Posted on 11/29/2004 3:40:24 PM PST by Ed Current
CUPERTINO, Calif. -- A public school teacher is suing his district and principal for barring him from using the Declaration of Independence and other historical documents in class because they contain references to God and Christianity.
Steven Williams, who teaches fifth grade at an elementary school near San Francisco, filed the federal lawsuit last week, arguing a First Amendment right to teach U.S. history, which includes religious, and specifically Christian, references.
He said the school's principal prevented him from using handouts from documents including the Declaration of Independence, "The Rights of the Colonists" by Samuel Adams and President Bush's 2004 Day of Prayer proclamation.
District officials said they received the lawsuit and referred it to their attorneys, but wouldn't comment further.
Yes 348
No 20
An attack on the Declaration of Independence is an attack on America. Those involved in this attack seek to undo what the founders did in declaring independence from a tyrant and dependence on "divine Providence." Those declaring independence from God seek to tread underfoot the admonition and warning from William Penn: "If thou wouldst rule well, thou must rule for God, and to do that, thou must be ruled by him... Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants."
On 13 September 2004, the Honorable Roy S. Moore of the Foundation For Moral Law, Inc. testified before The United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property regarding the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004, which states in part: "The acknowledgment of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, and government is contained within the Declaration of Independence which is cited as the ""organic law"" of our Country by United States Code Annotated."
Robert C. Cannada, Senior Counsel, Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada, PLLC, Jackson, Missippi, wrote an article in The National Lawyers Association Review, Winter 1996; " NLA Review Winter 1996 - AMERICA'S CHOICE: A Limited Government Or A Totalitarian Government," stating; "The National Lawyers Association takes the position that the practical effect of the legal connection or relationship between the Declaration and the Constitution is that the Constitution is to be interpreted in the light of the principles set forth in the Declaration.[...] The Preamble introduces and explains the purpose of The U.S. Constitution, and links it to The Declaration of Independence."
A Creator either exists, or doesn't. If there is no Creator, Jefferson's appeal to the "Supreme Judge of the world" in the Declaration of Independence is pure nonsense and so are your RIGHTS! Without a Creator, your highest appeal is to the State, where might takes rights. Think about it, the next time some federal judge issues an Unlawful order removing a Ten Commandments monument. Think about it, next time you hear someone hysterically screaming and demanding separation of Creator and State. Think about what a person means when they emphatically state, "there are no absolute truths" in contradistinction to Jefferson's: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted...."
Everyone acknowledges the clear and present danger from "enemies foreign" who terrorize to force Americans under their will. Few see the clear, present and increasing danger from "enemies domestic" who are covertly and overtly destroying the foundations of this nation and forcing Americans under their godless tyranny.
Declaration Foundation: Restoring America Senate Panel Hears that Ignorance of U.S. History Poses Major Security Threat
- A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author is warning that widespread ignorance of American history among students and teachers at high schools and colleges is a major threat to the nation's security.
David McCullough sounded that alarm on Thursday in an appearance before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. He said "we are raising a generation of people who are historically illiterate" and ignorant of the basic philosophical foundations of America's constitutional free society.
From Darwin to Hitler How Darwinism undermined belief in the sanctity of human life by implying that humans arose from animals, and by denying the existence of an immaterial and immortal soul
Stand to Reason Commentary - The Real Murderers: Atheism or ... My basic case is that religion doesn't promote this kind of thing; it's the exception to the rule. The rule actually is that when we remove God from the equation, when we act and live as if we have no one to answer to but ourselves, and if there is no God, then the rule of law is social Darwinism-- the strong rule the weak. We'll find that, quite to the contrary, it is not Christianity and the belief in the God of the Bible that results in carnage and genocide. But it's when people reject the God of the Bible that we are most vulnerable to those kinds of things that we see in history that are the radical and gross destruction of human lives.
The blood-stained 'century of evolution' Those attacking Christianity sometimes point to the many religious wars and atrocities perpetrated in the name of Christ and the Church. They forget that not everyone self-labelled 'Christian' truly follows Christ. Also, that many times more people have been killed this century, most by their own governments, than in all religious conflicts, ever.1 And this slaughter happened because of philosophies openly hostile to biblical Christianity, and flowing directly from evolutionary belief. About 130 million (not including the hundreds of millions killed by abortion) were slaughtered this century in the name of atheism, whereas all those killed in 'the name of Christ' in all of recorded history was at most around 17 million. See James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe, What if Jesus had never been born? Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1994.
Franklin's Advice to Thomas Paine Regarding the Age of Reason 1785, If men are so wicked with religion,what would they be if without it?
Good, sue the crap out of em.
When the teaching of the Declaration of Independence in a public school is held to be unconstitutional....we are through the looking glass and have put the Nuts in charge of the asylum.
See also:
Lawsuit over Banning of Declaration of Independence
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1289344/posts
California teacher censored [for giving students Declaration of Independence to read]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1288339/posts?
Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1288139/posts
Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1288073/posts
Declaration of Independence Banned
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1288010/posts
Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287850/posts
Is Declaration of Independence unconstitutional?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287677/posts
Is Declaration of Independence Unconstitutional?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287422/posts
Is Declaration of Independence unconstitutional?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287343/posts
More and more Americans must stand up to these insance National Socialists who inhabit the left. Who pledge their Nationalism to the United Nations, and vow to have government take over every aspect of our lives. Who demand the worship of big government, and a big government that "will have no God before it"...
Governement control and tyranny, the religion of the left...
See the ANTI-DNC Web Portal at --->
http://www.noDNC.com
Communist Goals - 1963 Congressional Record
Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.
At Mrs. Nordman's request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following "Current Communist Goals," which she identifies as an excerpt from "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen:
[From "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen]
13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.
17. 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.
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."
30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.
Just refer to them as the Communist-Americans that they are.
Just refer to them as the Communist-Americans that they are.
"Men Have Forgotten God" - The Templeon Address
More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
What is more, the events of the Russian Revolution can only be understood now, at the end of the century, against the background of what has since occurred in the rest of the world. What emerges here is a process of universal significance. And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: Men have forgotten God.
W]e have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion....Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (Source: John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co. 1854), Vol. IX, p. 229, October 11, 1798.)
Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure, [and] which denounces against the wicked eternal misery, and [which] insured to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments. (Source: Bernard C. Steiner, The Life and Correspondence of James McHenry (Cleveland: The Burrows Brothers, 1907), p. 475. In a letter from Charles Carroll to James McHenry of November 4, 1800.)
[O]nly a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. Source: Benjamin Franklin, The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, Jared Sparks, editor (Boston: Tappan, Whittemore and Mason, 1840), Vol. X, p. 297, April 17, 1787.
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of man and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connexions with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice?
And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. It is substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who, that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? (Source: George Washington, Address of George Washington, President of the United States . . . Preparatory to His Declination (Baltimore: George and Henry S. Keatinge), pp. 22-23. In his Farewell Address to the United States in 1796.)
Why such statements by the adminsitration aren't sufficient grounds to have them declared mentally incompetent and sent off to the funny farm is beyond me.
I'll be sharpening my pitchforks should anyone need me.
This is really some crazy story. I went to public school from 5th grade on. This was in NYC in the 1960s-1970s. My classmates were of Irish, Italian, Jewish, Polish, Greek, Puerto Rican, Arfrican America and Chinese descent. We didn't have too many Japanese, Aisiatic Indians, Caribeans or others at that time, and of the Christians almost all were Roman Catholic, there were no Protestants that I personlly knew, except for a few kids from Governor's Island Coast Guard installation who went to Catholic School with me in earlier grades, I guess there wasnt' any Protestant School for them to go to.
In either HS or Jr. High we were actually assigned to read Jonathan Edwards "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" SERMON. It is a very famous document in American History. We also sang the Hallelujah Chorus and other "Chrisian" songs under the direction of our Choir Master, he also put on a BANGING (as my daughter would say) production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; he got some tough guy who never participated in anything to do the Pharoh/Elvis part, the kid brought down the house.
At that time, and the schools I went to, most of the teachers and many of the students were Jewish. Of course the schools were closed for the main Jewish holy days, and I don't remember we might even have had "Winter" as opposed to "Christmas" concerts, but we certainly sang traditional and religious carols. Nobody had a problem with any of this, as I recall. And believe me, these people were NYC LIBERALS.
And the dems STILL can't figure out why they lost.
At last! A man after my own heart who'll stand up and fight for what is right! I'd be honored to give him a few dollars to help defray court costs, just let me know where
to send it.
Hey, what's "one" more?
Because of the school's anti-American stance, the public will pay a very large sum of money to defend their stupid actions.
One certainly does NOT have to look far in early American documents in order to see definite, repeated, and emphatic reference to God. For instance, the Pilgrims were RELIGIOUS SEPARATISTS who came to this country so as to worship God in the manner in which they chose. The Mayflower Compact states:
IN THE name of God, Amen.
We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another... .
The Pilgrims were giving thanks to GOD in their first Thanksgiving celebration, as per the following from researchers at Plimoth Plantation:
While the harvest celebration held in Plymouth Colony in 1621 has been mistakenly referred to as the “First Thanksgiving” since the 1800s, the first Thanksgiving Day as the Separatists understood it occurred in 1623. As with many later New England Days of Thanksgiving, it followed a Day of Humiliation. The events of that summer, described in colonist Edward Winslow’s Good Newes from New England, show clearly how the Separatists saw their relationship with God and used these two holidays to reconcile and affirm that relationship.
In 1623, the colony was still struggling to survive. The colonists were critically low on food. For months they had been expecting a ship with supplies and additional colonists. The spring planting of Indian corn and beans began well. By mid-July, however, “it pleased God, for our further chastisement, to send a great drought, insomuch as in six weeks after the latter setting there scarce fell any rain; so the stalk of that which was first set began to send forth the ear, before it came to half growth, and that which was later was not like to yield any at all, both blade and stalk hanging the head, and changing color in such a manner, as we judged it utterly dead. Our beans also ran not up according to their wonted manner, but stood at a stay, many being parched away, as though they had been scorched before the fire. Now were our hopes overthrown, and we discouraged, our joy being turned into mourning.” Additionally, the expected ship had not been heard of for three months, “only the signs of a wreck were seen along the coast, which could not be judged to be any other than the same.” The colonists were devastated. “The most courageous were now discouraged, because God, which hitherto had been our only shield and supporter, now seemed in his anger to arm himself against us.”
These misfortunes “moved not only every good man privately to enter into examination with his own estate between God and his conscience, and so to humiliation before him, but also more solemnly to humble ourselves together before the Lord by fasting and prayer. To that end a day was appointed by public authority,....” Winslow did not describe the religious exercises, but stated that they lasted “some eight or nine hours.” The next morning “distilled such soft, sweet, and moderate showers of rain, continuing some fourteen days, and mixed with such seasonable weather, as it was hard to say whether our withered corn or drooping affections were most quickened or revived.” Captain Myles Standish, returning from the north, brought further good news. The supplies and new colonists were safe, although delayed, and again on their way.
Their prayers answered, the colonists thought “it would be great ingratitude, if secretly we should smother up the same, or content ourselves with private thanksgiving for that, which by private prayer could not be obtained. And therefore another solemn day was set apart and appointed for that end; wherein we returned glory, honor, and praise, with all thankfulness, to our good God, which dealt so graciously with us;....”4
Their grandchildren in Charlestown Mass issued the following Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1676:
The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and soulds as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ."
As for our colony at Jamestown, there is ample evidence that religion was a major motivating force:
First Representative Assembly in the New World Friday, July 30, 1619, ...to establish one equal and uniform government of the people there inhabiting. First Sir George Yeardley, knight and governor and Captaine General of Virginia, having sent his summons all over the country, (he invited from all over) as well as to invite those of the Counsel of Estate that were absent, as also for the elections of Burgesses (representatives of the people) there were chosen and appeared (the elected ones came to the meeting) The most convenient place we could find to sit was in the Quire of the church, when Sir George Yeardley the Governor being set down in his place, those of the Counsel of Estate set next to him on both sides, except only the Secretary (John Pory) then appointed Speaker, and Thomas Pierse the Sergeant standing at the bar, to be ready for any service the Assembly should command him.
"But foreasmuch as men's affaires do little prosper, where God's service is neglected, all the Burgesses took their places in the Quire, till prayer was said by Mr. Buck the Minister, that it would please God to guide and sanctify all our proceedings, to His own glory and the good of this plantation."
And so on; I hardly think it necessary to progress through all of American history to make my point. The truth remains that rather than "Selectively quoting references to "God" from a plethora of early American documents in order to prove to a class of 5th graders that America is a "Christian nation", as one poster on a related thread maintains, what actually IS happening is that one of the major elements in the current Culture War is that the liberal secularists are SELECTIVELY REMOVING ANY REFERENCE TO GOD in American history. This practice of anti-religious censorship results in a new, false "revised history" so different from the events that actually occurred so as to constitute a gross lie, as well as an insult to our deeply religious forebears.
The first amendment to the Constitution ["Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...] clearly was intended to protect religion from government, but has been perverted by the liberal secularists such that the politically correct modern interpretation is that it sought to protect the government from religion, the exact opposite of the original intent! It would behoove ALL American citizens who hold their Judeo-Christian heritage sacred to oppose this politically correct secular revisionism to the fullest extent possible; by letters to the media, by letters to the the liberal secularists involved, and most importantly by exercising their rights in the voting booth. Then perhaps we can return to our roots as being "One Nation Under God".
ADF Efforts to Fight Censorship of Declaration of Independence & America's History -- Featured on Hannity and Colmes TONIGHT!
TONIGHT, at 9 PM EST, 6:00 PM PST, ADF senior counsel Jordan Lorence will appear on Fox News' Hannity and Colmes show to discuss a lawsuit - filed by the ADF Team and ADF allied lawyer Terry Thompson -- against a Cupertino, California school that has barred the Declaration of Independence, various state constitutions, words of George Washington and John Adams, and other historical documents - because they refer to the views of God and religion held by America's founders! Jordan will appear approximately forty minutes into the program.
The principal of Stevens Creek School had ordered a Christian teacher, Stephen Williams (who will also appear on the program), who teaches American History, to submit his lesson plans and supplemental handouts in advance for her review. This demand was made of no other teacher. Williams submitted the documents as requested and the principal rejected excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, the diaries of George Washington and John Adams, the writings of William Penn, along with the various state constitutions, where God is mentioned.
ADF and allied attorneys filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Williams' behalf. The California Education Code clearly allows "references to religion or references to or use of religious literature...when such references or uses do not constitute instruction in religious principles...and when such references or uses are incidental or illustrative of matters properly included in the course of study."
Moral Absolutes Ping. More on the teacher who was prevented from distributing the Declaration of Independence. Great info on the thread, and links to other articles about this very important situation.
This is a pivotal situation. The actual Declaration of Independence, one of the most important founding documents not only of this country, but inspirational to freedom loving countries and people all over the world, is now VERBOTEN? Polluting to childrens' minds - because the word "GOD" is contained therein?
The more you think about this, the heavier it gets.
Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
Note - contrast this to the thread last night about the cartoon "God" and the oral sex. We have either entered the Twilight Zone, or climbed into the basket, strapped ourselves in, and are heading south at a fast rate of speed.
I live in CA and I work in that area maybe the person who runs the school needs to go see the new movie with Nick Cage that has something about the Declaration of Independence I have not see it but everyone that I know has told me about it. I will see for myself this weekend. I did my calling thanks to free republic maybe there is hope
Fortunately for them we will still protect them from their own foolishness.
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