Miscellanea Agnostica

Religionists love to look for easy targets to indoctrinate and/or convert. One group of people they’ve traditionally gone after, is your basic captive audience: School children. Toward that end, a bipartisan cadre of religionist lawmakers in Florida have cooked up yet another bill that — if it became law — would put prayer into public schools in Florida, and end up forcing public school kids to pray, whether or not they or their parents wish it. The Miami Herald reports on this militant Christianist effort (WebCite cached article):

A bill that would allow voluntary, student-led prayer in secondary schools sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday – but not before meeting resistance from Anti-Defamation League officials, who called the bill “unnecessary, divisive and unconstitutional.”

Said sponsor Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando: “All I’m trying to do is allow those School Boards and those students who want to partake in this type of activity [the opportunity] to do that.”

Siplin and the bill’s other sponsors have fallen for the myth that it’s currently impossible for anyone to pray in public schools. At the moment, anyone — students, faculty, employees, visitors, etc. — in any public school in the country can, in fact, pray any time s/he wants to. It is not illegal to do so, and there’s no need for any law to be passed to enable it. I expect a lot of praying goes on in schools all over the country … especially around exam time.

What’s not permitted is when school staff lead students in prayer. This was established by the US Supreme Court in a number of decisions, most especially Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Abington School Dist. v. Schempp (1963), among others. This means that FL Senate Bill 98 and House Bill 317 would be unconstitutional, even if they were to become law. The Herald even points this out by citing a related precedent:

Passing the legislation may not be that easy. In 2009, a federal court struck down school prayer in Santa Rosa County in northwest Florida.

The law seems to have been written with a wink and a nod in the direction of trying to skirt Constitutional limitations:

Student volunteers would have to lead the prayers or benedictions, and school personnel would not be permitted to partake.

This is transparent, however; if the principal were to stick a child in front of an assembly or a microphone, s/he would effectively be directing the prayer. Using the child as an agent would, moreover, be cowardly in the extreme.

Also, the maneuver of merely “enabling” school boards to lead students in prayer, rather than directing them to do so, is likewise transparent. If you think for a moment that a lot of Florida’s schools won’t leap at the chance to ram religion down the throats of kids, you’re sorely mistaken; I already blogged about the godly folk in Cross City FL who’ve stated they were willing to defy court orders to remove a Decalogue idol from their courthouse steps.

The article ended with this precious little tidbit:

“God bless y’all,” [Siplin] told senators after the vote. “I’m praying for you.”

I hope Siplin realizes that, in saying this, he violated Jesus’ explicit and unmistakable command never to engage in public piety (see Matthew 6:1-6 among other gospel passages). These militant Christianists really need to stop disobeying their own Jesus.

But of course, we all know damned well they won’t!

Hat tip: Friendly Atheist.

Photo credit: Austin Cline/About Atheism.

Tags: christian, christianism, christianists, Christianity, christians, christofascism, christofascist, christofascists, constitutionality, florida, gary siplin, house bill 317, orlando, orlando FL, piety, prayer, public piety, public prayer, public school, public school prayer, religionism, religionist, religionists, school prayer, schools, senate bill 98, tallahasee FL, tallahassee

My home state of Connecticut, known as “the Land of Steady Habits,” has a reputation for being a state full of people who don’t like rocking the boat. And it is. But oddly enough, in spite of that, the Nutmeg State has more than its share of annoying gadlfies and cranks who love nothing more than to make pests of themselves and make demands of everyone else. Perhaps the most famous of these is Ralph Nader, a native of Winsted, CT, but there are plenty of other such folks — and thankfully most of them are not anywhere near as well known.

Among these is community organizer-turned-hyperreligious wingnut Ned Coll. The Greenwich Time reports Coll is now waging a crusade to get prayer back into public schools (WebCite cached article):

The divorced father of two from the tiny Litchfield County hamlet of Barkhamsted is adopting the cause of reinstating prayer in public schools.

In the beating July sun and wearing wooden prayer beads from the religious shrine of Fatima in Portugal, Coll waved a sign calling for a spiritual renewal to passing motorists on West Putnam Avenue at the state line.

“Our children are not getting guidance in this nation,” Coll said. “We better start trying to get vocal prayer in all public schools and private homes.”

Coll is consciously repeating his own past activism:

It’s a reprisal of sorts of Coll’s famous hike along the Connecticut coast, where he championed open beach access during the 1970s and 1980s.

I have no idea how he plans to get prayer into public schools, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court has forbidden it — in Engel v. Vitale (1962), which was subsequently backed up by later decisions Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) and Lee v. Weisman (1992). Does Coll really think he’s somehow bigger than the Supreme Court? (My guess is, he does!)

For all his righteousness and professed love of God, Coll curiously has trouble obeying the law. He’s been arrested more than once over the last couple of years, on various minor charges (cached). Also note that this paragon and champion of piety is “twice divorced,” according to the G.T. article. I really love it when brazen fucking hypocrites speak up for Jesus! Don’t you?

One last item of note about Ned Coll: As I said, he was once a community organizer. A professional community organizer. The founder of a Hartford group called the Revitalization Corps. Here’s a short Time magazine profile of him from the early ’70s (cached). That’s right, folks. This militant Christian and staunch advocate for the Religious Right, started out as an urban community organizer … just like someone else whom the R.R. despises for having once been a community organizer. Can you guess who that is?

If Coll wants all Americans to pray to his God, then I suggest he starts with me. Come here, Mr Coll, and make me pray. Go ahead. Give it a shot.

Photo credit: Helen Neafsey / Greenwich Time.

Tags: community organizer, connecticut, greenwich CT, ned coll, prayer in public schools, public school prayer, public school prayers

For some reason, the nation’s Christianists get all up in arms over public school graduations. It’s a kind of obsession. They seem to want to hold them in religious venues (e.g. in Enfield, Connecticut a year ago) and they demand that school officials say prayers at them during graduations. There’s just one teeny little problem with this obsession, and that’s the First Amendment. They aren’t permitted to do the former of these unless they have no choice, and they can’t do the latter at all — ever. Nevertheless, they still act as though they can and should do both, and that anyone who prevents them from doing either, is trying to destroy them personally. They just can’t handle being told “no.”

Case in point: Bastrop High School in Louisiana, where a courageous student named Damon Fowler dared say “no,” and the community — mostly made up of militant Christians — has gone after him over it. The Bastrop Enterprise reports on this revelation of Christians’ character (WebCite cached article):

For the first time ever, prayer will not be part of graduation ceremonies Friday night at Bastrop High School.

Principal Stacey Pullen said the school received an e-mail on Tuesday from a student who identied themself as an atheist.

“They said if we included a traditional prayer in the ceremony that they would contact the (American Civil Liberties Union),” Pullen said. “We asked our attorney about it, and we are making changes to the program.”

While this is a proper and legal response, the reaction of local Christians has been typical condescension:

Mitzi Quinn has been on the staff at BHS for almost 25 years, much of that time as a senior advisor. In the past, Quinn said there have been students who were atheist, agnostic and other non-Christian religions who “had no problems” with the prayer.

“They respected the majority of their classmates and didn’t say anything,” Quinn said. “We’ve never had this come up before. Never.”

Ms Quinn apparently does not understand the legal concept here. Violating separation of church and state is unconstitutional and impermissible in the United States, in every place, and under every condition. It does not matter that, in the past, non-Christians have held their tongues for fear of Christians’ wrath. They should not have had to do so, and that they did, does not make the practice acceptable. It is flat-out illegal. Period.

Moreover, it is not the job of non-Christians to have to be silent in the face of a Christian majority. That Christians are in the majority does not meant they are entitled to have their way all the time. This sort of thinking is what fueled the “Jim Crow” era, and is just another way of saying it’s up to minorities to “keep in their place,” be both silent and unseen, and not “get uppity.” This philosophy is immoral, inappropriate, and an unacceptable basis for public policy.

Other students have jumped on this issue. BlagHag reports that some of them used the graduation rehearsal to express their (understandably, given their ages) juvenile outrage that their precious graduation prayer was taken away from them (cached).

The real gem of this case — and what makes the (vile and disgusting) character of militant Christianists most evident, is that Damon’s own mother is throwing him out over this, according to his brother Jerrett (cached):

My brother has been cut off from all communication by my mother. He is not allowed to speak to me and I live 6 hours drive away from him. There’s nothing I can do. My sister is supposed to go pick him up tomorrow and he will no longer be living in that town or with my parents. He’s coming to Texas with me.

Way to go, Christians. What a fantastic way to represent “the Religion of Love.” Why, this example of godly, loving behavior makes me want to run out immediately and convert to fundamentalist Christianity as soon as I can!

… Not … !

Remarkably, this attitude is scriptural, and I suppose expected of militant Christians, since Jesus himself declared:

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:34-37)

Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. (Luke 12:51-53)

Jesus said, “Those who do not hate their fathers and their mothers cannot be disciples of me, and those who do not hate their brothers and their sisters and take up their cross like me will not become worthy of me.” (Gospel of Thomas 55)

So maybe I should congratulate Damon’s mother for being dutiful to the explicit words of the gospels and rejecting her son as a result? Maybe this was a courageous, rather than cowardly, act?

Or maybe — just maybe! — this shows how horrific it is to actually apply, literally, the words of scripture to one’s life, and how dysfunctional and counterproductive fundamentalist Christianity is.

Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, has created a Chipin scholarship fund for the young Damon. I’ve contributed, and urge you to do so, too:

One last thing for all you militant Christianists who don’t get it: No one is preventing you from praying, anywhere you wish to. You can pray silently, any time you want, even in public school, and even during a graduation. Neither Damon Fowler nor the ACLU have stopped you from doing so, and for that matter, they aren’t even trying to do that. What they’re stopping is the school system forcing students to pray at public school events. That’s all. Your religious-freedom rights are not being taken away from you. For you to make any such claim, is a lie … a lie for Jesus. Many of you have no problems lying for Jesus … but your lies will still be lies, whether or not you feel entitled to tell them.

Hat tip: Friendly Atheist.

Photo credit: Woodngifts.

Tags: bastrop high school, bastrop LA, chipin, christian, christianism, christianist, christianists, Christianity, christians, damon fowler, graduation, graduation prayer, high school, jarrett fowler, lousiana, matthew 10:34, mt 10:34, public school prayer, religionism, religionist, religionists, school prayer, Separation of church and state, socas, stacey pullen