Proselytizing Public School Official: Ill Stop When Someone Makes Me Stop

[riversedge]

They do not even try to hide their blatant breaking of the law!

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Proselytizing Public School Official: ‘I’ll Stop When Someone Makes Me Stop’



https://www.aclu.org/blog/religious-liberty/religion-and-public-schools/proselytizing-public-school-official-ill-stop
By Heather L. Weaver, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief
December 18, 2017 | 12:30 PM
Tags

Prayer and Proselytizing in School Religion and Public Schools Religious Liberty


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Webster Parish Classroom

It’s been over half a century since the Supreme Court first ruled that public schools cannot impose prayer on students. But in the Webster Parish School District in Louisiana, it might as well be the 1950s because school officials at Lakeside Junior/Senior High School and other district schools start every morning with a prayer delivered over the school’s public-address system. Student “volunteers” may read Bible verses, or they may read the Lord’s Prayer, the text of which is conveniently taped near the microphone.

But the school district’s backward time travel doesn’t end there. School officials are imposing religion at every turn, even though the law has been clear for decades that promotion of religion by public schools is illegal and violates students’ rights under the First Amendment. Nearly every Lakeside school event features an official prayer. Graduation services are held in churches and often resemble religious services.

Learn more about the case

School officials have implied that students must take the Bible literally and have stated that evolution is a “fairy tale.” The “Daily Objectives,” posted in one teacher’s classroom, tell students to “Pray Daily!,” “Love God!,” “Study His Word,” and “Worship God.” Religious groups and performers, such as the Christian rapper Mynista, have been invited to appear at school assemblies to proselytize students.





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Webster Parish School Classroom Whiteboard..........................................

[BigmanPigman]

1. As a former teacher...

that IS against the law!

Once when I was teaching Ancient Cultures in th 6th grade classroom which is part of the state curriculum a born again parent went to my principal and complained that I was teaching religion. I showed him the mandatory textbook and that Yin/Yang is in the Ancient China chapter. From then on the parent's child didn't have to read the text or be tested on specific info that she found to be "religious/pagan". For some reason I taught her other child the same exact text the previous year and never heard how terrible the curriculum was back then. Some parents are very hypocritical.

If I put a display in my classroom like the one posted above I would have been reprimanded severely.

[Girard442]

2. The irony is that if the tables were turned...

...and secular types were refusing to teach mandated religion, the Fundamentalists would probably resort to terror tactics right away.

[samnsara]

3. alert The Freedom From Religion Foundation..they fight to win...

[NastyRiffraff]

4. Okay. Bring it on.

Good for the ACLU. This MUST be stopped every time it happens in our public schools. This is the religious right's wet dream: start with the educational system to build a theocracy.

[Initech]

6. Where is Super Intendant Chalmers when you need him?

[Initech]

5. God the religious right is so fucking disgusting.

[smirkymonkey]

7. Is that a dare?

[GulfCoast66]

8. I was just there last month. Deer hunting with family.

For a week. It is where my extended family lives. I love my family but this is as backwards a place as exist in the nation. And good students who do not land a job with family or are connected enough to get a government job leave the area after college.

Some of my family does not agree with all the right wing shit but they really cannot speak up or risk their careers.

African Americans are the key to progress in these kinds of areas. But it will not be tomorrow.

[ProudLib72]

9. Feed them to the lions

I'll pay to watch.

Where are the Romans when you need them?