Posted on 08/31/2007 3:03:49 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
DENVER — A student who said she was told she wouldn't get her diploma unless she apologized for a commencement speech in which she mentioned Jesus has filed a lawsuit alleging her free speech rights were violated.
The school district contends its actions were "constitutionally appropriate."
Erica Corder was one of 15 valedictorians at Lewis-Palmer High School in 2006. All were invited to speak for 30 seconds at the graduation ceremony. When it was Corder's turn, she encouraged the audience to get to know Jesus Christ.
Corder had not included those remarks during rehearsals.
[snip]
The lawsuit said Brewer would not give Corder her diploma until she included a sentence saying, "I realize that, had I asked ahead of time, I would not have been allowed to say what I did."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
You don’t have a right not to be offended when you go out in public. The administration of the school didn’t do it. A private citizen said what they had to say. What you seem to want is the government to suppress her speech. You don’t see any slippery slope around that? Everbody didn’t get to speak. She was awarded time based on her academic performance to make her statement but yet you want to constrain it.
The world has gone mad. Why aren't we talking about forming a new country, a new society yet?
“there’s a time and place for everything?”
Well, this isn’t the same as praying on the street corner, saying, “look at me...holier than thou.”
This is witnessing. I’m not a Bible expert but as I recall Christians are called upon to proclaim the Good News. I don’t remember that there was any fine print. You scatter the seed and some of it will fall on good ground. The rest of it is not our responsibility. I believe that is where the Holy Spirit comes in.
The way I see it, if Christ was the Son of God, died, and was risen, then that’s the most important thing that ever happened in the history of the human race. Not many of us act like it, or act like it most of the time.
If Jesus isn’t who he said he was then she’s just a girl talking about her hobby. If he is then what she said was the most important thing said by anybody that day.
/s
My my. Such intolerance.
I prefer to call it Generation Joshua, where you see young people like this girl standing up and declaring they won't be cowed into submission by the intolerant "liberalism" of their "progressive" elders.
Is there some exception for the freedom of religion or freedom of speech written that says that students may not practice the tenets of Christianity at school? Where does it say that a student may not do that? My copy of the Constitution says no such thing. It just says that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" and THIS looks a heck of a lot like "prohibiting free exercise thereof".
“There is a difference between rights and doing what’s appropriate.”
Very interesting. So you believe that what YOU deem “appropriate” trumps someone else’s constitutional rights?
AMEN! Brother! The TRUTH is what the Christian haters cannot stand.
I prefer “Generation Satan”. Ever notice how the most intolerant people are the ones who profess tolerance for all except those who profess that Jesus is Lord?
WE have aborted over 35 million babies in the last 35 years and NOW the very ones who support abortion as a method of birth control are telling us we have to have illegal aliens to replace them.
My alma mater as well (1991). LP has really gone downhill - full of political correctness now. I think it has to do with the influx of Californians that moved to the area and changed the Monument area from pretty conservative to very blue.
Free speech includes religious speech. The individuals can speak as they wish about religion. The government cannot establish a religion, and it cannot prohibit the free exercise of it.
30 seconds to say what she will is still protected by free speech, even if it was a bit preachy. Whether she should have said it is different than whther she is allowed to say it.
She has every right to speak about her faith in a commencement address. She’s not the state. The constitution prohibits the state sponsored school from silencing students’ religious speech.
When did a student become the government?
Christian students are Christians 100% of the time. They might offer prayers in restaurants, encourage their children to act like Christ at fairs, or say "Praise God" aloud at work when they get a job promotion. That's what religious freedom looks like in a free society. If others think that is inappropriate, they are free to behave differently.
I understand that legal precedent forbids governmental institutions from proselytizing. But in this situation, everyone in the audience realized this girl was not speaking as an agent of the state. She was a Christian student, saying Christian things on a public forum in a free society. The school's going to lose this one.
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