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School Prayer Ruling Is a Bitter Blow to Intolerant Secularists
The American Spectator ^ | July 2, 2022, | George Neumayr

Posted on 07/03/2022 3:38:22 PM PDT by T Ruth

To the left, the separation of “church and state” means the separation of God from government, a hostility to the very theism from which the country came. It speaks volumes about the left’s conception of America that it considers a pious football coach a greater threat to students than transgender propagandists — the twisted view on display throughout the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District case. The secularists lost that case last week after the majority on the Supreme Court ruled that a public high school in Washington violated the First Amendment rights of Joseph Kennedy, a football coach whom the school fired for praying with players after games.

“The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike,” wrote Justice Neil Gorsuch for the majority. ...

***

Separating God from government is alien to American history, [Gorsuch] observed, as evident in its openly theistic practices: “At the opening of each day’s Session of this Court we stand, while one of our officials invokes the protection of God … In 1954 Congress added a phrase to the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag so that it now contains the words ‘one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’… Since 1865 the words ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ have been impressed on our coins.”

America’s founding, [Gorsuch] said, was not indifferent to God but predicated “on the Protection of divine Providence.” It is a measure of America’s estrangement from its theistic founding that something as harmless as a post-game prayer could now generate a raging controversy. It is the absence, not the presence, of prayer in public schools that would have alarmed the Founding Fathers.

***

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: education; prayer; publicschools; scotus
If prayer in public schools is an unconstitutional establishment of religion, then compulsory attendance at public schools is unconstitutional.
1 posted on 07/03/2022 3:38:22 PM PDT by T Ruth
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To: T Ruth

Rhetorical question. If Mr. Kennedy lead his team to the 50 yard line to kneel butts up toward Mecca would the school district dare object?


2 posted on 07/03/2022 3:45:09 PM PDT by Impala64ssa (If a liar's pants really did catch on fire CBC, ABC, CNN and MSNBC would be more fun to watch)
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To: T Ruth
Isn't it odd that they never sanction muslims or Jews from praying, only Christians?

3 posted on 07/03/2022 3:45:50 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: T Ruth

This would stop if the government was precluded from putting strings on money it gives schools.


4 posted on 07/03/2022 3:46:28 PM PDT by Gaffer (i )
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

“Isn’t it odd that they never sanction muslims or Jews from praying, only Christians?”

Yup. I know a lot of jew and muslim owners in the fashion district of L.A.. They pray at weird times and in front of customers. A leftard wont say a word but if it’s a Christian, they get their panties in a twist..


5 posted on 07/03/2022 3:54:35 PM PDT by max americana (Fired leftards at work since 2008 at every election just to see them cry. I hate them all.)
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To: T Ruth

I grew up with both prayer in school and without, pledge of allegiance in school and without,, moments of silence, too.

i have never had a problem with prayer in sports, and here’s why: should a kid look up to a sports player that did pray, or one that flashed cash, flashed flesh, flashed everrything that could possibly break, and then get mad about it?
me-it was dragsters, road racing ( not roundierounds) of cars and motorbikes. you knew if something broke, there just might be an ouch.

nowadays .... a response to prayer in school -—im vonna say ut -— just might be which prayer and from whom?
arguing for prayer in school, and with good intentions to jave the pastor/priest/reverend/deacon/rabbi offer them, (here i go again), you just might find somebody squabbling about “exclusivity of the Abrahamic faiths”, when all you wanted was a simple, “oh lord, help me pass my test today, amen.”

i’m not in school, i have no kids or grandkids, so i do not have to “think of the children”. yes, prayer was taken out of school years back. today, there are more than just “catholic, protestant, jewish” in this country. when anybody argues 1st Amendment anything, there just might be some folks who have a different perspective, and will not be silent.
example: Baphomet statue. there’s a huge statue of Kwan Yin in the Portland, Oregon area, and a greek temple of Athena in Nashville, Tennessee!


6 posted on 07/03/2022 4:15:49 PM PDT by Terry L Smith
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To: T Ruth

“..To the left, the separation of “church and state” means the separation of God from government...”
Yep, but it sure didn’t stop em when it came to the BS COVID lockdowns.
One of the first places they went after was churches. It’s only “separation” when it suits their desires and wants.


7 posted on 07/03/2022 4:31:22 PM PDT by lgjhn23 (Pray for America....)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

Anybody who wants to pray in public is free to do so, in my eyes. The secularists accuse Christians of forcing our faith on others, when it is the secularists trying to force secularism on us.


8 posted on 07/03/2022 5:11:31 PM PDT by No name given (Anonymous is who you’ll know me as. )
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To: T Ruth

Religious Libtard Bigots Most Upset 🤪


9 posted on 07/03/2022 5:19:08 PM PDT by NWFree (Somebody has to say it)
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To: Governor Dinwiddie

They figure to kill the Jews later. Were you asleep during Obama?


10 posted on 07/03/2022 7:07:38 PM PDT by steve8714 (Evidently the Oxford comma is racist, sexist, or homophobic. You decide which.)
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To: Terry L Smith

Bingo.

I’m of similar vintage.

In today’s oppressive climate of “diversity”, “inclusivity”, CRT, and pronoun insanity I truly would not want an official, over the loudspeaker “prayer in school”.

You’d end up with Satanist Monday, Buddhist Tuesday, Shintoist Wednesday, Jewish Thursday and Muslim Friday.

A period of silence...absolutely.

Hopefully parents, parish, and monastic communities will have modeled what the young’uns should do with that time.


11 posted on 07/03/2022 8:37:19 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: metmom

Ping.


12 posted on 07/03/2022 8:38:27 PM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: T Ruth

It’s not just prayer. The atheists have taken “separation of church and state”* to ridiculous extremes. Case in point:

A wonderful Cambodian refugee family asked me why their children’s elementary school had to take down the posters in the hallways that said “Treat others as you would like to be treated” after an atheist filed a lawsuit. They were shocked at this, and insisted it was crazy to take away the posters, this was something all children need to learn, etc. I tried to explain, but had to agree it was crazy and wrong.

The kids turned out okay, though. Son was an an Eagle Scout who grew up to be an engineer, daughter a nurse practitioner. The whole family converted to Christianity not long after this incident (were still Buddhist at the time) and are solid solid church-going sincere Christians and hard working good citizens.

*Militant atheists have this odd notion that “separatiion of church and state” is in the Constitution, right there in the First Amendment. Only it states nothing of the kind:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

It simply says there can be no state religion (such as England, where the monarch is head of both church and state) and that the government cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion.

Hmm. Prayer is one of the ways we “exercise religuon”, no?


13 posted on 07/04/2022 4:16:50 AM PDT by CatHerd (Whoever said "All's fair in love and war" probably never participated in either.)
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To: T Ruth

The left consider a pious football coach a greater threat than transgender propagandists <- Great line. I consider transgender propagandists to actually be Satan’s minions.


14 posted on 07/04/2022 4:24:58 AM PDT by NetAddicted (Just looking)
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To: Impala64ssa
If Mr. Kennedy lead his team to the 50 yard line to kneel butts up toward Mecca would the school district dare object?

If he had would the Supreme Court ruled as they did and would people around here be supporting him?

15 posted on 07/04/2022 4:53:56 AM PDT by DoodleDawg (“Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if President Trump was still the president,” she said.)
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To: DoodleDawg

I think you and I know the answer.


16 posted on 07/04/2022 5:48:02 AM PDT by MD Expat in PA (No. I am not a doctor nor have I ever played one on TV. The MD in my screen name stands for Maryland)
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To: MD Expat in PA
I think you and I know the answer.

Indeed.

17 posted on 07/04/2022 5:58:36 AM PDT by DoodleDawg (“Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if President Trump was still the president,” she said.)
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