on the cross", which implies violence, does that change the rating to ASR or 13+? If so, then how does one write a children's story about Jesus?

I have to admit that as a child, I didn't know that the death of Jesus on the cross was a violent experience. Even as an adult for a while, I guess I chose to not think about what happened too much. It wasn't until I read the words of a doctor about what would have happened to Jesus that I realized the full extent of the wounds and the pain. Then, of course just a few years ago when the Mel Gibson movie came out, I cried like everyone else in the theater when I saw how horrible it must have been.

Received in my inbox today: Ohio Bans the Name of Jesus from the Statehouse. http://www.newswithviews.com/Johnston/patrick13.htm This article points out that at the same time that Jefferson penned the words "separation of church and state" in a letter to a pastor, he was presiding over public schools in Washington, D.C. where the books used to teach were a Bible and a hymnal.

This article mentions this Supreme Court ruling in 1892. It's rather dull reading until towards the end where it shows why, indeed, this was a Christian nation, at the beginning and still in 1892. It says, "These and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation." http://home.aol.com/TestOath/HolyTrinityOp1-2.htm

The first article also provided a link to something about secular humanism and whether or not it is/was a religion. Interesting reading. Sounds like it's considered a religion when it's convenient and not a religion when someone wants it to be taught in schools.
http://members.aol.com/Patriarchy/definitions/humanism_religion.htm