How Far Does The Separation Of Church & State Extend?

How Far Does The Separation Of Church & State Extend?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to Charleston's Morning News on ninety four to
three WSC. Now back to Kelly and Blaze with.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Some rare good news when it comes to ratings in
South Carolina.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Welcome in.

Speaker 4 (00:16):
Yeah, South Carolina has some of the safest hospitals in
the entire country, which is great news. And new report
claims that most hospitals in South Carolina are safer than
the hospitals and other states. Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit
watchdog that keeps track of patient safety, recently released its
Fall twenty twenty five Hospital Safety Grades report, which ranked

(00:37):
South Carolina hospitals as the tenth safest for patients in
the entire country. Overall, more than forty one percent of
hospitals in the state received an A rate ranking. The
rankings are based on factors such as patient accidents, injuries, infections,
medical errors, and more. If you want more information on
a specific hospital, you can go to Hospital Safetygrade dot org.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
I mean, this is.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Huge, you know, South Carolina. Whether we talk education or affordability,
I mean, we tend to be on the wrong side
of statistics, and this is you know, I'm applauding this.
And interestingly, they actually update their numbers twice a year,
so they give these grades out in the spring and
the fall when they call through this data, whether you
were talking about infections or injuries or accidents, so way

(01:28):
to go South Carolina.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
Well, it's good to know, and it would be good
to know about each specific hospital, right, And I went
through and I was kind of surprised at some.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Of the rankings depending on it is that specific to
our area?

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Can you quite literally go it? Just put your it's.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
Across the whole state? Well, so you can look it
up through zip code, you can look it up by state,
you can look it up by different filters, but anyway
you can go through. And I was scrolling through who
got the a's, who.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Got the b's, the a's and the naves.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, that that statistic forty one percent with a's, that's great,
But I am curious once you you know, call down
the list there you know, is there a huge gap
between the a's and the c's or d's or f's,
Meaning do we have you know, really great hospitals and
then pretty terrible ones.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
Well, I'll liken it to the rating you see on
a restaurant when you walk in the door. Do you
want to see a B or a C.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
Oh, well yeah, this is oh, this is goodly to.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
And are you like, well, how close are they? It's
close enough. C's fine.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
This conversation could go off forever.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
I'll never forget, you know, walking with a group of
friends and it was we were gonna, you know, had
a reservation, gonna have a little birthday party. And I
think there's like six of us, and we walked up
to the door and there was a.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Bee on the restaurant door.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
And do you you want to guess how many of
the six said we're not going in five?

Speaker 3 (03:08):
No, less than half. I couldn't believe it. I was like, really,
I think it was a Mexican restaurant too.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
It was just one of those things where I'm like,
huh okay. Now, my my ex husband he would he
would never go into a place that I would be
on the door.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah, I don't know. You know, the bees may be
a little less alarming once you get to see no thanks.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
I don't think I've ever seen a sea seen a
sea on the restaurant door.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Well, and at some point they'll just shut them down,
right my goodness.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Well, and then there you know, to be fair.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I remember working in a bakery and I mean they
docked us for something, you know, going through their health a.
It was the most ridiculous thing. I mean that place
was clean and amazing and pristine. I know because I,
you know, put my own sweat, blood, sweat and tears
into that place to keep it clean and nice. And
it was something ridiculous like someone through a baking wrapping

(04:08):
paper that had Greece in it and the wrong trash
bin in. I mean, they docked these people. I mean,
this business owner. I couldn't believe it. So sometimes it
just depends, you know, those gratings with restaurants, but good
for them when they are measuring here with regards to hospitals,
I don't think this has ever really.

Speaker 3 (04:28):
Talked about enough.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
No good for South Carolina tenth best for hospitals in
the nation. The Supreme Court is declining to hear a
major religious liberty dispute case. Justices will not get involved
in the legal fight, which involves at Tampa based Christian
school that was denied a request to broadcast a pregame
prayer over the stadium loudspeaker before a championship football game.

(04:51):
The school appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the
athletic Association allowed private speech but impermissively censored private relig
speech only because it was religious. The High Court's decision,
which had no noted dissenting opinions, we'll keep a twenty
five year old ruling in place that found student led
and initiated prayer at football games is unconstitutional.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
I mean, shame on them for not taking up this case.
It's not the first time the Supreme Court's let me down.
I mean, this is ridiculous. I mean they're saying that
this violates the establishment clause because it's seen as the
school endorsing religion because it was broadcast or wanted to
be broadcast over the loudspeaker. I mean, this is their reasoning.

(05:37):
The school's PA system was used, the prayer was school
sponsored and not truly you know, student initiated.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
Well, the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from establishing an
official religion, and we talked about this before. People confuse
the meaning of separation of church and state. So the
state should not endorse a specific religion, nor should it
be run by a specific religion. But what the establishment

(06:08):
clause does is prevents the government from establishing an official religion.
Is saying a prayer over a loudspeaker establishing an official religion.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
By the way, it's a Christian school, right, I mean.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
This, so I would argue not and and you know,
I think it's ridiculous to the extent that we go
to say, well, there has to be a separation between
a church and state. Well, you know what, the other
point here is the government. So they're looking at the

(06:41):
school as the government. And so thanks public school system
once again, because now it's not a group of people
that got together to educate their children, it's the government.
And if you want to say a prayer at a
school football game, you're up against the government.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Well, and they're also trying to say, well, this is nuanced.
This ruling doesn't ban all student prayer. Voluntary student initiated
prayer is okay as long as it doesn't involve school
facilities or some type of endorsement.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
They keep making it about the PA system, like the kids.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Can pray on the field, the kids can pray, but
they apparently can't broadcast it over the PA.

Speaker 4 (07:20):
I don't think that's correct. It says, you know, that kept.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
The two thousand ruling. It's exactly the whole point of
the Santa Fe Independent School.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Well, I don't know what you're looking at, but the
ruling that they've used as precedent in this case found
that student led an initiated prayer at football games is unconstitutional.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
That's the ruling from the Supreme Court back in two thousand.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Well, it doesn't say over a loud speaker.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, it was the public address system that was what
made it, you know, the perception that it was school sponsored.
This is the case that they leaned on and said, yeah,
we're not taking this up. That they clearly agreed with
this two thousand ruling from twenty five years ago.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
Well, that might have been the impetus for the case.
But the point is is that now they're disallowing prayer
at school events, at football games and everything else and
pretending like this an official establishment of religion, and when
it's the opposite, it's an official establishment of government. There

(08:22):
inhibiting your right to your religion.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
They're saying, purely private and voluntary student prayer is not prohibited.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
They're making that point in this.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Case, purely private and voluntary student prayer is not prohibited.

Speaker 4 (08:37):
Which means they can't stop you from saying a prayer
to yourself in private.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
I mean, I guess it's again I go back to
it's the public address system that was apparently drew the
ire and the ruling back in two thousand that was
the problem.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
Well, I would argue, the problem is is that they're
trying to say prayers and the government doesn't like that, right,
so the government shall say, well, the school is a
extension of government, and therefore you're not to you know,
say prayers other than in private.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
I mean, I think it's a sad situation and they
should have stood up and actually, you know, flip the
script on this. I mean, I mean to say that
it's a constitutional violation because student led prayers over a
public address system or viewed as government speech. You know,
they're saying it's prohibited under the establishment claus and I just.

Speaker 4 (09:29):
In whatever, don't take part in it. If you don't
you know what, if you don't believe in it or whatever,
then don't join in on the prayer.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
Right.

Speaker 4 (09:37):
Is it that big of a deal?

Speaker 3 (09:39):
It's sad.

Speaker 4 (09:40):
Are people really that delicate?

Speaker 3 (09:42):
I think that's incredibly sad. I'm very pro.

Speaker 5 (09:44):
Prayer and to be clear, we really need a lawyer
to weigh in on this. But to be clear, it's
not only about the public address system. It's about leading
a prayer. And even though this was a Christian school,
this was a state sanctioned football game and it was
governed by the Florida High School Athletic Association. And yes,

(10:07):
the players could pray anyway as long as they were
not leading others in a prayer. So it's not that
it was on the loudspeaker. That just played part of it.
But even if the school came and said we want
to say a prayer down on the field, that would
not be allowed either because the school was leading the prayer. Now,

(10:31):
the students they can go pray by themselves, or they
can gather a few like minded individuals and do a
prayer circle, and that would be fine, but they can't
lead anybody in a prayer loudspeaker or not. I'll take
a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs,
maybe some paper towels, and I must stay in convertible.

(10:52):
Ford Motor Companies partnering with Amazon to sell used vehicles
down the e commerce's platform. Customers in Los Angeles Attle
in Dallas will be able to browse and purchase Ford
Blue Advantage certified pre owned vehicles from dealerships in their areas.
Ford dealers will be able to set prices and share
vehicle information, while Amazon will allow customers to start paperwork online,

(11:15):
secure financing, and schedule a pickup time for the purchase.
Hyundaimotor Company began selling vehicles on the platform in twenty
twenty four.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Well, concerning to any car salesman out there, I guess,
but you know what, good news for those who don't
want to wait and then you could look at it this,
I mean bad news if you enjoy the haggle and
the test driving experience.

Speaker 4 (11:37):
I enjoy the test driving experience. Who the hell enjoys
the process of buying a car? I don't know if
anybody if that, if there's anybody in the planet that
enjoys that, well.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
I will say for the first when I bought my
first car, I mean I was ready for a haggle.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
I was.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
I was there for that.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
I was like, I did my homework and my research
and it's ridiculous at the end of the day. I mean,
poor Angel, my sales guy, he I think at the
end of the day. It was mostly entertaining for him, probably,
but I know at one point I was you know,
I wanted to make a point and I was willing
to walk over two hundred dollars. I mean it was
silly and in the end I look back at it

(12:19):
and highly entertaining.

Speaker 3 (12:20):
I'm sure for the people working at the dealership.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
A lot of times they won't let you walk. I've
heard the instances where they'll say, here, let me check
your car out and hold your keys and throw them
on the roof and all nothing. They'll do that as
a regular practice, but you know, anything to get you
to stay in the dealer. I had one guy go
give me twenty dollars to take to my manager to

(12:45):
show you serious, and I'm like, yeah, the twenty bucks.
What they're trying to do is get the twenty bucks.
So you wait around to get your twenty bucks back, right, wow,
Because think about it, like twenty oh, this guy he's
laying down some cash man, he've laid out a hold
twenty dollars bill. No, they're holding you twenty bucks to
keep you in the seat.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Well, so some people do like the you know, the
in house experience, to be able to ask questions of
you know the during the test driving process, or or
do like the you know the art of the deal,
the haggle, and then others. Here you go click, buy
some like you said, buy some bread, a dozen eggs,

(13:26):
and I must in convertible please.

Speaker 4 (13:29):
Well, the more choices you have, and the more options
you have, the better. Right.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
Thanks for listening to the Charleston Morning News podcast. Catch
Kelly and Blaze weekday mornings from six to nine