Will Tennessee's New Religious Viewpoints Legislation Protect Bullying in School?

[rug]

The Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act is a controversial mix of church and state, and it's about to be signed into law.



March 28, 2014
By Suzi Parker

In Tennessee last October a teacher assigned a 10-year-old student to write about the person she admired most. She chose God. The teacher asked her to choose another subject. From there state legislators got involved to pass legislation to protect her right to write on a religious topic.

Previous federal court rulings and existing state laws have already said that students can exercise their religious beliefs while at school, but two lawmakers in Tennessee were compelled to make religious liberty protections more explicit. Republican state Senators Ferrell Haile and Courtney Rogers sponsored the bill that would allow students to express their religious beliefs in their homework, artwork, and written and oral assignments without punishment or discrimination.

The Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act passed the state House of Representatives 90-2 and on Monday the state Senate, 32-0. It now sits on the desk of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, who will likely sign it.

The bill also specifies that students can organize student prayer groups and other religious gatherings as they would be permitted to organize non-curricular activities and groups, which is also already protected by the U.S. Constitution.

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/03/28/new-tennessee-laws-religion-schools-lgbt

http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/108/Bill/HB1547.pdf

[Swede Atlanta]

1. From what I have read the answer is yes.....

Let's say there is an assignment for English composition to write, as the post begins, about a person they admired.

Let's say a child chooses to write about Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church fame because he/she shared his religious beliefs on homosexuality. Let's say each child was then required to read their composition aloud in class and discuss with others.

If the child said one reason he/she admired Mr. Phelps was that he told it like it was because God hates fags and all of them should be killed, that open expression would be fair game. Further discussion back from other students who might say, that's right, my pastor told me those fags are going to hell. The Bible tells us so ....

While that scenario may seem far fetched I suggest it isn't so far from being possible.

There would be nothing the teacher could do unless he/she thanked the student for his/her opinion and then decided it wasn't such a good idea to have "open" reading and discussion and graded the students only on their written work.

[rug]

2. That's a fair point.

The problem is that as written it would protect more malign conduct.

[cbayer]

4. But that scenario could be possible without this law.

What if a student say they admired some prominent segregationist from the '60s because he told it like, then used hateful and bigoted language. I would certainly hope that any teacher, even one that shared these particular beliefs, would use it as an opportunity to teach that hate is never a good thing.

While I recognize that all teachers are not going to do this, it could present positive opportunities to increase tolerance and decrease bigotry.

[cbayer]

3. There is also the possibility that this could be a good thing, at least in some schools.

Savvy teachers could use this as an opportunity to allow students to share their religious beliefs or lack of beliefs in a way that educates other students, decreases misconceptions and removes prejudices.

It could also present an opportunity to confront and challenge bigotry, a possible positive, imo.

Of course, not all teachers are interested in teaching tolerance and decreasing bigotry, let alone savvy.

I see that it could also be misused, but if not applied uniformly it is heading for serious lawsuits. I also think the ACLU is highlighting other areas that could be serious pitfalls.