Campus Freethought action alert!

[Alyrium Denryle]

http://campusfreethought.org/inquirer/2003.05.09.htm

CFA ACTION ALERT: Protect Church-State Separation in Education!

The Campus Freethought Alliance and the Council for Secular Humanism is urging all secularists and humanists to act now using our new Congressional action alert on some new attempts to sneak religious indoctrination back into public schools:

The first, the "Moment of Quiet Reflection in Schools Act" [H.R. 1202, sponsored by David Scott (D-GA), and S.591, sponsored by Zell Miller (D-GA)] calls for teachers to conduct a "brief period of quiet reflection" with the participation of all the students assembled in the classroom. The proposed Act goes on to state that this should not be construed as prayer or religious activities but rather an opportunity for a moment of silent reflection. Even if one were to accept the explanation of "a moment of silent reflection," one should realize that taxpayers would be paying money for teachers and students alike to do nothing but remain silent for up to a minute a day.

The second, the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act," H.R. 1547, introduced by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) seeks to remove "religious freedom-related cases" from the jurisdictions of all U.S. District Courts. This would mean that most church-state separation cases would be removed from the jurisdiction of the Courts, and that local, state and federal legislative bodies would be left to decide such matters.

In addition, House Joint Resolution 39 seeks to add a Constitutional amendment saying that, "A law that prescribes the Pledge of Allegiance or provides for United States coins or currency is not a law respecting an establishment of religion because it refers to God in the Pledge or includes a reference to God on coins or currency." Such an Amendment is unlikely to pass, but we should fight it nevertheless, both for its blatantly self-contradictory nature and its brazen attempt to weaken the First Amendment.

Act on all these threats to church-state separation by writing Congress using CFA's Activism Resources today.

[Darth Wong]

Typical. I'm amazed at the dishonest sneaky little tricks Christian politicians are willing to use in order to sneak religious ceremonies into schools and evade the applicable constitutional laws. At least raving loons like Pat Robertson are honest about it.

I hereby declare the religion of noise, in which it is a sin to create silence. Therefore, I object to the minute of silence on religious grounds, and encourage all followers to disrupt it by making noise. Electronically generated loud fart noises are recommended.

[Saurencaerthai]

I hereby declare the religion of noise, in which it is a sin to create silence. Therefore, I object to the minute of silence on religious grounds, and encourage all followers to disrupt it by making noise. Electronically generated loud fart noises are recommended.

Heh, beautiful.

[Raptor 597]

Ah, I encounter this everyday. The PE Coach(Football Head Coach) runs the health class. We watch I pointless thrity minute long movie everyday about crackhead atheletes finding God.

[Yuri Prime]

Ah, I encounter this everyday. The PE Coach(Football Head Coach) runs the health class. We watch I pointless thrity minute long movie everyday about crackhead atheletes finding God.

PE teachers... I've yet to meet one who's not so far gone they couldn't find their ass with both hands.

[Alyrium Denryle]

the PE coaches at my school are all YECs....Which is another reason for a homosexual to take corespondance bowling...being openly gay in a PE class where the coaches hate you as much as the students=bad

[Darth Wong]

the PE coaches at my school are all YECs....Which is another reason for a homosexual to take corespondance bowling...being openly gay in a PE class where the coaches hate you as much as the students=bad

Anyone stupid enough to openly state that Young-Earth Creationism is a scientific theory should not be allowed to teach in any public school. They can shriek "beliefs" and "freedom of religion" all they want, but to say that YEC is a legitimate scientific theory is an outright lie, either out of deception or simple ignorance of the definition of scientific theories. Either way, such a person is obviously no more qualified to teach at high school than someone who thinks 2+2=5, or pi=3.0.

[SirNitram]

Convert to Bacchism for a day. It is improper to worship him quietly, you need to gather a bunch of people, get naked, drink til midnight, then howl at the moon.

[Keevan_Colton]

Convert to Bacchism for a day. It is improper to worship him quietly, you need to gather a bunch of people, get naked, drink til midnight, then howl at the moon.

Sounds like a good party.

[Striderteen]

This is just plain *ridiculous*, although hardly unexpected -- the extremist right wing has a long history of trying to use the law to impose Christian morals on everyone. Frankly, their antics sometimes make me downright embarrased to say I'm a conservative and a Christian. I have never been ashamed of my faith, but I am often very ashamed of the insanity committed in its name.

[RedImperator]

The first, the "Moment of Quiet Reflection in Schools Act" [H.R. 1202, sponsored by David Scott (D-GA), and S.591, sponsored by Zell Miller (D-GA)] calls for teachers to conduct a "brief period of quiet reflection" with the participation of all the students assembled in the classroom. The proposed Act goes on to state that this should not be construed as prayer or religious activities but rather an opportunity for a moment of silent reflection. Even if one were to accept the explanation of "a moment of silent reflection," one should realize that taxpayers would be paying money for teachers and students alike to do nothing but remain silent for up to a minute a day.

This is the most dangerous one, because it's the only one that has a chance of surviving judicial review. The Supreme Court recently refused to hear a case called Brown v. Gilmore, in which a Federal district judge ruled Virginia's "moment of silence" law mandating all Virginia public school have a moment of silence for "prayer, silent reflection, studying, or any other silent purpose" had a secular purpose and did not violate the Establishment Clause. I'd be curious as to what that judge was smoking and where could I get some--and apparently, at least five SCOTUS members are smoking it too. I'm not at all clear as to why this statute was somehow different from Wallace v. Jaffree, a 1985 case where an Alabama moment of silence law was thrown out, except that the legislature of Alabama made it clear during the legislative process that the bill was intended to promote religion, while the Virginia legislature was apparently more careful.

Another reason to hate this law, by the way, is that it represents Federal meddling in the minutae of local school districts' policy. Where, exactly, in the Constitution does it give Congress the authority to mandate a "moment of silence" in public schools, even if the purpose is totally secular?

The second, the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act," H.R. 1547, introduced by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) seeks to remove "religious freedom-related cases" from the jurisdictions of all U.S. District Courts. This would mean that most church-state separation cases would be removed from the jurisdiction of the Courts, and that local, state and federal legislative bodies would be left to decide such matters.

This is particularly insidious because there was another law, passed in 1993 and struck down in 1997, by the same name which prohibited states from enforcing laws that interfered with religious practices unless the state could demonstrate a compelling reason to do so. It was largely intended to protect minority religions. This law is designed to pull an end run around the Constitution. However, I'm not sure how Ron Paul thinks he can take 1st Amendment cases out of the Federal courts' jurisdiction--this one is going to get laughed right out of court when it's challenged, assuming somehow it even makes it out of committee.

In addition, House Joint Resolution 39 seeks to add a Constitutional amendment saying that, "A law that prescribes the Pledge of Allegiance or provides for United States coins or currency is not a law respecting an establishment of religion because it refers to God in the Pledge or includes a reference to God on coins or currency." Such an Amendment is unlikely to pass, but we should fight it nevertheless, both for its blatantly self-contradictory nature and its brazen attempt to weaken the First Amendment.

There have been an estimated 10,000 proposed Constitutional amendments in the history of the United States. 28 have passed, and one of them was passed to repeal another one. This one I'm not worried about. If they couldn't get the flag-burning amendment through the Senate, they sure as fuck won't be able to pass this one.

Act on all these threats to church-state separation by writing Congress using CFA's Activism Resources today.[/quote]

[The Albino Raven]

I have never been ashamed of my faith, but I am often very ashamed of the insanity committed in its name.

Seriously, I can't stand it how Christian fundie morons give most of us a bad name by doing all kinds of bad shit in "the name of god" (e.g. killing doctors, isolating homosexuals). I am disgusted by those who are so blind that they don't realize other people see things differently than they do. Now I know how most Muslims feel, watching Fundies give em a bad name all over the world.

[Drooling Iguana]

I'm not American, so these laws won't affect me directly either way, but they've still got me worried. I don't usually hear about my own country doing this sort of thing, but that might just be because of american media saturation. Is Canada above this sort of nonsense, or should I be afraid?

[Darth Wong]

I'm not American, so these laws won't affect me directly either way, but they've still got me worried. I don't usually hear about my own country doing this sort of thing, but that might just be because of american media saturation. Is Canada above this sort of nonsense, or should I be afraid?

You should be afraid. Stockwell Day got a respectable number of votes in the last election, and he's a full-blown Bible thumping young-Earth creationist idiot who spoke openly about putting God back in the classroom.

Mind you, Alberta is Canada's version of Texas, so it shouldn't be that surprising

[Peregrin Toker]

I hereby declare the religion of noise, in which it is a sin to create silence. Therefore, I object to the minute of silence on religious grounds, and encourage all followers to disrupt it by making noise. Electronically generated loud fart noises are recommended.

Noise - the religion of every self-respecting Death Metal band!

[Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi]

I hereby declare the religion of noise, in which it is a sin to create silence. Therefore, I object to the minute of silence on religious grounds, and encourage all followers to disrupt it by making noise. Electronically generated loud fart noises are recommended.

Noise - the religion of every self-respecting Death Metal band!

All bow down to Audion, the noise god! (Farting noises)

And I just thought of something: If noise was a major and respected religion, would it be possible for a believer to be exempt from listening to noise complaints from neighbors because of worship services held at two in the morning?