Posted on 05/21/2008 6:01:20 AM PDT by SJackson
Some Plano students who are Jewish say they were pressured or taunted to pick up copies of the New Testament from school display tables during recent weeks.
Their parents have called for changes in district policies that allow outside groups to distribute materials on campus.
"Probably the one I heard the most was, 'If the Bible touched you, like, will you burn or something?' " said Jeffrey Lavine, 16, a sophomore at Vines High School. "I sort of played it down as a joke and everything, which it was, but it was definitely a meaner comment than what we're used to."
Plano officials said they pulled aside some students to talk about respect and tolerance after the recent complaints, but no students have been disciplined.
The New Testaments were part of unmanned displays set up by Gideons International, a nondenominational Christian group that has visited a dozen Plano schools in recent months.
District officials said a judge's order prevents them from excluding groups based on their beliefs.
The ruling stems from a 1999 lawsuit in which parents claimed officials stopped them from handing out information that was critical of a district math program, said Superintendent Doug Otto.
"As long as some people have access to the distribution table, all people have access," Dr. Otto said. "That is the policy, and we're trying our best to make people aware of it. We certainly don't want people to think we endorse one religion over another."
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Allowing people to voluntarily pick up a Koran is not a problem IMHO.
So you are wrong.
>>Your kids are being marketed to, and have been for many years. Even the choice of textbooks is a marketing tool to endoctrinate their young minds by the manipulators. If you close the door to some , you open the door to others.
You are fooling your self if do not believe it<<
I think you missed the posts that say, “I don’t want my kids marketed to in school.”
That means, I want my kids to go to school to learn reading, science and math.
No one setting up tables with literature of any kind. No free samples, no coupons, no tracts. Nothing. I don’t want the Knights of Columbus, Jews for Jesus nor the Gideons. None of them.
Nor Coke or Pepsi, nor Mastercard or Visa, nor anyone.
Is it clear? Setting up a table and handing out any materials that are not related to school is inappropriate. Period.
More from Madison:
The danger of silent accumulations & encroachments by Ecclesiastical Bodies have not sufficiently engaged attention in the U. S.
-snip-
Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion & Govt in the Constitution of the United States, the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history.
James Madison, Detached Memoranda ca. 1817; W. & M. Q., 3d ser., 3:554--60 1946
--http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/amendI_religions64.html
Anti-Catholic bigotry, especially in the south is very common. I left a church because that’s all the minister seemed to preach. We finally found a pastor who refuses to attack other religions.
Sorry, you still missed the point. Our kids, your kids, and their kids are being marketed to through the whole system.
The NEA has been working on this for many, many years. In order to do this they keep out what they consider what is not education, and only put in what they approve. You and I are part of the educational system and we are accountable for what they learn and do not learn. And they must have a balance in all things. Free choices and free gifts is not marketing. Those things are related to school and to education.
>>You and I are part of the educational system and we are accountable for what they learn and do not learn. And they must have a balance in all things. Free choices and free gifts is not marketing. <<
I’m not really sure what business classes you took in college but yes, free gifts are marketing.
And I don’t want my children offered them without me.
“Anti-Catholic bigotry, especially in the south is very common.”
I just don’t see how I could live my whole life here and not see any if it’s so common. I honestly would not have known such a thing even existed had I not read about it in a Stephen King book as a teenager. A good number of my friends went to the local Catholic school, some Catholic, some not. It was a good school and protestants seemed to have no problem sending their kids there. Same with the Episcopal school.
No offense to you guys, but I’m going to believe my lying eyes on this one.
I have never seen any of what y’all are describing and I’m not exactly a sheltered individual.
Yes, it’s 30’s, 40’s, 50’s...that I’m referring to (and remember)
I was responding to a post about a long history of sweetness and light.
Now it’s mostly (some) Blacks who hate the Jews who were among those in the forefront of the Civil Rights movement, but I can easily believe in strong pockets of anti-Semitism in various parts of the country.
You are right in the sense that freegifts are marketing in order to persuade you to market. My miss spoke as they say in the political arena today. Besides I’m been out of college over 48 years now. Started college in 53, then in service, then finished at night.
I’m glad you and anyone stands by their convictions, so few have any today.
I’m sure due to my age (74 last March) and having been married over 50 years (also last March) I’m not able to communicate on the level I should. I’m just a Christian, by the grace of God, and always have had it better than I deserve. My 2 sons are 41 & 42, and my daughter just turned 35, so its hard for my wife & I to claim to still be 39.
Let me rejoice in this, “For He (God hath made Him (Jesus to be sin for us(me), who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (II Corinthians 5:22) Now that is a gift!!!!!
Second response:
I should have added that I take people one at a time and only hold them responsible for their own actions.
The NEA is a different problem, but one that must also be addressed.
However I think you're missing the point.
On what basis do you advocate public schools "marketing choices" in matters of faith? Is that part of their mandate?
Do you also advocate "marketing choices" in matters of sexuality? Should it be limited to High School, or should we allow NAMBLA to "market choice" in middle schools?
Thank you for a most gracious response. I generally do not blame people’s bad behavior on their religion, but on their upbringing.
The possible exception is Moslems. I do think that modern Islam may have wandered too far from what may have been a reasonable religion at it’s inception, but am not qualified to judge.
Both Judaism and Christianity had bad patches in their development, but both groups, as a whole, seem to have gotten past the negative influences.
Badgering, not "allowing". And if Muslims were 95 out of 100 students, I'd doubt you'd fail to see the coercion factor.. Yea, majority rules, and of course people could always "go back from where they came from" but thats really not an answer here either, I would think.
As a former atheist, I would say you are full of prunes. It never bothered me when religious people handed out stuff. They couldn’t make me read it or even take it. And they couldn’t make me feel bad for not taking it.
America is a Christian Nation and if I don’t buy into your bag of manure I’m an atheist, but I agree with the parent that says they take their dog and pony show out into the back room where everybody doesent have to be agravated by it, if they dont want to be.
You don’t get to suppress the rights of others just to keep yourself from being “offended”.
It has nothing whatsoever to do with reading, writing and rithmetic, and just because the gubmint schools also promote condoms on bananas and the like, doesent give some third party lobbying group the “right” to put distribution tables with their stuff on it anywhere theyd like. The school can regulate that and ought to , IMO, if they feel they ought to. And thats what their “discussion” is all about.
That’s wise. We can’t paint with such a broad brush that we mistakenly think all people of like ethnic or religious origins are the same.
Y’know folks, I’m a man of faith...but I guess when it comes to discussions of doctrine and dogma, and who jams it down whose throat the hardest, I’m an equal opportunity skeptic.
I know and am related to evangelicals who believe that unless you have had an epiphanic conversion, you’re going to hell. Logically, this is not a well-thought out position as it condemns dozens of generations of Catholics and Orthodox prior to the Reformation. But it does set them up to be right about everything, smug, and self-satisfied in their righteousness (cue Dana Carvey in a gray wig and lavender dress).
I know and work with plenty of Jews who believe that if they go to Temple on Yom Kippur once every three or so years, everything is gonna be fine, after all - they’re part of the Tribe, and they were chosen.
I know plenty of Roman Catholics who seem to believe that if they go to mass, genuflect before and venerate the Cross, take communion and go to confession once every three years or so, and otherwise observe the sacraments by rote, then everything is alright.
All this leaves me with the following that I hope to live my life and conduct my faith by:
1. My own sins are far too great for me to stand in judgment of anyone.
2. If I have all the answers, there’s no room for God.
3. Dogma dulls the mind. I need a clear mind for my Walk so that I might see God when He reveals himself to me (and He does daily) and be thankful. And maybe share it with somebody.
This works for me. But that’s just me. Think about it and see if it works for you.
I am a Christian who happens to be a political Conservative. There are those who aren’t. It doesn’t make them less Christian. I just happen to disagree most of the time on the best way to execute upon the social justice aspects of Christ’s message (hmmm, enforcing justice through a leviathan federal bureuacracy that ultimately creates slavish state-worshippers, or through changing the hearts and minds of individuals so that they act in a collective manner to make things better...hmmm).
Sorry, y’all. Got on a soapbox.
Even in the college where I worked and in the village where I grew up, there was anti-semitism and hatred of blacks back then. I could never understand how people could be that stupid, to hate someone because of their religion or color. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Growing up after the second world war, I saw so many pictures of the holocaust and the suffering caused by hate; also later the treatment of the blacks, especially in the south. Glad we’ve come a bit further than that.
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.