Posted on 06/08/2004 1:02:47 PM PDT by Kerberos
CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (AP) -- A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that argued weekly Bible classes are unconstitutional in the public schools of Rhea County, the same county where the "Scopes Monkey Trial" pitted creationists against evolutionists 79 years ago.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati agreed Monday with a February 2002 ruling by U.S. District Judge R. Allan Edgar of Chattanooga.
Edgar ruled that the Bible Education Ministry program in Rhea County violated the First Amendment's clause calling for separation of church and state.
The 30-minute classes were held weekly for about 800 students in kindergarten through fifth grade at the county's three elementary schools. Parental consent was not required and students were allowed to participate in alternative activities if they objected to the classes.
Rhea County superintendent Sue Porter said Monday that school board members would likely discuss whether to appeal the latest ruling at their Thursday night meeting. Bible classes had been offered in Rhea County for 51 years.
"I'm disappointed, not surprised though," Porter said.
The appeals judges ruled that although school officials contended that the classes were value-driven, teaching responsibility and positive morals, they were "also teaching the Bible as religious truth."
The county's city of Dayton, about 35 miles northwest of Chattanooga, is where orator and presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan and the lawyer Clarence Darrow squared off in the courtroom during the 1925 prosecution of teacher John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in the public schools instead of the biblical story of creation.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I am starting to really hate paying school taxes. I spend $ for a great private Christian school for my kids.
"I am starting to really hate paying school taxes. I spend $ for a great private Christian school for my kids."
And a good argument could be made that you shouldn't have too. Pay school taxes that is.
But I suspect a class where the kiddies sport burkas or diapers, pray to Mecca 5 times a day, and study the Koran while bobbing their head up and down like robots is perfectly acceptable.
You forgot your sarcasm tag.
The mysterious "separation of church and state" clause.
Not only acceptable, but eventually required if religion is taught.
What else did you xpect?
Now if it had been a class teaching boys the finer points of D#$% sucking, the court would have made it mandanatory for all males from grades 1 through 12.
How far we have sunk and from the evidence can still sink lower.
"You forgot your sarcasm tag."
No I didn't
"The mysterious "separation of church and state" clause."
Not really, nothing mysterious about it, real easy to understand.
Bump for later.
So I grumbled a little among friends and was somewhat pacified upon discovering that the Bible teachers were not fanatics and were basically espousing my religious beliefs. A friend told me that this might be the only time a lot of these kids will ever learn about God, and she was right.
Nonetheless, I was always uncomfortable with the practice and would have raised holy hell if they had been teaching some other faith than mine.
"But I suspect a class where the kiddies sport burkas or diapers, pray to Mecca 5 times a day, and study the Koran while bobbing their head up and down like robots is perfectly acceptable."
And where exactly is that going on at?
We home schooled our through high school. I considered having to pay for the public school system, which is hostile to our beliefs, and which succeeds primarily in turning out ignorant slackers, to be money down an sinkhole.
"Nonetheless, I was always uncomfortable with the practice and would have raised holy hell if they had been teaching some other faith than mine."
As you should have done if that was the case. Would like to talk more about this to you later but I've got to run soon. Will try to post back to you tonight.
You would be correct about that. What I want to know is why leftist propaganda is allowed in the public schools, being that it stems from "religious belief" as well.
....and coming to a town near you if the liberal activist judges and your buddies at the ACLU have their way.
Marin County, California. The same doofus judge in SF who struck down the will of the people last week in finding the partial birth abortion law "unconstitutional," decided last year in favor of the Marin school district (against the parents) which had students go through Islamic religious rituals as a means of "diversity training."
Hon. R. Allan Edgar
Chief Judge
U.S. District Court
Eastern District of Tennessee
317 U.S. Courthouse
900 Georgia Avenue
Chattanooga, TN 37402
I'm so glad that this clown finds "teaching the Bible as religious truth" illegal.
I'm getting sick and tired of the 'athiests' telling the majority what they can and can't believe. This is absolutely nuts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.