Posted on 12/24/2006 11:46:09 AM PST by wintertime
There is no law that compels a student to attend a graduation ceremony any more than there is a law that compels a student to attend the Senior Prom.
In addition, when the Framers wrote the Establishment Clause, they were addressing the issue of a truly established religion where taxes were used to directly fund the Church of England, Royal Navy officer were required to swear an oath to the Church of England, Catholics were barred from public office and, to this very day, the Prince of Wales loses his right to inherit the throne if he marries a Catholic.
That Establishment Clause has now been perverted to mean the establishment of Secularism as the official state religion.
I am agnostic and, although I suppose I should be grateful that the Government is ignoring the Free Exercise Clause to protect my tender sensibilities, even I can see that the Government has unfairly trampled upon the religious free exercise rights of Christians who do not belong to a Politically Correct religion.
There is no law that compels a student to attend a graduation ceremony
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I agree. That is why I qualified the statement with "situations where the student is compelled by law to attend".
Will you agree that the student is required by law to attend the government school itself, if the parent can not provide an alternative?
That government school is not and never can be religiously neutral.
Also,,,While I support freedom of speech in the compulsory attendance government schools, I recognize that the student who is there by government compulsion will be subjected to the religious indoctrination of others, and the non-neutral religious agenda of the government school itself.
There is a constitutional solution: Begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education. Let parents, teachers, and principals decide these matters privately in private schools.
"your view of what happened appears to be missing salient facts."
i'll read it completely this time.
"appears to be missing salient facts...."
i don't think so. when she was chosen as valedictorian she was told that references to God would not be allowed.
she could have either protested or not given the speech.
had she protested she would have been denied the right to speak. had she not given the speech she would have caved to pressure to keep God out of the public arena.
she is a heroine for me. she had the audacity to speak of God in a public arena in the face of some bureaucrat with a camouflaged agenda. there are those who speak of their atheism openly and deny others any mention of their faith when they speak. scales are somewhat tilted, eh?
if you in all your wisdom consider my arguments to be silly, so be it. i will go to my grave believing what i believe and i will despise the actions of totalitarian bureaucrats who hide behind the constitution.
cheerio, mate.
Teenage rebels are somewhat tiresome. I don't consider her to be any kind of heroine just a girl wanting to shake up the boat.
"just a girl wanting to shake up the boat..."
i don't agree. she would not go through so much trouble just to shake up the boat. it is possible for a teenager to have principles and i think she does. she is a welcome divergence from the lockstep, indoctrinated teenagers of the
"public shool" who do not hide their contempt for the faithful and even resort to threats on occassion. (she also has courage imho)
Your description of public school students is false and insulting but typical of the stereotypes gleefully accepted by some here. The VAST majority of our military come from public schools NOT private schools NOR homeschools.
"but typical of the stereotypes gleefully accepted by some here....."
well, exkiyoooooze me!
the "vast majority" of our military, who went to public schools, made it to where they are IN SPITE OF public schools.
they probably got a good grounding in how to recognize totalitarian robots and oppressive punks.
and, my description of SOME public school students is not false......i guess the truth hurts. (i would guess that you generalize all public school students as little saints who never join gangs and beat other people up....or certain religious groups who join together to sock it to christians.....or certain atheists who harass people of faith....or certain teachers who penalize students for having "right wing nut" points of view)
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