Posted on 03/08/2007 11:59:23 AM PST by Islander7
TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Newark public school district, saying a school's decision to hold its graduation ceremonies in a Baptist church violated a Muslim student's religious freedom.
The New Jersey ACLU said Wednesday that it was suing the school district because its decision to hold graduation in the church prevented West Side High School senior Bilal Shareef, a Muslim, from attending. Shareef's religious beliefs forbid him from entering a building with religious images, the civil liberties group said.
The incident violated provisions in the state constitution prohibiting public institutions from showing a preference for certain religious sects over others; compelling people to attend a place of worship; and segregating or discriminating against public school students because of their religious principles, the ACLU-NJ asserts.
"Schools should not sponsor activities that exclude some students from participation on the basis of religious belief," said ACLU-NJ's legal director, Ed Barocas, who is representing Shareef and his father.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
"No one forced that Muslim to be here. This is a Christian nation and his parents knew that when they got here."
50 years ago, ignorant protestants were saying that this was a protestant nation and "mackrel-eating papists" shouldn't bring their Mary-worshiping ways here. (Still say the same on FR, all the time.)
Come on!
I have no love for muzzies and their false relgion, but holding a graduation where a kid cannot religiously go?!
Of course that's wrong.
That would be like requiring your kid to go get dunked and re-born as a condition of participating in the graduation.
Again, this is like letting the Illinois Nazis have their parades. Sometimes you have to let the evil twits have their way for to preserve the structure of America.
A bptist church may or may not have stained glass windows...some stained glass windows may have Biblical images in some churches; others just multicolored glass. A lot of Baptismals in Baptist churches may have artist representations painted on their backwalls of the River Jordan with Jesus in the River with John the Baptist...or other pastoral scenes or even resentations of the Holy Spirit in the shape of a Dove alighting on Jesus' head.
A Baptist Church often has a central pulpit with a table in front of it used to receive the offerings or to support the wine and bread trays when the Eucharist(or Lord's Supper as Baptists call it) is being celebrated. Some times these tables may have a Large Bible opened to some relavent passage. Baptist churches might often have an American flag and a Christian flag in the front corners as well. Many Baptist churches may have plaques on their sanctuary walls with removable numbers and letters which announce the attendance and offering statistics from the week before.
Smaller churches of course tend to be sparser and more utilitarian in their decor...larger more formal Baptist sanctuaries can approach the artistic complexities of their Catholic and High Protestant cousins....buildings built in the 1980's thru the present will feature open, spacious designs with every kind of audio video feature and the latest in lighting/controls. (Dolby 5.1 surround any-one? I know, I redesigned such a sanctuary's sound system, adding video as well!)
Of course that's wrong.
That would be like requiring your kid to go get dunked and re-born as a condition of participating in the graduation.
What is the world would make you think that walking into a church would be like getting dunked and reborn. Are you aware that different sects often use the same building. For example the Mosque in Lodi Ca was at one time a Christian church. Your strange premise would certainly not allow this. In fact before buying the building they would have not been able to walk into it and check it out.
> I'm not sure what I said that would indicate that's how I feel.
The fact that, in your view, what makes an idol is the significance you, personally, give to the item.
That's not the way the rules work in other religions.
I happen to think you're right, but I don't want the government deciding such things.
> It's not the government that's making this function off
> limits, it's the person's religion.
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, some citizens of Rome used to hold that a person could show they were a "good citizen" (and avoid being torn apart by lions) by sacrificing to the emperor as if he were a god. They claimed that Christians' refusal to do so was a problem with the person's religion, not with the law.
That's a way too dramatic illustration, but it's the direction that thinking leads.
I don't much care for that direction, and I say that as an atheist.
"so what in the heck would be in a Baptist church that would bother anyone"
Going into a place of Christian worship is seen by many Jews (and apparently muslims) as an endorsement of polytheism.
Here:
http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=276&o=181868
In my home town in Iowa, the Jewish Temple was once a Protestant church. But go ahead and deny that such things are possible.
A person can choose to go to the ceremony and just not say those words. (By the way, the word is spelled 'prophet' not 'profit'.)
you know, because the graduation ceremony is "voluntary" and no one is forced to participate.
Yep.
There was a requirement for kids to go through religious sensitivity classes.
Not the same thing. If there was no 'opt out' provision (and in the case you are refering to, I don't think there was), the child would flunk if he/she did not participate. If one chooses not to attend a graduation ceremony, that individual still graduates. They just get their diploma some other way.
Do you want it held that any rule that is ignored by any Christian sect, no matter how liberal, cannot be a valid tenet of the Christian faith?
Of course not, but I don't impose my Christian beliefs on others andinsist that the world must obey my beliefs.
Will the aclu protect our right to be alive? I doubt it, seeing how much it tries to protect those who would kill us.
It's called an analogy.
Entry into the in-use church building is something apparently forbidden by his religion (presumably deemed an enorsement of polytheism merely by walking into the sanctuary, if it parallels Judaism, which is what I know).
I used "dunking" (a reference to a a protestant practice) as an example of something that would be frowned upon, if forced on a Roman Catholic.
Again, if you read my first post on this thread, I have no idea if this is a legitimate muslim religious objection. Indeed, I doubt it is.
If so, however, it is, and should be, legally protected.
Otherwise, the secularists who run most schools will be forcing Islam on your kids.
> Of course not, but I don't impose my Christian beliefs on
> others andinsist that the world must obey my beliefs.
If participating in some aspect of civic life, like graduating high school or paying a traffic fine, forced you to commit a sin to do it properly, would you feel your rights were imposed upon?
The school doesn't bow to my beliefs, why should they bow to anyones? It does not matter what they believe, if my belief can't be honored, why in the world should theirs?
It's just a building.
This is just one evil twit. And the more "evil twits" that come here and/or multiply, you will not be able to graduate in any building other than a mosque. These people believe in Shari'a law and given enough numbers. they will try to make that happen.
"By the way, the word is spelled 'prophet' not 'profit'"
Yeah, I was mocking Mohammed. Guess that's too complex for you.
"The child would flunk if he/she did not participate. If one chooses not to attend a graduation ceremony, that individual still graduates. They just get their diploma some other way."
So you're OK with the High Schools in Dearborn, MI holding their graduations in mosques and reciting prayers to allah fubar --- you know, because the ceremony is "voluntary."
Just making sure you're consistent.
So if my religious teachings believe that abortion is a sin, can I use this to prevent the school from taking my daughter for an abortion without my permission? Can I also request that all other children in the school be prevented from getting a school sanctioned abortion because it is a sin to me? This has been tested and the courts have found that this is not a reason for denying abortions to school children.
Is it because my sin is a Christian sin, and thus not as important as a Muslim sin? I think I detect a double standard here.
I have no idea what beliefs you hold, so I do not know how to answer that.
Entering into a Christian sanctuary is prohibitted for certain religions, definiately Orthodox Jews, and presumably muslims.
This is an official, state-sponsored, event and a big deal to get through high school.
I could not have gone to this graduation when I was 17 and graduating high school.
And I am hardly a "new" immigrant to this country. My family has been in Texas since roughly 1497. One ancestor (one of two Jews there) died in the Alamo and many others fought with the Texians.
They fought because they were promised the right, in the Republic of Texas, to practice Judaism freely, which is something they could not do where the official relgion was Roman Catholicism. (Indeed, one was burned at the stake during the Mexican Inquisition.)
Freedom of Religion is a big deal.
And, the way to insure that Jews and Christians get to practice their religion is by making sure twits like this little moon worshipper get their rights.
Period.
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.