Column by Taylor Shelton

The past several weeks have brought an extremely interesting set of debates to the pages of the Kernel and the Web site comments that accompany the online edition. In fact, I find it delightful to see a sustained debate over issues that are of some importance — whether they are important or helpful to all or most may be an entirely different matter.

The mere fact that such a debate can be had on our campus is a testament to what I see as the ultimate ideal of our university, our state and our nation.

For all of the meaningful discussion of politics, religion, culture and what it means to be this or that, we are confronted with an amazingly large portion of our population who have very little or no interest in such a constructive exchange.

Individuals like Daniel Essek, a Whitley County resident whose claim to fame, until now, was garnering 14 percent of the vote in a primary challenge to Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell this past May.

He now has, however, the dubious distinction of calling into question the legal qualifications of President-elect Barack Obama to be our next commander in chief; specifically challenging that soon-to-be President Obama was not born in the United States and is thus not legally able to serve as president.

Perhaps rather than worrying about the future president’s birth certificate, Essek, who is also seeking to have court fees waived because he claims to be impoverished, should be worrying about how to make a living in an economy in recession or in what ways he might be able to contribute to rebuilding a nation that has lost its luster on any number of levels.

Unfortunately, Essek doesn’t seem to be alone in his odd quest to waste everyone’s time with trivialities (which have already been proven untrue).

Because of this, we have some considerable soul searching to do. What is it that makes us so eager to jump on the bandwagon of hate and ignorance? When was it that thinking became such a taboo activity?

Instead of working through our differences in the spirit of free and enlightened thought, we become preoccupied with lashing out at the preachers who proclaim that our destinies are in hell. Perhaps it is too easy for us to generalize that all Christians are intolerant or that all non-Christians are sin-loving devil worshippers.

I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I know that I don’t like it. Professions that some are more or less moral, more or less ignorant, more or less inclined to uphold “Christian values” or more or less American, are the antithesis of our country’s founding principles.

A dogmatic adherence to Christianity was not written into our Constitution, as much as some wish it were. Likewise, a steadfast hatred of those not like one’s self is not somehow the mark of a “patriotic” American.

Freedom of religion should not mean the dominance of a single denomination. Freedom of speech should not mean freedom to say anything, regardless of how offensive, slanderous or poorly thought out such a statement may be. The freedom to assemble should not be limited to those assemblies that bring favor to those in power. The right to bear arms should not mean the right to inflict harm on another. And the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness should most certainly not be limited only to those wealthy, straight, white and Christian males that still dominate the halls of government in our country. And while it hasn’t always worked out as such in practice, the thing that makes our country special is spelled out in the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

We should, regardless of our religious denomination, political party affiliation, race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status or thoughts about the recently dismal state of some UK athletic teams, make sure that each and every thought we think, word we say and action we do express the fullest respect for one another. That’s what our country was supposed to be about. So why don’t we start acting like it?