blog entry

On the road

Alison Piepmeier

A quick (and late!) post today from the road.  I’ve just arrived in Tennessee, where my family lives, for an extended holiday visit.  As you all know, I haven’t been feeling the holiday excitement this year, so perhaps I’m in a more critical state of mind.  Whatever the reason, I was chagrined--although not surprised--to see that the Cookeville, TN, courthouse lawn is decorated with a Jesus-Mary-and-Joseph nativity scene.  This is an obvious violation of the separation of church and state, but challenging that violation could make you very, very unpopular in this town.  When the new mayor – a guy I went to high school with, who’s actually incredibly cool – started his term in office by replacing the “Dear Jesus” prayer before City Council meetings with a moment of silence, it was seen as such a radical move that many of the churches in town turned against him, and the local paper was abuzz with angry letters to the editor.  So I guess he, and other like-minded folks in town, decided it wasn’t worth the effort to fight the statue of the baby Jesus.