By John Rigol
Then young women will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
Jeremiah 31:12-13
Jeremiah 31 is a beautiful vision represented at a distant period. And as part of that beautiful vision, God, Himself, endorsed dancing. Nowhere, absolutely nowhere, in that chapter—and others too— does God mandate that dancing should be limited to praising Him.
Is the Republic being headlonged propelled into a parallel radical Islamic State? The Walker high School atrocity surely makes it looks that way. And I, for one, am nauseated…and afraid.
It was not within Mr. Si. Pierre’s scope of office to proselytize to Miss. Timonet. And worse, to do so in a two-hour, closed-door, bullying environment without one or both of her parents present.
And even if Mr. St. Pierre were functioning within his scope of office, why would he strip the young lady of her earned prerequisites and then have the temerity to condemn her to hell…for two hours, no less! It sounds like a modified form of waterboarding.
The “honorable” Christians (you know them, the fanatical righteous hypocrites, especially the Evangelicals), are probably glorifying Messieurs Jason St. Piere and Kelly Becnel. And when they are fired and hopefully criminally charged with child abuse (as they should be), the ‘honorable” Christians will proclaim them to be “martyrs for Christ.”
In the course of time, will there be heretical executions? Don’t laugh. Although the Roman Catholics hold the blue ribbon for those inhumanities, the Protestants can proudly lay claim to a vast number of them too. One night recall the Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Some Christians have said they’re in a war—a war for the redemption of souls—when in reality, it is an act of aggression against free thinking. And unless others stand up against the takeover, the rabid proselytizers will eventually rob the “non-believers” (i.e., those who do not think the way do) of their essences.
The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” which is the basis for the doctrine of separation of Church and State. Mr. St. Pierre and his assistant have not allowed that trivial impediment stand in the way of their twisted morality.
(Editor’s note: To view the video of Kaylee Timonet’s dance that so upset Principal St. Pierre – and to compare it with a school-sponsored pep rally dance routine, go HERE.)
Louisiana Voice 
Thanks to Mr. Rigol for his comments and to Channel 33 and you for the video. Most sources have chosen to leave this whole thing to our imaginations, realizing the dance was innocuous, to make it more sensational.
The reporting on this has been too prolonged and way too much has been made of this. It should have been reported once, with one follow-up covering what the school board did to make it right and that should have been the end of it. Continuing to dwell on it doesn’t do anybody any good and certainly not the high school student. I guess the next step will be to drag it out in court, again to no good end I can imagine.
Rigol’s post is superb. He explains why the issue is critical and he makes clear why coverage of the incident involving Jason St. Pierre should be expanded nationally. Jefferson warned, in every age, in every country, the priest aligns with the despot.
Stephen Winham, in his comment, may not understand that Americans are at risk of losing the fundamental principle of separation of church and state. We should expect the US Supreme Court with a majority of conservative Catholic jurists to force taxpayers to pay for religious schools which will be able to deny civil rights. Two cases that shed light on the legal foundation being built for that purpose are Espinosa v. Montana and Biel v. St. James Catholic school. There are also the efforts of a law professor at Notre Dame (friend of Amy Comey Barrett) to advance religious charter schools.
Those who believe as Winham does should review the religious cases brought by Becket Law, Jones Day, ADL, etc. and review information about the activities of Tim Busch (a major funder of Catholic University of America in Wash. D.C.). As example, one of the organizations Busch founded, Legatus, is for Catholic CEO’s. Busch wrote that there are remarkable similarities between Charles Koch’s book and Catholicism.
The US is being positioned as Ireland was during the Great Hunger when 1,000,000 Irish died of starvation. The Church sided with the economic policies of men like the Charles Kochs of the time.
IMO, there is potential for a Pulitzer for the journalist who writes the story of Kocholocism. The Pope condemns politicized, right wing Catholics in the US, but all mainstream US media provide cover for them.
White Catholics who attend church regularly and are Democrats make up less than 37% of US Catholics according to Pew research. Media are unable or unwilling to make a distinction between those who have access to church coffers for political spending and political apparatuses like the Catholic Conferences and those Democrats like Biden who don’t.
The guise that evangelical protestants dominate the right wing shift in the country is detrimental to the truth. The Catholic Church is primary. At Pat Buchanan’s site, the origin of the alliance between Catholics and evangelicals is explained in the 2014 Ryan Girdusky interview posted. It began with the appointment of Antonin Scalia. Girdusky founded the 1776 PAC. As is typical, the front for most of the “culture war” and parental rights campaigns will be protestant like Christopher Rufo, Moms for Liberty, etc. It better serves the narrative, makes it easier to sell and, provides cover. The true seat of power, the US Supreme Court, doesn’t have a single evangelical protestant jurist.
An internet search of, Catholic Conferences and school choice, shows the seeds of privatization – who initiates and achieves the legislation in states.
Paul Weyrich, funded by Koch, called for parallel schools to destroy public schools. It’s not surprising that Louisiana, the only state in the South that is largely Catholic, was the site of the first city to lose public education, New Orleans.
Mr. Rigol,
Catholic inhumanities-
In Ohio, in August 2023, there was an anti-democracy issue on the ballot. The state’s Catholic bishops publicly stated that they did not have a position on the issue because it included “no moral content.” Nevertheless the dioceses of the 3 major cities together spent $900,000 to get voters to support the authoritarian mandate.
WaPo recently described Ohio as one of the first experiments in takeover by a single political regime, lasting into perpetuity.
Almost all state elected politicians including the state’s Supreme Court are right wing Catholics. The governor is right wing Catholic, fathered 8 children.
No media in Ohio write about Catholic religion’s role in politics.
Great informative article and once again, I agree with Mr. Winham. I am concerned about the”evangelicals” and their hyprocrisy, but we must not become “them”. I am “blessed” or lucky to have great parents who did not push any brand of religion, but made sure I went to Church (Baptist) and got baptized and repent my sins when I did not have a clue about the sins ahead. Keep learning and Keep Loving. ron thompson