Posted on 11/23/2005 10:30:31 AM PST by AZRepublican
In May of this year, a Jonesboro student gave a prayer during a high school graduation ceremony at the Arkansas State University Convocation Center. During the prayer, which lasted four minutes, she gave an “altar call” to the community, asking those in the audience to come forward to accept Jesus Christ.
“In the closing moments of this service, if you would like to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, here's your chance,” said senior Jessica Reed in a May 20, 2005 taped video of JHS graduation ceremonies.
“We were contacted sometime after that by the American Civil Liberties Union that they felt like there had been a violation of the First Amendment, separation of church and state with regard to a prayer,” said Jonesboro Public Schools Attorney Donn Mixon.
And now the ACLU is looking for a plaintiff in a case against Jonesboro High School. In a letter written by the Arkansas ACLU executive director Rita Sklar, the event is described as a “blatant display of contempt for the First Amendment.”
(Excerpt) Read more at kait8.com ...
I never said I was defending a lawsuit here. I said the opposite several times. The school, by allowing it to continue, placed themselves in an actionable position. Since it is unlikely to recur, a lawsuit seems excessive.
SD
I mostly agree, insofar as she was engaged in actual speech, and graduates are typically given a pretty wide latitude in what they choose to say. However, being invited to speak is not a blank check to do whatever you want -- e.g., profanity, monopolizing the stage for hours, haranguing the audience at length about 'Bush's illegal war for oil', etc. The school, as provider of the forum, can limit the speech in length, content, etc. And this particular encouragement for audience members to "come forward to accept Jesus" -- what if someone takes her up on it? How long is that going to take? Do we then give the respondent some stage time to give a testimony of their faith? It's ridiculous. This sort of stunt is neither the reason the school put on the event nor the reason the audience came. It's an abuse of the audience.
By the way if you think they should have forcibly removed her from the stage, what level of violence should the government use to get her away from the microphone? A backhand to the face? A billy club to the back of the head? A tazer to the abdomen? .40 S&W to central body mass?
Most likely she could be wrestled away by a couple of strong men.
Whose money pays for it, your money, or the gov'ts money? See my tagline.
I agree with Dave. If this young woman had decided to use her bully pulpit to hawk Amway or timeshares, would anyone think it right?
I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger
read posts 81,132,44,150,164,166,172, and try your best to explain to me how on earth this is a First Amendment issue. And no, majority rules has nothing to do with the bill of rights, other, perhaps, than as motivation.
I stand guilty along with you brother. Thanks.
What part of "strict neutrality" do you not understand?
BTW, we had to have the Baccalaureatte service in a Roman Catholic Church since some stupid damned judge around here ruled we couldn't do that at the highschool even if it was strictly voluntary and done outside of normal business hours and even if we paid rent for the building.
I considered it a horrific imposition on my rights to have a federal judge force me to go into a Catholic Church simply to make sure my son got full benefit of all the ceremonial aspects of his graduation.
At that point I decided that public schools as they are understood in America are a totalitarian artifact that should no longer be tolerated.
BTW, the RC's caused no problem. In fact, I knew most of them, and had done government business with several of the priests in attendance. I would imagine we all had the same thought on the matter.
We already discussed your point Dave, and you lost. Do you actually think you can come in here and continue to argue such a point as if no one else saw you do it earlier?
That's your religious belief. I don't share in it because it is entirely too narrow and bigoted. We have to be broadminded and tolerant in these matters.
There is nothing that makes me turn and walk away quicker than an 'altar call'. Fine in church, but I've purposely avoided churches that had such stuff.
What this girl did was wrong and truly mean spirited. Bully pulpit is an understatement. All she did was make the right look even more stupid and arrogant. Crap like this makes me furious!
A free people cannot tolerate the whiff of totalitarianism.
You may be in the wrong discussion group.
No one here agrees that the state has a horse in this race at all.
As I suspected you are in the camp that would feel safer from possibly offending language if the government posted a sniper at each and every public event so that offenders of your delicate sensibilities could be taken out instantly.
She probably gives "your" brand of Christians a bad name ~
The School Board, however, is simply not entitled to have a policy on religion. That would be unconstitutional behavior and actionable in court.
I think it shows the pernicious effect of trying to impose a single standard across the country. What the girl did was somewhat over the top, even for her town. But she was not speaking to the same ki9nd of audience that she would have been in Caifornia or Massachusetts. If obscenity is to be judged by local standards, why not religious sentiments?
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