Posted on 04/02/2010 11:18:58 AM PDT by Outlaw Woman
A central Indiana district isn't calling off a planned high school graduation prayer unless a federal judge orders it. GREENWOOD, Ind. -- A central Indiana district isn't calling off a planned high school graduation prayer unless a federal judge orders it. Greenwood School Board president Joe Farley says the district wants the judge to decide the merits of a lawsuit filed by the school's top-ranked senior. Greenwood High School student Eric Workman is asking a federal judge to stop a student-led prayer that the senior class voted to approve. The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on the 18-year-old's behalf claims that the prayer and class vote unconstitutionally subject students to religious practice. The school district has until April 16 to respond to the lawsuit, and a court hearing is scheduled for April 30. The district's attorneys didn't immediately return telephone messages seeking comment Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
So have the parents spend their money because one loon decides to sue? I don’t know about you but I am sick of the small minority dictating what the larger majority does and says, especially when it’s unconstitutional. Our freedom of religion is protected as is freedom of speech. I applaud the school administration for sticking to their guns.
Thanks! I've lately been giving more thought to us recognizing what I am calling the "right to NOT participate." A lot of people are pissed off that judges are ruining their school events on the account of objections of a small group of, or in many cases even just one student who seeks to ruin everything for everyone else.
From a legal perspective, there isn't really much we can do to fight such rulings, especially given the costs and time involved. So I think the alternative of a private graduation ceremony would be the most ideal one.
From memory (which isn't always great) the SCOTUS ruled in favor of prayer as long as it was student led some years back. It cannot be compelled by a school but if the students decide to have prayer...
I don't know what happen to that ruling or why it is discounted in these cases.
When I graduated in the 70’s we always has prayer at graduation, even in little Berkeley NY. We alternated a rabbi, a protestant minister, and a Catholic priest - the major religions each year.
The year I graduated we got the rabbi. Now I am not Jewish but I had no problem with this.
Whoops always had prayer.
I wouldn’t cancel it EVEN IF a judge ordered it.
I agree entirely. But I also think telling these people "Screw this; we'll have our own private ceremony where we can have a prayer" also sends a very powerful message.
Yes, I remember well.
This is a contrived case. Some 18 year old snot nosed, wet behind-the-ears idiot kid is a useful and convenient tool for the ACLU. This is all about destroying and they ‘search’ out possible plantiffs and then file the suit.
Except those headlines wouldn't read quite like that. Instead it would be something like:
FBI (et al.) Quells Violent Right Wing Christian Militia Tea Party Event at High School
And the first paragraph would refer to spitting, egg-throwing, and use of the N-word.
That’s where the people who don’t want to listen to the prayer bring air horns and sound them during the prayer. Everybody goes home happy. The prayer was said but no one hears it.
No doubt
To quote Satchmo when asked to define jazz, “If you gots ta axe the question, ya wown unnerstan da answer.”
;)
Let's examine the two possible decisions that a government school worker can make, and hopefully conservatives will see that a religiously neutral position is impossible:
1) The government school could allow school prayer. Well...Any government powerful enough to allow Christian prayer at a government graduation is also powerful enough to allow Muslim or Wiccan prayer. It might even allow equal amount of time for the atheist to expound on the nonexistence of God. Would any thinking conservative be surprised if this happens?
2) It can forbid school prayer. This isn't religiously neutral either because it teaches the students that religion is so controversial ( or shameful) that it must be hidden away from polite society as if it were a bathroom activity. This is hardly religiously neutral either.
Fundamentally, prayer at graduation is merely one example among thousands in which government schools must make a binary decision. One group of citizens has their First Amendment Rights trashed and the other has government using tax dollars to establish their religiously non-neutral worldview.
Axiom: It is impossible to have a religiously neutral education. It is impossible to have a religiously neutral government education. ALL government schools promote and establish the religious worldviews of some citizens and trash those of others.
lol! The reason I mentioned it is because everyday, I’m completely astonished at some answers that people give to things..even on here. And they are serious! So...you never know if the poster is series or not unless the heavy /s is mentioned. And I’m series about that :)
We pray before basketball games in southern Indiana.
Classic. My vote for post of the day.
“Ouch, my Obama hole is swollen & raw from ‘free’ healthcare and subsidizing others’ defaulted mortgages and student loans.”
Yeah, I get taken in a few times a week myself, but this is HUGE!
That’s wonderful; it’s great to hear accounts of people continuing in spite of the rhetoric and anti-Christian rants.
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