[Blood of Tyrants]

"We do not endorse, promote or prohibit it," said school spokesman Wayne Goforth.

Sounds reasonable to me.

Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Arlington, Va., said school officials and Christian leaders in Union County need a "crash course on the meaning of the First Amendment -- especially the part that separates church from state."

Really? I must ahve a defective copy of the Constitution because mine has absolutely no mention of "seperation of church and state" in the First Amendment. or anywhere else for that matter.

After Christmas break in early 2002, India said three boys chased her down a hall .... A teacher stopped the boys from following her, the lawsuit said.

Looks like the teachers are protecting this girl. Why don't we just make a law requiring children to be nice to each other? That ought to solve everything, right?

[Tax-chick]

Are you suggesting that it's okay for students to assault one another over religious differences? I disapprove of this whole situation - and I'm an evangelical Christian - because it promotes the mob mentality that is already too much a part of schooling.

[Michael.SF.]

Fourteen-year-old India Tracy said she was harassed and attacked by classmates for nearly three years after she declined to attend Baptist Pastor Gary Beeler's annual crusade because of her family's pagan religion./i>

Pagan's, huh? Gee, that might not have anything to do with the kid being harassed now would it?

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

No religion, pass out free condoms and clean needles, we know those things work.

[FreeLibertarian]

Bump For Later

[PeoplesRep_of_LA]

Looks like the teachers are protecting this girl. Why don't we just make a law requiring children to be nice to each other? That ought to solve everything, right?

Apparently Blood of Tyrants hasn't read the part of the Bill of Rights that says you have the Freedom From Taunting.

It was dusted off from the Constitution by the Supreme Court in the 1960s. Those wise old sages also discovered after nearly 200 years of forgetting about the Right To Privacy line, as well as the Seperation of Church and State part too. Luckily activist Judges and Libertarians are here to protect our Constitutional rights.

[Missus]

My copy is defective, too. No church/state separation mentioned anywhere.

And, to clarify: Paganism is a made-up amalgamation of new-agey philosophies and nature worship. It does not have a "centuries old tradition." It's the ultimate no-hassle school of thought.

According to the article, only 1300 of the 3000 kids attended; how does she feel "persecuted" when over half of the students Didn't Go? It's not like 2999 kids went, and she didn't... over half did not go on the field trip, just like she didn't.

I'm rather wondering just what sort of snotty comments she's made to invite the persecution of her peers? Still, kudos to the teacher who defended her from bullies; bullying is never appropriate, though it happen routinely in the "Lord of The Flies Jr. High" settings.

Regards,

[whattajoke]

And, of course, you'd have no problem with you kids being "encouraged" to go on a pilgrammage to Mecca for 3 days, right?

[Asclepius]

Paganism is an ancient religious tradition that embraces kinship with nature, positive morality and the idea that there is both a female and male side of Deity.

The moderns who call themselves "pagan" practice a tradition as ancient as microwave popcorn or diet cola beverages. Though they borrow heavily, these "pagans" are not the practitioners of any chthonic or animist or shamanist tradition.

[oyez]

Fourteen-year-old India Tracy said she was harassed and attacked

I have problems beleving that,.

[Zavien Doombringer]

If religion wasn't the reason, the harassment could be from the poor girl being a "nerd". After all, this is middle school. Where hormone induced emotions run rampant. Any Middle School teacher will tell you.

Amendment I

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.

No "separaton of church and state", besides, our Federal Government doesn't have a "state" status!

[Pete]

This article is extremely bias. The entire article is written in support of the lawsuit. The only exception is this single sentence where in a legal response, the school denies the charges.

In a May 2 legal response, school officials said they acted appropriately, denied the attacks happened, or said they were unaware of them.

Here is another example of the bias contained in this article.

Paganism is an ancient religious tradition that embraces kinship with nature, positive morality and the idea that there is both a female and male side of Deity.

Here we have everything the PC crowd loves - environmental worship, good feelings and feminism. Note that this definition of 'Paganism' is chosen to suit the author's agenda. Also note the irony in the fact that environmental worship, good feelings (e.g self-esteem) and feminism are precisely what is currently taught in public schools. According to this author's chosen definitions, such teachings should be banned due to religious concerns (i.e Paganism).

[Belial]

Sending kids to a Christian revival for a field trip is just plain bizarre.

[stainlessbanner]

Let's keep this in perspective:

• Parental permission required
• Voluntary
• 2 hours over 3 days

If India and her parents were so against this activity, why give her permission to participate in a voluntary activity? I'm sure she could have stayed in a classroom and done homework or read her beloved pagan books.

I agree with you, TennBob - This is a setup - they are after money.

[joesnuffy]

Fourteen-year-old India Tracy said she was harassed and attacked by classmates for nearly three years after she declined to attend Baptist Pastor Gary Beeler's annual crusade because of her family's pagan religion.

She was the only girl on the middle school football team.

And of course by her report she was harrassed for her satanic religious beliefs alone? Yeah right!

[joesnuffy]

And of course the moral character building going on for 99.9% of the students who "voluntarily" attend and the ultimate effects of this character building on our nation..will be ignored or mis-reported in by eduational authorities who are more interested in the more traditional marxist views of what kinds of character building destroy a nation....

Which of course is their stated goal.....

[agrarianlady]

I was harassed in public school for being a Christian. I was a quiet and good student. I had a fellow who sat behind me and kicked my chair during class because I told him very nicely and politely once that I wouldn't have sex with him because I believed it ought to be reserved for marriage. (He wanted to date me). He constantly persecuted me after than. His last name started with a letter after mine so I was stuck with him in the same row during high school. He would call me names constantly. Usually 'Puritan', 'Quaker', 'Goody Two Shoes' among other graphic epithets. It was really difficult to endure. I was simply a student who went home at night, participated in a few extra curricular activities, was on the honor roll, had friends but didn't hang out with the crowd that drank or had sex. (I would say the majority of the 'cool' people).

I never went to the administration or teachers. I knew it was a part of being a Christian to be persecuted.

Matthew 5:11

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you becaue of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

These boys in Tenn. were not Christians persecuting her because she was Pagan. They were idiots, and so are the people prosecuting the Tennessee School District. The First Amendment simply says 'Congress shall pass no law' establishing a religion or prohibiting it. That's all it says.

[Kuksool]

Ping!

More government school lunacy.

[Gee Wally]

District officials say the crusade, now in its sixth year, is like any other field trip, with parental permission required to let the children attend for two hours a day over three days. On the crusade's final day this year, April 30, more than 1,300 of the school system's 3,000 students attended.

The Tracys took India out of school on Feb. 26, 2002.

This article is so poorly researched, written or edited, it's hard to know what's really going on here. The writer is plainly trying to link the evangelical crusade to the harassment of the student, but the crusade didn't take place until more than a year after the girl was taken out of the school (if you believe the dates are correct in the article). Even if it was 2003 when the girl was taken out of school, it was still more than 2 months before the crusade. How did an evangelical crusade that had not yet occurred contribute to the harassment? Unless they are talking about last year's crusade, or the year before that. In any event, it seems these people are just out to get rid of the voluntary evangelical crusade and will contort the facts to suit their purpose.

[LiteKeeper]

freedom of religion bump for later reading

[gore3000]

Really? I must ahve a defective copy of the Constitution because mine has absolutely no mention of "seperation of church and state"

Mine must be defective also. It says nothing about freedom FROM religion, which is what all these atheists want.