Jim Redwine, Gavel Gamut: THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE
GAVEL GAMUT
By Jim Redwine
www.jamesmredwine.com
(Week of 14 October 2024)
THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE
The Bible contains some fine literature. There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. My favorite is Ecclesiastes, that I learned about at church, whose authorship is disputed but whose ironic, sarcastic, hopeful philosophy rings of Grecian thought. When one reads Ecclesiastes, Homer’s Iliad and the plays of Sophocles, such as Oedipus Rex, that I was taught in high school, come to mind. Great literature is like that, one learns great thoughts from great thinkers regardless of their origin. Concepts of law, justice, perseverance and human frailty are at the heart of great teachings.
When a culture wishes its youth to learn these essential elements of human knowledge the example of Socrates is instructive. Speaking truth to power is our best hope for having our temporal rulers make the right choices. To speak such truth our students should study the lessons of history. And the best way to impart that knowledge is through the study of good literature. Of course, such lessons could be learned through experience such as war but if bad experience can be avoided by a society’s youth learning from the past bad experiences of others, that is preferable. Good literature may light our way.
By definition, good literature is not dogma. We want our students, and ourselves, to study, investigate, question, test, evaluate, doubt, prove, disprove, discuss, listen, debate, laugh, cry, honor, disavow, set aside, enjoy and most importantly learn from those who have already made mistakes and created good. This cannot occur if students are led to simply accept concepts as gospel. The teachings of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Christians during the Inquisition, and the Zionists in Israel are dogmas to be avoided.
Religion is based on faith. Education is the search for fact. All religions believe they know the truth with no examination needed. Educators believe there is no ultimate truth as each new discovery changes the facts. A free society can and should accommodate both religion and education but it must not conflate them. Most importantly, to safeguard religious liberty and democracy our federal, state and local governments must not put an imprimatur on any particular dogma. Protecting everyone’s right to believe as they wish does not grant license to anyone to behave as they wish. Law must both protect and defend, not endorse.
So, our public schools can, if they choose, teach from portions of the Bible, the Torah, the Quran, the Vedas or any other religious texts but must not elevate one over another; that can always be done by the religions themselves. That is their right and we must assure it. However, we will be on that slippery slope to theocracy, not democracy, if we allow our governments to decree or demand our public schools teach that any faith is fact and superior to any other.
It is likely that those who propose the indoctrination of America’s youth in any particular system of faith do so with the purest of intentions. They believe their faith is founded on truth and that America was founded on that truth. Both concepts are ill-founded. Faith is not fact; that is why it is called faith. America was founded by people who may well have been religious themselves but who had the lessons of the Enlightenment to caution them to keep religion personal and government secular.
And when it comes to the malleable minds of young public-school students who are required by law to attend, those who proclaim lessons from the Bible or any other religious text can be sanitized, have forgotten their own youth’s susceptibility to suggestion.
No, better to learn in school from good non-denominational literature and, even if religious texts may contain good literature, to leave such lessons to the home and temple unless it is clear to the students that any lessons from religious tomes are not an endorsement or condemnation of any particular system of belief.
For more Gavel Gamut articles go to www.jamesmredwine.com
Movie Review: Tethered by Fear: Halle Berry Bears Her Trauma in ‘Never Let Go’
Tethered by Fear: Halle Berry Bears Her Trauma in ‘Never Let Go’
By Scott McDaniel, TheStatehouseFile.com
The new Halle Berry horror film “Never Let Go” brings hopeless tension in themes of inherited family trauma and faith.
French director Alexandre Aja (“The Hills Have Eyes”) tells the story of a momma (Berry) and her two children, who are only able to walk away from their home in the middle of the woods if they have ropes wrapped around their waist connecting them to the house. She tells the kids that the evil outside can’t touch them as long as they stay connected to the house. After all, that’s what her momma taught her.
“What’d it look like this time?” one of her sons asks.
The evil takes many forms, often that of her deceased mother, disturbingly flicking a forked tongue like a snake. But only Berry’s character can see it, leaving the audience to wonder if the evil lurking is real, or if Mom has gone bonkers.
As if a commentary on helicopter parents, we see her instilling fear, keeping her children from experiencing the dangerous world outside, literally tethered to their home.
That theme grows deeper as religious symbolism appears throughout – from the evil taking the form of a snake, to the way the family recites a sort of prayer to the purity of the house, to the kids saying “It’s either the house or the evil.”
Just as a parent’s trauma is often passed down, so too is the influence of religion. And if this story is a metaphor for faith, the same central question is in play: “Is it real?”
After all, isn’t faith believing in things you can’t see?
Berry excels in her role, doing her best work when she’s portraying emotionally drained characters. She teeters on the edge of madness, yet maintains her priority of protecting her children from perceived threats.
There are a handful of effective jump scares, but it is a horror movie that relies on discomfort and uncertainty in a consistently dark and dreary atmosphere, never venturing farther than a rope’s tug from the creepy wooden house.
Some may find a lack of focus in the direction of the film. But it took my mind a number of ways and didn’t force one interpretation, and I like that about it.
The rope is tight in this one, and it doesn’t let the audience get comfortable. “’Never Let Go” crafts a spine-tingling reminder that the ties that bind us can both protect and imprison, leaving us to ponder which is truly more terrifying.
3.5/5
Scott is an assistant professor of journalism at Franklin College. He lives in Bargersville with his wife and 3 kids.
Retail Food Establishment Inspection Report
USI Women’s and Chamber Choirs present first concert of Fall Semester October 27
The University of Southern Indiana Women’s Choir and Chamber Choir, under the direction of Dan Craig, Associate Professor of Music, will present their first Fall Semester concert in the Rice Library Second Floor Reading Room at 3 p.m. Sunday, October 27. This concert is open to the public at no charge.
The concert will feature a variety of music for sacred and secular spaces emphasizing the movement from darkness into light. Included in the concert are pieces by Józef Świder, Thomas Tomkins, Randall Thompson, René Clausen, Glenn Burleigh and many more.
“This will be the first of many concerts this year including our upcoming USI Madrigal Feaste in December and a concert tour to Ireland in May 2025,” says Craig.
FT
Gov. Holcomb to lead U.S. delegation to Greece, fostering American democracy and Indiana’s global engagement
INDIANAPOLIS – Governor Eric J. Holcomb will lead an international trip to the Hellenic Republic, better known as Greece, next week at the invitation of the Council of State Governments. The trip will focus on cultivating democracy and business, incorporating a mix of policy, business and cultural exchanges.
“I’m excited to showcase Indiana on the global scale once again,” said Gov. Holcomb. “As Indiana is a state built on democratic principles, it is fitting to travel to the birth place of democracy itself. In Greece we will forge new relationships and foster cultural ties for the betterment of our collective regions.”
Gov. Holcomb, First Lady Janet Holcomb and representatives from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation will depart for Greece this weekend, and convene with the delegation of U.S. state and business leaders in Athens. There, the Council of State Governments delegation will explore the region’s unique history, tracing the Grecian origins of American democracy and the tradition of governing by means of political debate among citizens.
Gov. Holcomb and the delegation will also spend time fostering relationships with U.S. and Greece government officials, meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Greece George J. Tsunis; Minister Vassilis Kikilias, Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection of Greece; Deputy Minister Kostas Fragogiannis, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Dimitris Skalkos, Secretary General for International Economic Affairs of the Hellenic Republic. The delegation will also work to advance private sector business opportunities between the U.S. and Greece, meeting with representatives of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Greece) and Enterprise Greece.
Gov. Holcomb has made global engagement a priority for his administration and for Indiana since being elected governor in 2016. The state is home to more than 1,090 foreign-owned business establishments, 40 countries and territories. In 2023, foreign-owned companies committed to investing $20.49 billion to locate or expand operations in Indiana – a 182% increase from 2022 and 71% of the IEDC’s total committed capital investment in 2023 – and create approximately 8,500 new Hoosier jobs.
This marks Gov. Holcomb’s 26th international economic development trip as governor and his first visit to Greece. Indiana and Greece exchanged more than $53.6 million of goods in 2023, and Greece is home to three Hoosier Corporations: Eli Lilly and Company, Corteva and Zimmet Biomet.
The cost of the governor’s travel is being paid for by the Council of State Governments.
In latest welfare fraud win, Attorney General Todd Rokita secures six-figure settlement & criminal conviction against Highland home health provider
A years-long investigation into a home health care provider in Highland, Indiana, has resulted in a $217,000 settlement and criminal conviction obtained through the hard work of Attorney General Todd Rokita’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).
Following a tip, MFCU investigators discovered that Allpoints Home Health Care Inc. billed the Medicaid program for thousands of hours not actually worked. In all, the business was found to have submitted 1,055 false claims.
“Week after week, our nationally renowned Medicaid Fraud Control Unit does outstanding and incredibly thorough work on behalf of Hoosiers,” Attorney General Rokita said. “And of all the types of fraud committed, what is more sinister than stealing money which was intended to help low-income sick people pay their health care bills?”
In some instances, the perpetrators were particularly sloppy in their falsification of records — such as claiming to provide home health care to one patient during a time when that individual was hospitalized and not even at home to receive the purported home services.
As part of the investigation, MFCU staff analyzed claims submitted to Medicaid, interviewed Allpoints employees, reviewed medical records and perused Electronic Visit Verification sheets.
By the time all the facts were gathered, investigators had enough evidence not only to pursue a settlement but also to work with the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office to achieve a criminal conviction as well.
Mohammad Adnan Satti — the employee who prepared and submitted the majority of the false claims — was convicted for felony theft and sentenced to 18 months suspended jail time as part of a plea agreement.
Allpoints agreed to pay Indiana $217,019.61 in exchange for escaping civil liability for violations of the Indiana Medicaid False Claims and Whistleblower Protection Act. That’s three times the overpayments identified by our team’s analysis of the claims data.
Attorney General Rokita thanked MFCU Director Matt Whitmire, Deputy Attorney General JeremyJohnson and former Deputy Attorney General Jordan Stover for their work on this case.
The Indiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a federal grant. The remaining 25 percent is funded by the State of Indiana.
USI Theatre continues 2024-25 season with Eurydice
University of Southern Indiana Theatre continues its 2024-25 season with Eurydice, written by Sarah Ruhl and directed by Joshua Robinson, Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre in the Philip H. Hagemann Performing Arts Department. Performances will run from Thursday through Sunday, October 17-20 in the USI Performance Center.
Eurydice reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love. With ingenious plot twists and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.
Eurydice will feature Actor’s Equity Association members Jon Froehlich and Margaret Kayes as part of USI Theatre’s continuing efforts to allow students the opportunity to work with professional, union actors and stage managers. This program gives students the unique opportunity to learn and work firsthand with professionals in a real time production setting.
Joining Froehlich in the cast will be USI Theatre students Jaden Crouch in the titular role; Kris Carlos as Orpheus; Cruz Quiroz as the Nasty Interesting Man; David Lloveras as the Big Stone; Emma Marshall as the Little Stone; and Brynne Stephens as the Loud Stone.
Joining Kayes on the technical side will be Grey Miller as Assistant Stage Manager; Chloe Kummer as Assistant Student Director; USI alum Sean Nicolls as Lighting Designer; Joshua Stallings as Composer/Sound Designer; Shan Jensen as Costume Designer; Paul Weimer as Scenic Designer; Jaddyn Sage as Choreographer; Kim Coleman as Costume Shop Manager; Adam Funkhouser as Box Office Operations Manager; and Andrew Hammond as Technical Director.
USI Theatre will be using reserved seating, and ticket buyers can choose their own seats when purchasing online at https://usitheatre.universitytickets.com/ or by calling the box office at (812) 465-7110. Tickets are $2 for USI students; $10 for USI employees; $4 for non-USI students (student ID required); $10 for seniors (60+); and $12 for adults. Tickets are free to USI students with ID one hour before each performance begins based on availability. Shows begin at 7 p.m., Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. for the Sunday matinee.
New this season is the option to purchase Season Tickets for USI Theatre’s three mainstage performances. By choosing at least two of the shows, patrons can save $1 off the regular admission price. Tickets are also now on sale for the rest of the 2024-25 season. Join USI Theatre for the next show of the Fall Semester, As You Like It by William Shakespeare, adapted and directed by Christia Ward, running from November 21-24.
Backstage Performance Fuses Multiple Genres
Jasper, IN – [October 10] Jasper Community Arts is excited to welcome internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Jessica Fichot to the Jasper Arts Center as part of its renowned Backstage Series. The performance will take place on Saturday, November 2, 2024, at 7:30 PM, with doors opening at 6:30 PM.
Hailing from Los Angeles and Paris, Jessica Fichot is known for her unique fusion of French chanson, gypsy jazz, and international folk music. With an eclectic sound inspired by her French-Chinese-American heritage, Fichot’s performances captivate audiences worldwide with her soothing vocals, dynamic accordion playing, and engaging storytelling.
Set in the intimate backstage area of the Jasper Arts Center, this concert offers a one-of-a-kind experience where the audience is seated directly on stage with the performers. This allows for a personal and immersive musical evening, a hallmark of the Backstage Series.
A limited number of tickets are still available for this special performance. Don’t miss the opportunity to experience Jessica Fichot’s soulful blend of music in this intimate setting.
Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Jasper Community Arts website or by calling the Box Office at (812) 482-3070.