Is calling Buddhism «stupid» unconstitutional?

There has been a lit­tle con­tro­ver­sy over the case of [Lane v Sabine Parish](https://www.aclu.org/religion-belief/lane-v-sabine-parish-school-board) and the ques­tion of whether a teacher telling a kid that his fam­i­ly’s reli­gion is «stu­pid» is uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. One side says the Con­sti­tu­tion pro­vides «sep­a­ra­tion of church and state» (words which do not appear in the Con­sti­tu­tion) and the oth­er side says that the idea of such sep­a­ra­tion has been tak­en far­ther than the Founders intended.

Economists value life more than you do

Bryan Caplan’s [20 Jan­u­ary post at EconLog](http://econlog.econlib.org/) presents an inter­est­ing ques­tion of the sort that is often over­heard at par­ties and cof­fee­hous­es as an exam­ple of a ques­tion that ought not be asked. How do you put a val­ue on a human life?

The ques­tion comes up after some judge or jury awards dam­ages in a wrong­ful death suit, or some news item in nature both lurid and legalistic.

Take a walk on the island side

OK, well, they’re sort of both island sides. See, Alame­da is an island ever since they carved out the canal that sep­a­rates Oak­land from Alameda.…