Federal Court Nixes VMI Dinner Prayer

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030429/ap_on_go_su_co/vmi_prayer_2 ^ | April 29, 2003 | Associated Press

[SanFranRepublican]

The long tradition of saying grace before meals at the state-supported Virginia Military Institute is unconstitutional, even though the prayers are voluntary, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Monday. "In establishing its supper prayer, VMI has done precisely what the First Amendment forbids," the three-judge panel said in its ruling, which upheld a lower-court decision. "Put simply, VMI's supper prayer exacts an unconstitutional toll on the consciences of religious objectors," wrote Judge Robert B. King. The federal appeals court panel said the nondenominational prayer, said before supper, is not really voluntary, given the strict obedience demanded of VMI cadets. Monday's ruling may not be the final word. Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore said he will ask the full appeals court to rule in the case. Wire reports quoted Kilgore as calling prayer "part of the fabric of our country."

[firewalk]

bttt

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

SCR*W THE COURTS!

[Calpernia]

bump to your comment!

[Calpernia]

http://www.pressaprint.com/som/wesupportu.htm

[Calpernia]

They changed the URL:

http://www.pressaprint.com/som/WeSupportU2.htm

[Stopislamnow]

What needs to happen.

Find out who was suing, and if it was a single person or group of people.

Publicy embarrass, tar and feather them as godless heathens, post thier picture across the net, in military towns, etc.

If it was a institutional group, ACLU types, well, all ya can do is spread the word.

Flogging the perpetrators in public is a good start to fighting this type of crap.

[maxwellp]

I'd just keep praying. Never mind the courts and liberal judges. Are they going to storm in and arrest the cadets praying at the VMI? Imagine how they would look? Imagine the uproar. Yes, they should just ignore it and keep right on praying as loud as they can.

[honway]

http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/A0019416.html

A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), while claiming the lawsuit was not meant to remove religion from the VMI campus, said school-sanctioned prayer is "disruptive to the school's education process."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued last May after two students complained

[honway]

http://www.natcom.org/roc/one-two/Vol2Num2/HaimanCottrell.htm


The ACLU

One small oversight in Cottrell’s book is in his account of Baldwin’s concern about the possible hiring of Ira Glasser as executive director in 1978 because of Glasser’s "New York Jewishness." That is an accurate account, although as chair of the search committee that recommended the selection of Ira to the board I never heard it directly from Roger. What Cottrell fails to note, when he writes that Baldwin and some others "wondered whether a Jew could lead an already unpopular organization and communicate forcefully and effectively with different groups" (381), is that Ira’s immediate predecessor for a decade, Aryeh Neier, was also Jewish, as was Norman Dorsen, who had succeeded Edward Ennis as board president in 1976.

[honway]

The rise of the ACLU a a powerful force in American life was overseen by leaders of Jewish ancestry.

I do not understand this obsession with people of Jewish ancestry to remove all mention of God or prayer from public life.

Prayer was removed from public schools in a Supreme Court decision on a case brought before the court by a person of Jewish ancestry.

"Under God" has been removed from the Pledge of Allegience because of a court case brought forward by a man of Jewish ancestry who celebrates Passover and other Jewish holidays with his daughter.

People for the American Way was founded by Norman Lear. Norman Lear is of Jewish ancestry and his People for the American Way have been successful in removing Bible History classes from the public schools in Florida.

Does anyone have any explanation for this lack of tolerance?

[honway]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/884519/posts
Jewish lawmakers threaten walk-out over reference to Jesus

[honway]

The ACLU is fighting to have prayer removed from VMI, meanwhile they are defending the North American Man-Boy Love Association.



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=18029

ACLU defends child-molester group
Asks judge to throw out lawsuit against NAMBLA for 10-year-old's murder

---

By Julie Foster
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked a judge to dismiss what it calls an "unconstitutional" lawsuit against a national pedophile organization being sued in a wrongful death case after two of the group's members brutally raped and murdered a 10-year-old boy.

[Rocky]

freedom of speech means hearing things that you may not agree with.

At the risk of being accused of praying in public, I would like to say a big, hearty Amen to your comment.

This business of silencing people because someone else may be offended is just plain wrong; it is against the spirit of the constitution and of liberty.

[Movemout]

"The reasons VMI didn't go private are simple: 1) the money just wasn't there, even with all the "got bucks" alumni agreeing to reach in real deep; and

2) going private would mean VMI graduates would not be commissioned, as ROTC would have been withdrawn.

VMI'70 "

I remember it just as you stated. I didn't attend VMI but I live in VA and know folks who have matriculated at VMI.

[Constitution Day]

Great link!! Thanks!

You know, May 10th is the 140th anniversary of his death at Guinea Station, VA.
It is also Confederate Memorial Day here in NC.

I will be helping my SCV camp at a plaque dedication at the site of a mass grave used by the Confederate Hospital here in Wilson, NC.