MikeWM:
Would they have a problem with a Christian studies class, where they find out about Christianity, look at a few verses from the bible, etc.? I doubt it if it were one class in a set of classes dealing with different religions each class.
It was more than a class- the children were pretending to be Muslim, organizing a jihad, and actually praying to Allah. My point in highlighting this case is that if these things were done in teaching about Christianity, the ACLU would be all over it.
I probably don’t agree with that - but then I have no idea what UNC Chapel Hill is anyway. What courses do they offer? Do physics students have to do this, for example?
They are a large public university. At the time the mandate was in place, all students, including music, physics, or whatever, were to read the book. Again, if it had been a book about the Bible, the ACLU would have thrown a fit.
Goodness, children learning things at school about other cultures and other peoples and history! Call in the lawyers!
There is nothing wrong with learning about cultures and other cultures ideas. The problem comes when we cannot learn about Christian ideas and practices, but can teach about other religions. They were taught Hindu practices, not just about them, but how to do them. Can we teach kids to pray the rosary in public school?
Who stops your kid praying by herself over lunch? Who stops you and your friends having a bible study? Co-workers is a different matter though, this leads to discrimination accusations in the workplace. Religion is for the home and for the individual, it shouldn’t have a organized role in the workplace.
Lots of schools tell kids they can’t pray. There have been multiple lawsuits in order to protect these childrens’ freedoms. The ACLU doesn’t care when religious freedoms are infringed unless it’s people who want religion gone. To say that I can’t meet with fellow co-workers over lunch to study the bible or that my child can’t pray at school is exactly what the founders were afraid of and what the free exercise clause was written for.
One case was in Missouri. The third grader was praying over lunch each day, and each day being sent to the principal’s office. He was given detention because he refused to stop. The family had to go to court to get the school’s rule changed.
It seems to me that it is called learning. Isn’t that what children are at school for? Have you so little confidence in your faith that you think exposure to others will lead you to abandon it???
Again, you miss the point. It is about religious freedom. If a public school wants to have the classes pray to Allah, and I can’t excuse my child from that lesson, how is that any different from having a class pray to Jesus not worrying about how Jewish and Muslin students feel about it?
Yes, you should care. You should care if people are being prevented from practicing their religion, and if religion is being imposed on people who don’t want it. It strikes me that the USA has struck the ideal balance between the two.
But one second you are talking about individual prayer and the next you are talking about groups. I see the argument in groups. I seriously doubt your child could be suspended for individual prayer quietly to herself over her snack (in the first place how would anyone know?)
So I can pray by myself (theoretically) but if I want to pray with my office mate before lunch, that’s unacceptable? One case I read was similar to the one mentioned about, but involved 3 friends praying before lunch. I see no difference between the two. Religious freedoms are being squashed in both cases.
Fine. The office isn’t the place to parade your religion. The same applies to your other examples.
The constitution forbids the establishment of religion. Please explain how praying with my office mate before lunch or wearing a cross necklace or pin to work equals the state establishment of religion?
Every legal system is based on ‘basic principles of right and wrong.’ What relevance at all do the Ten Commandments have to the United States Code? A whole two of the commandments are reflected in the law, and there is a whole mass of laws with no reflection in the Ten Commandments.
