Hola--Here's a part of a conversation I collected out on the web a while
back. What do you make of it???
> Ken Winters <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>Andrew Lazarus wrote:
>>>
>>> On Sat, 24 Jan 1998 05:11:05 -0600, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>>
>>> >A school superintendent in a southern city hired civilian
>>> >monitors to patrol the high school halls to be sure the
>>> >students were not praying between classes. Not only did
>>> >this rule violate students' rights, but it violated their
>>> >civil and religious rights.
>>>
>>> In three words, I doubt it.
>>>
>>> I see you left out the TRUE example from Alabama where a teacher
>>> pushed down a Jewish boy's head when he wouldn't bow down to Jesus.
>>> Betcha don't care about it, either!
>
>>I wouldn't believe either account, given they both neglected any sort of
>>verifiable reference. Come on people, there are plenty of searchable
>>news sources on the net. How about backing things with a reference vs.
>>hearsay?
>
>Actually the one with the Jewish kid being forced to bow before Jesus
>is true, at least according to the ACLU filing in court. See
>http://www.aclu.org/news/n081497b.html
>
>Here are some more elements from the court brief.
>
> The Willis children were forbidden to wear Star of David
>lapel pins. The teacher claimed the Star of David was a gang symbol.
>Other children in class were wearing crosses.
> The Willis children were forbidden to participate in
>physical education class while wearing their yarmulkes.
> Two of the Willis children have been physically assaulted by
>their classmates because of their religion. On one occasion one of the
>children was beaten by five or six other students.
> Swastikas have been drawn on their lockers, bookbags and
>jackets. Their yarmulkes, worn on High Holy Days, have been ripped off
>their heads and used to play "keep away."
> The children are constantly taunted with jeers such as "Jew
>boys" and "Jewish jokers." These verbal assaults are particularly
>venomous after blatantly Christian assemblies. Teachers and
>administrators have done nothing meaningful to stop these acts of
>cruelty and threats to physically safety, although they have
>repeatedly been made aware of them.
> The Willis children were ordered by teachers to bow their
>heads during Christian prayers, even though the teachers knew the
>children were Jewish. On at least one occasion a teacher physically
>forced one of the children to bow his head during the delivery of a
>prayer in an assembly. The prayer was explicitly Christian. The
>teacher knew the child was Jewish.
> A vice principal disciplined one Willis child for disrupting
>class by requring him to compose an essay on the subject "Why Jesus
>Loves Me."
> One Willis child was sent to wait in the hall during the
>distribution of Gideon bibles. Classmates called the child names as
>she left the room. A Gideon representative tried to force the child to
>take a copy of the Gideon bible and held a cross in front of her face
>when she explained she did not want one because she was Jewish. The
>child ran screaming back into the classroom, asking her teacher for
>help. The teacher did nothing.
> Religious, overtly Christian, classroom activities and
>assembly presentations are common in the Pike County system. Events
>like "Birth of Jesus" plays at assembly and "Happy Birthday Jesus"
>parties in classrooms make the Willis children feel like second-class
>citizens.
> One local minister, brought in to make a presentation at a
>school assembly, told the students that anyone who had not accepted
>Jesus as his or her Savior was doomed to hell. The Willis child in the
>audience left to jeers from her classmates. She suffered nightmares
>for weeks.
>
>This shows some of the problems of mandating school prayer. The only
>way to protect the rights of minorities is to have religious
>neutrality. If people want to pray they have time to do it at home or
>church. No one claims that the right to free speech requires that the
>principal let kids speak out at any time during the day. Prayer
>should be treated the same way.
>
>I too, would LOVE to see a source for the superintendent hiring
>security to stop prayer. I find that one VERY difficult to believe.
>
>Remove NOTSPAM in email address to email.
>Find good books at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews website
>http://www.serve.com/sfreview
>
>
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He loves the obvious. He shrinks from explanations." --Jos. Conrad
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