Oregon high court rules for Scouts, against atheist mother

Seattle Times ^ | 9/8/06

[dukeman]

PORTLAND — The Oregon Supreme Court today rejected the discrimination claim of an atheist whose son was required to attend a Boy Scout recruiting session in a Portland public school.

The Scout oath requires members "to do my duty to God and my country" but simply providing information to pupils in public schools isn't discrimination under Oregon Law, the court said.

[dukeman]

Maybe the kid will grow up to be a Baptist pastor.

[zarf]

Oh god, please not a Baptist, he'll end up in therapy.

How bout less brutal denomination?

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Schools can indoctrinate little kids into a life of homosexuality but DON'T YOU DARE get a Boy Scout near those impressionable kids...

Why the country will go down the tubes. First destroy any morals/values in the kids.

[AZRepublican]

Kistler is an idiot.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Time for the Scouts to sue mommy for all the court costs they accrued while they were defending themselves from a godless screwball.

[dukeman]

I'm not a Baptist, but I like 'em just fine.

[winston2]

That lady could have enrolled her son in the man/boy group and not caused such a useless fuss./s

[tflabo]

Standard reading for Boy Scouts. Love those conservative women.

[JayNorth]

First destroy any morals/values in the kids.

From the 1963 Congressional Record, item number 17 of Communist Gals (most of which they have achieved by the way) is "Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks."

Here are some other relevant sections from that document:

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

Sound familiar?

[JayNorth]

"Gals" should read "Goals".

[M-cubed]

Maybe the kid will grow up to be a Baptist pastor.<<<

Yup!..or a Pall bearer

[SmithL]

Some people just aren't trustworthy, loyal, helpful, freindly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

[sarasmom]

Ditto.

[M-cubed]

Bingo!..She says it all doesn't she!...If I were 20 yrs younger...*G*

[crazyhorse691]

This is the second time this year that the Oregon Supreme Court has surprised me by issuing a competent ruling. (btw, my dealings with the lady that filed the lawsuit showed her to be a whiny non stop complainer over every suspected offense against her)

[M-cubed]

Gawd!..I cant remember yesterday....but i remember that!....What a great start for a kid..no matter where they go...

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Truly incredible! I'll have to read the entire thing. Do you have a link for it?

Do liberals even care that they are promoting the Communist agenda?

[crazyhorse691]

The Oregon Supreme Court today rejected the discrimination claim of an atheist whose son was required to attend a Boy Scout recruiting session in a Portland public school.

---

I almost missed that part. The kids are offered the opportunity to skip the presentation, but, most don't because of peer pressure and the fact that they are kids and Scouting is FUN!!!

[GovernmentShrinker]

A public school has no business REQUIRING students to attend recruiting pitches by private, outside organizations. This school is going to regret the precedent it set, when the local gay/bi/transgender activists, Communist Party USA, anti-war activists, etc. show up demanding to have all the students attend THEIR pitches. But I expect this will get overturned on appeal -- there's a lot more than state law operating here, since the public skools are sucking on the federal teat.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

btw, my dealings with the lady that filed the lawsuit showed her to be a whiny non stop complainer over every suspected offense against her

I believe that you've just described liberals.

[Carling]

Don't get too excited there. The "required" portion dealt with peer pressure put on the kid, not a forced school mandate.

But believe everything you read...

[teacherwoes]

"That offer, both in fact and in operation, divided the elementary school children into two groups: those whose religious views agreed with the Scouts' views and those whose views did not," he wrote.

____________

Public schools don't need the scouts to divide the children into two groups.....public schools do it everyday without help: Those who believe in religion and those that don't.

[crazyhorse691]

I believe that you've just described liberals.

---

Was I that obvious? You can't throw a rock in Portland without 5 progressives claiming you hit them.

[SandRat]

WOO-HOO!

[garylmoore]

Oh god, please not a Baptist, he'll end up in therapy.

What's wrong with Baptist? They believe in the gospel and that the Bible is the Word of God and their statement of faith is right on, so what's with putting them down?

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmmm ..?? A court with brains .. whoda thunk it!

[right-wingin_It]

"...Dissenting, Justice Rives Kistler said the Scouts' offer "appeared to be open to all the elementary school children without limitation," but that wasn't the case.

"That offer, both in fact and in operation, divided the elementary school children into two groups: those whose religious views agreed with the Scouts' views and those whose views did not," he wrote"

Oh goodness, no. Don't let them be divided Um...I thought libs were supposed to be experts on diversity!

[EricT.]

Head in rectal defilade?

[Tax-chick]

Good news!

[GovernmentShrinker]

Where do you find that information? It isn't mentioned in the article; not even the part where the court's own words explain the grounds for the decision.
A more detailed article http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2006/09/09/news/oregon/1ore09scoutrecruitsuit.txt mentions a footnote in the court's ruling saying it didn’t see how state law “prohibits an organization, even a hate group, from making a neutral presentation to students, or how such a presentation, even by a hate group, necessarily would subject a person to differential treatment or discrimination." The court -- whose decision is what we're discussing here -- is making the same point I made, only claiming that it's just fine under state law (which it may be, but as long as the school is using federal funds, it's also subject to state law). I haven't seen the text of the state law referred to, but I can just imagine what the court's ruling would REALLY be if a school invited the American Nazi Party or KKK or a militant black separatist group to hold a recruiting session on school property during lunchtime. The fact that the Boy Scout recruiting pitch told all boys they could join is also problematic, since it is false -- boys who responded by trying to join, while professing honestly not to believe in any God, would be rejected.

I happen to think the Boy Scouts is a great organization, and that their requirement to believe in God is sufficiently broad to include a majority of American boys, representing some very divergent belief systems. But there's no reason they can't hold recruiting sessions after school hours, when the law is clear that the school facilities must be open to rental/use on an equal basis by any private or public group whose activities aren't illegal, even narrow sectarian groups.

But at any rate, the line between required and pressured is often pretty thin in reality. I expect there was technically a way to opt out of that idiotic California school's "pretend to be a Muslim" program -- trouble is 1) parents weren't notified in advance, and 2) there was really nowhere for a non-participating kid to go while the rest of the class did this crap. Again, the school would probably have claimed that a child could have gone and sat in the principal's office for a few hours, if the parents demanded the child not participate, but that's not very realistic, nor would most of the people who see no problem with this Boy Scout recruiting event be satisfied with that method of opting their own child out of a portion of the regular school day schedule. A technically available, but extremely awkward "way out", wouldn't make the "pretend to be a Muslim" program acceptable for a public school.

[ohhhh]

[Oh god, please not a Baptist, he'll end up in therapy.]

You mean a liberal atheist bible denouncing denomination that will be left behind at the rapture because of their unbelief. Liberal has become a vile word both politically and ecumenically as they have and are the same people who deny how that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again the third day for our salvation overcoming death, hell and the grave. Liberal denominations usually always deny the scriptures truth and practice heresies that deny the truth of the Holy Bible. Generally, they are replacement theologians who deny that God will lead Israel back into the land and establish them therein and protect them from all their enemies in the world, even if all nations come against Israel to destroy it during the tribulation period called Armageddon.

[little jeremiah]

A good one. In OR, no less!!

[MarMema]

Double that "Woo-Hoo"

[MarMema]

How are things?

My son is doing his Eagle project!

I can't believe it, already.

[Tax-chick]

We're doing very well! Today was floor-cleaning day :-). The baby is Creepy now, so it quickly becomes obvious when the floors are icky.

Bill has finished two more merit badges, for a total of three, and he's pretty close to being done with another. I think he can get his Star rank by the end of the year.

What's your son doing for his Eagle project? My oldest daughter (15) is finishing up her Girl Scouts Silver Award project, building and installing bluebird houses. It's been quite a learning experience, lots of trial and error, but that's what builds character.

[Salvation]

Oregon Ping

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[HiTech RedNeck]

Why? Afraid he'll save your soul?

[momfirst]

Thanks for the ping! Interestingly, I took my 'baby' to his first day of Kindergarten today and walked down the hall behind a little boy all done up in his cub scouts uniform.

I got all excited thinking it won't be long 'til it's offered to my boy! He'll love it!

Anyway, glad to see it's not banned here!

[Salvation]

**A court with brains .. whoda thunk it!**

And guts by stand by the law! Who would have thought that?

[Salvation]

**Anyway, glad to see it's not banned here!**

Makes me hope that this trend in Oregon continues!

[JayNorth]

Truly incredible! I'll have to read the entire thing. Do you have a link for it?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1529020/posts