Posted on 09/09/2007 8:23:51 PM PDT by Coleus
In one Pennsylvania public school, reading from the Bible is forbidden -- but reading about witches and Halloween is encouraged. Wesley Busch is a kindergarten student at Culbertson Elementary School in Newton Square, Pennsylvania -- and all he wanted to do was have his mother read aloud from his favorite book, the Bible. The book reading was part of a classroom assignment called "All About Me," the purpose of which was to provide students an opportunity to identify individual interests and learn about each other through the use of items such as stuffed animals, posters, books and other mediums.
Jeremy Tedesco, legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), says the school district had a big problem with Wesley's favorite book. "When Wesley told his mom 'I want you to read the Bible, that's my favorite book,' the school said no -- even though they let every other book reading go forward," the attorney explains. "And even though they told Mrs. Busch 'no, you can't read the Bible,' [they said] 'but here, read this book on witches and Halloween instead,'" says Tedesco.
In May, a federal court sided with the school and the case is now on appeal. Tedesco says public school officials need to understand that Christian students cannot be treated as second-class citizens.
"The lower court's decision said that it was okay to restrict the Bible. But the bottom line is that Christian students and their parents aren't second-class citizens at school, and shouldn't be discriminated against based on their religious speech that they want to engage in when they're invited to engage in private expression," he says.
According to ADF, although reading from the Bible was forbidden the teacher allowed another parent to discuss the Jewish religious holidays of Passover and Hanukkah with the class.
ping
I’m sure if someone wanted to read from the Koran that would be allowed as well.
Encouraged probably.
I want to know how this could possibly be banned and what kind of a failure of a federal judge could render such a ruling. The First Amendment was written primarily to PROTECT religious practice, not discourage it.
I’m not sure how our society has gotten it so backwards. You think it would be telling enough what was meant by the wording of the First Amendment that not within a week after finalizing the language on it, Congress voted to install a Congressional Chaplain. I don’t know what clearer indication there is of what an amendment means.
What’s more, this was an assignment aimed at self-expression. And the reading wasn’t even being done by the child, but by the child’s mother. THe school is clearly stifling this child’s First Amendment rights. How a judge could so utterly fail in his or her duties is beyond comprehension.
Time to go back to law school, bubba. Well, how about high school civics/history?
Is this too funny to be offensive, or too offensive to be funny?
District response to Rutherford lawsuit ^
May 15, 2005
Dear Parent/Student/Resident:
You may be aware that the Marple Newtown School District has been sued for protecting the rights of the students in a Culbertson elementary class. Each day, we, as a school district are entrusted with a tremendous responsibility to help prepare our students to be productive citizens. We take that responsibility very seriously. Our children’s education and the protection of their rights and the rights of their families are paramount to the District. We respect the practice of religion and the important place it holds in our community. However, the law says that place is not in the classroom of a taxpayer-funded public school.
We recently requested that a parent not read a passage from a religious text to a kindergarten class during a classroom activity. Our request upheld the law and did not discriminate against anyone or any religion. The law applies uniformly to everyone in our school environment. Because a public school teacher cannot read aloud from a religious text in a classroom setting, a parent can’t do it in that setting either.
We have an obligation to protect the rights of all our students and their families. We take that responsibility very seriously and will continue to do all that we can to protect the rights of our students and their families.
This suit is baseless and is nothing more than an attempt to make headlines. In an ongoing effort to protect the rights of our students and their families, we will vigorously defend against this lawsuit. Sadly, the defense of this suit will ultimately take away valuable financial resources that would normally be used to buy computers, musical equipment and books.
Most importantly, we strongly encourage you to contact the school district at 610-359-4256 with questions or concerns. For additional information, visit www.MNSD.net.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Mesaros, Ph.D
Superintendent
Personally, I'd prefer there were 15 minutes of Bible Study every morning -- those that don't want it can sit quietly. But until you change the USSC's position, you're wasting time and treasure. JMHO.
Teaching them early that life is all about them. Disgusting. And offering the mother who wants to read from the Bible a book about witches and Halloween? Unfricking believable. I hope the mother gave the teacher a piece of her mind.
Maybe they will learn something about history, so long as they understand that the history book was written by a Jew, for the Romans, and wasn’t allowed to say anything evil about the Roman Empire.
Early form of propaganda
.
I have no idea why anyone would want to read about my ex daughter in law ping.(Baptist ping)
Typical administrator...I bet his salary will continue to increase, irrespective of the outcome of the ruling.
I am beginning to wonder strongly if public education should not be supported at the federal level. Let the states support their own programs; if they can not, let the public education programs die.
Ooooh...that was bad. lol
I have another idea — either they retain the union, or they retain tenure, not both. I’d prefer they have neither — fat chance.
Home school or Private school.
Now that’s a real good question!!!
It wasn’t a question:’)
Oh.
I am still ambivalent on the subject.
We have several real good private schools
I would try before I would go to home schooling.
But that is limited to my area.
So I really can not make an objective statement
on the subject.
Is that a PC enough statement for you? :>)
I don’t think the public schools can be fixed (anytime soon anyway).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.