By Clay Wirestone | opinion editor
Good morning! Editor Sherman Smith has decamped for a week of so of well-deserved vacation, and I’ll be your helpful guide in the meantime. Let’s begin with Sunday columnist Max McCoy on our nation’s big upcoming birthday.
Max McCoy / Kansas Reflector
OPINION
Regrets, but I’m sitting this one out until everyone’s welcome at America’s birthday party
By Max McCoy
Today the Trump administration is hosting an all-day prayer festival on the National Mall, partially funded with millions in taxpayer dollars, to “rededicate” America to God — and to promote Christian nationalism.
It’s all part of America’s 250th birthday celebration, which has been co-opted by the current administration and its minions to convey an overtly partisan message. That message seeks to fabricate an American founding that never was in order to justify an imperial presidency that was never intended.
“It will feature mostly evangelical Protestant leaders and members of the Trump administration,” reported the Washington Post, “many of whom have embraced the message that America’s founders wanted the country to be explicitly Christian.”
The event — called a “jubilee” by organizers — marks the collapse of what remained of the Constitutional firewall between church and state, a concept first articulated by the most famous of founders, Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, ratified July 4, 1776. It is America’s founding document and includes the immortal line, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Jefferson’s thinking was influenced by British philosopher John Locke, who argued for government by consent of the governed. His writing was informed by George Mason of Virginia, who earlier advanced similar ideas about equality, but without Jefferson’s literary power.
The separation of church and state was formalized by the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which is just 45 words long but enumerates our rights concerning religion, speech, assembly and the press, and our right to petition for a redress of grievances.
Rhode Island Senate
Shifting attitudes on menopause drive lawmakers to push for new protections
When Jacqueline Perez started experiencing symptoms of menopause in her early 50s, the brain fog was so severe, she thought she had early-onset dementia.
Perez, who founded a website dedicated to normalizing aging for women, said she gained more than 30 pounds and struggled with depression for months before she found a health provider who tested her hormone levels and recommended hormone replacement therapy for low estrogen.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kansas Reflector staff will participate in the following free public forums.
6:30 p.m. June 12, Kansas Museum of History in Topeka. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone will join a panel discussion: "From the Desk of William Allen White: What Can Journalism Today Learn from the Sage of Emporia?"
5:30 p.m. June 16, Bradbury Alumni Center at Washburn University in Topeka. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
6 p.m. June 24, Groover Labs in Wichita. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
6 p.m. June 25, Clint Bowyer Community Building in Emporia. Editor-in-chief Sherman Smith will lead a discussion on the proposed constitutional amendment to elect Kansas Supreme Court justices. Host: Kansas Appleseed. Register here.
7 p.m. June 27, Park City Senior Center. Host: Park City Community Pride.
2 p.m. Sept. 27, Red Rocks Visitor Center in Emporia. Host: Red Rocks.
If you're interested in having us talk in your town, email Sherman Smith at [email protected].
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