It was here. To refresh your memory:
--The Department of Education, drawing on numerous court cases, issued a "Guidance on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools" in 2003. Among other things, it said
students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate," and the Supreme Court has made clear that "private religious speech, far from being a First Amendment orphan, is as fully protected under the Free Speech Clause as secular private expression."...For example, "nothing in the Constitution ... prohibits any public school student from voluntarily praying at any time before, during, or after the school day," and students may pray with fellow students during the school day on the same terms and conditions that they may engage in other conversation or speech. Likewise, local school authorities...may not structure or administer such rules to discriminate against student prayer or religious speech...So students can pray on their own, pray together, pray out loud, read the Bible, organize prayer groups, and meet before school to pray, and they can use school facilities for prayer and announce their prayer meetings over the P.A. system. And then, of course, there are comparative religion and philosophy classes. Is that really not enough opportunity to discuss creation in schools?
Students may pray when not engaged in school activities or instruction, subject to the same rules designed to prevent material disruption of the educational program that are applied to other privately initiated expressive activities. Among other things, students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray or study religious materials with fellow students during recess, the lunch hour, or other noninstructional time to the same extent that they may engage in nonreligious activities....Students may organize prayer groups, religious clubs, and "see you at the pole" gatherings before school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other non-curricular student activities groups. Such groups must be given the same access to school facilities for assembling as is given to other non-curricular groups, without discrimination because of the religious content of their expression....where student groups that meet for nonreligious activities are permitted to advertise or announce their meetings—for example, by advertising in a student newspaper, making announcements on a student activities bulletin board or public address system, or handing out leaflets—school authorities may not discriminate against groups who meet to pray.
? Doesn't the Scopes Trials ring a bell?
Uh, yeah. That was the one where a teacher was charged with violating a law against teaching evolution. A law passed by the Tennessee legislature--a political act.
There was never any political action taken to insert creation in to public schools,
In Georgia, the school board mandated those stickers. The school board in Dover mandated the addition of intelligent design to the curriculum. School boards are political bodies, and those were political actions.
Religion has never been successful in making inroads into public education through the courts.
I never said it had been. You seem to think that only the courts count as political.
Never forget that the courts in this country are, in general, the least democratic division of government.
That's the law, but how do children enforce such laws when the godless liberal NEA is demanding they not bring their Bibles to school, "because this isn't the place" and so on....???
comparative religion and philosophy courses?
You seem to think this is the rule as opposed to the exception but none of these courses exist k-12 in public schools that I'm aware of in the state of Georgia.
In Georgia, the school board mandated those stickers. The school board in Dover mandated the addition of intelligent design to the curriculum. School boards are political bodies, and those were political actions.
Actually a group of concerned parents initiated that, and lo and behold the simple truth that evolution IS theory and not fact was sued down by godless liberals.
Funny, when concerend parents don't want creation or ID, that's OK, but let some concerned parents speak up in favor of ID/creation, (or in this case even simple facts), which btw, is more often the case, well suddenly that somehow doesn't matter.
The point wasn't that the kids legally had the right to do it. It was that it isn't happening. You didn't provide any examples of schools that offer classes like that where creation is actually addressed.
Saying that it is possible to happen in a philosophy or comparative religion class is not the same as providing examples of where it actually does happen.
There was never any political action taken to insert creation in to public schools,
Finish the quote please....
It was.....There was never any political action taken to insert creation in to public schools, but rather political action taken to keep it from being forced out.
Creation was in the education of Americans for centuries before the lawsuits forced it out. It's not like creation is being introduced into schools as if it had never been there before. It is not introducing something new. Those political actions were in response to the already taken actions of creation being forced out. The parents who pay taxes to have their own children educated in those schools want creation BACK IN the schools. Taking action to restore what was previously in existence is not the same as introducing something new.
In Georgia, the school board mandated those stickers.
The sticker said: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered." Which by no means is introducing religion or creation into schools, but merely making a statement about what a theory is. How you can equate that with introducing creation into schools is beyond me.
The school board in Dover mandated the addition of intelligent design to the curriculum. School boards are political bodies, and those were political actions.
Which is not creationism.