In Missouri, a certain religious sect demanded that a certain high school forego their annual dance because, according to the sect, "Dancing is evil and is a device of the Devil". It is hard to believe that in this day and age people would have such ridiculous and archaic superstitions.
Admittedly, I don't dance. I can't dance, and I don't particularly care to learn to dance. I also never enjoy myself much at dances. In fact, at most dances in ten minutes I'm late for the door. As a matter of fact, I generally don't give a damn about dancing or dances. What I am concerned about is the reason why this dance in Missouri was banned. After all, there is supposed to be a separation of Church and State in this country. Fortunately for the rest of us, back in the day Thomas Jefferson had the wisdom to see the abuse of power which would result if Church and State were not separate. Thus, Jefferson helped make sure that Church and State were separate entities in America. Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court (in the early '90s) set our nation back several centuries by allowing this ban to be upheld. (to be cont'd)
[The original version of this essay first appeared in Eastern Connecticut State University's Campus Lantern student newspaper in the early '90s and in my unpublished manuscript "In Mediocrity We Trust... In Debt We Die" And Other Essays.]
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