Louisiana public school actively promotes Christianity

OK, then.

Regardless of our disagreement, I was attempting to show that this particular case, if true, goes against almost everything this country stands for in terms of religious freedom.

 

Could also be that that was in the 18th century and this is the 21st and things have changed quite a bit in the country regarding religion and the many varied versions of it. I'm pretty sure that were the question of today were put to them now, they'd say get religion the eff out of everything in government.

 

Yes.

But a side debate broke out over the framers' intentions regarding religion's role in the United States, at the founding.

 

From the text --
ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS - Non denominational and true
It includes several posters urging students to:
“Pray,” - Non denominational and a worthy endeavor
“Worship,” - see above
“Believe,” - see above and what's the problem

I'd like to point out that our currency, issued by the government - says "In God We Trust"

My school has a very strong chapter of FCA - Fellowship of CHRISTIAN Athletes. I am a coach. Before every race, my kids pray. I don't lead it. I let them do it, but you better believe I am right there in the circle. Fortunately, I grew up and live in the heat of the Bible Belt, so there is no problem.

 

So?

 

The bigger question to me is why I should care what a bunch of 200-years-dead politicians thought?

 

Several points I bring up:

* Some of the Founding Fathers who talked about "God" were Christians, but others were deists or Unitarians. Patrick Henry and John Jay were Christians. Benjamin Franklin was a deist and Thomas Jefferson became one in his later years (and Jefferson was accused by some Federalists of being an atheist). John Adams was a Unitarian. All believed in "God" but not in the same way.

* The United States was not one big happy Christian family when it first came to be. Catholics were treated with suspicion, even contempt. There were plenty of people who feared that the Pope would take over if Catholics (who are Christians) got too much power. And when you consider that Catholics have a Bible that is different from Protestant Bibles in a few ways, you run into a problem when teaching the Bible in a classroom (look up the Edgarton Bible case for an example of this).

* As was already pointed out, when the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, the Supreme Court ruled that, because of the amendment, the Bill of Rights applied to the states. That's when things changed with regards to how the First Amendment got applied.

* Many of the high-profile cases that reached the Supreme Court regarding religion in the schools were filed by Catholics and Jews. Not all of them were filed by atheists, as some believe.

 

The people who initially shaped this country and created the document that still governs it are completely irrelevant.

 

The motto IN GOD WE TRUST was placed on United States coins largely because of the increased religious sentiment existing during the Civil War. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase received many appeals from devout persons throughout the country, urging that the United States recognize the Deity on United States coins. From Treasury Department records, it appears that the first such appeal came in a letter dated November 13, 1861.
http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx

 

I, too, live in the Bible Belt and have seen a prayer circle that includes players and coaches -- and has been led by both -- after almost every sporting event I've covered. I have no problem with that. Religion and church activity is a big part of life here, and my wife and I attend regularly. Encouraging students' spirituality and the morality it often brings is not a bad thing.
That said, what this lawsuit accuses is a far cry from a coach leading his kids in prayer after a football game, or even reading a prayer aloud over the PA before the game. This school might actually be teaching its students wrong information to fit facts that most right-thinking people will agree is questionable at best.
This teacher and this school (Negreet High School, since it hasn't been mentioned anywhere) isn't encouraging public service through the church. It's not promoting good morals through strong faith. It's not even teaching theological aspects of the Bible, where kids can learn life lessons and form their own opinions through critical thinking.
It's using religion -- and a misguided religious view, at that -- to fill children's heads with things that are, at worst, patently false, and at best extremely dubious. It's not a classroom, it's a propaganda session. It's doing these children a great disservice.

 

The only opinion I have any interest in from any of them is Jefferson's: The living should form rules and societies for their own benefit, and not rely on the lazy mental crutch of appealing to long-dead authorities.