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Posted on 04/14/2005 7:06:35 AM PDT by Asphalt
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- A ninth-grade student has accused officials at a Southern California high school of discrimination for suspending him for wearing lipstick and eye makeup.
James Herndon, 16, said the five-day suspension imposed Monday by administrators at San Bernardino's Pacific High School was unfair because females are allowed to wear cosmetics on campus.
"If I can't wear makeup," he said, "then the girls or the staff can't wear makeup."
Herndon says his black lipstick and red eye makeup express the Wiccan religious beliefs he shares with his mother, a priestess in the neo-pagan faith. The suspension violates his constitutional right to free expression, he contends.
Linda Hill, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino City Unified School District, declined to comment on the case, citing student confidentiality laws.
She said, however, that students shouldn't wear excessive makeup or clothing that could conceal their identity or be distracting to other students, a prohibition applied to male and female students alike.
Herndon, who is repeating his second year at the school, has worn makeup since he enrolled, according to his mother, Valerie Wallace.
Despite the suspension, Herndon plans to wear the makeup when he returns to school next week.
"My son shouldn't change the way he is," Wallace said.
And what do we burn besides witches?
MORE WITCHES!!
His mother always wanted a girl.
Mom is still converting him.
Paganism is NOT a religion. It means you are a non believer and could believe in or practice any number of things.
Devil worship (which is what your Wiccan stuff is) is a cult.
A product of "progressive" parenting. Liberalism gone wild.
Paganism is like the fake religions prisoners invent in order to file those frivolous jailhouse lawsuits to kill time. (ie we religiously oppress because our religion mandates consumption of steak, consumption of pot, sleeping alone...)
And who are you to say it's not?
Still one's religious practices, as opposed to beliefs, can be regulated, but only to the extent that they interfer with others.
Wicca is even a federally-recognized religion, being listed in the U.S. Army's Chaplain's manual.
Devil worship (which is what your Wiccan stuff is) is a cult.
So says a member of the Jesus cult, whose symbol is the depiction of a gruesome execution, and over a billion of whose members routinely practice cannibalism. See where ignorance gets you? Wicca has no concept of a "Satan" role at all. That is more a Zoroastrian concept, known as Ahriman in that early religion, which was later absorbed into Christianity.
Since this country was founded on freedom of religion. There is no freedom of religion as soon as someone gets to say "that's not a religion."
I swear this is like a Jeff Foxworthy sketch about Southerners. Whenever something happens, like a tornado, it's always the stupidest one that gets put on TV.
"There is no freedom of religion as soon as someone gets to say "that's not a religion."
So, my claim that the Republican party is a religious order is OK under your definition?
Still one's religious practices, as opposed to beliefs, can be regulated, but only to the extent that they interfer with others.
Which is exactly why this kid's makeup is a 'religious' issue in this instance: he's in public school. In a public school, the school's rules count as 'state action' for First Amendment purposes (that's the 'regulated' part) -- but they do get to make lots of rules for the purpose of maintaining discipline and so forth (that's the 'interfere with others' part).
If this kid were in a private school, they could just tell him What Not To Wear and that would be the end of it. Or his mother could home-school him and let him dress like that if she wanted, as she apparently does.
What utter B.S. Keep reading your anti-christian web sites. We all need someone to laugh at. paganism is NOT a religion. Wiccan is NOT a religion despite the wishes of a few disorganized freaks who have severe mental problems. Satan IS the central figure. For some gruesome examples of just how far some go in this CULT, remember what happened in mexico a few years back during spring break.
That's just rediculous.
So is your claim that we cease to have freedom of religion when somebody can say "that's not a religion."
You've got to think before you put your ideas on display in front of your teeth.
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Did Mike Tyson leave his ankle bracelet at home while he went to the parlor?
Wiccan is not devil worship. Pagan it may be, but it's not devil worship. They don't believe in the devil.
The real question would seem to be are this kid and his mother really Wiccan, or just "new age"?
There's a "Witch" down near San Antonio that would take great umbrage at your contention that she is devil worshiper. She's former military (Airborne qualified), an A&P mechanic, a PI, and a CHL instructor and Texas Director of Armed Females of America.
I just don't know what to say.
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