Ohio bill seeks to allow “religious expression” in schools

[rug]

Associated Press
Published: February 17, 2016, 5:17 am
Updated: February 17, 2016, 5:23 am

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio bill seeks to ensure that public school students who want to express their religious viewpoints can get the same access to school facilities as secular student groups.

A House committee is set to vote on the measure Wednesday. The bill also would remove a provision in law that lets school districts limit the exercise or expression of religion to lunch periods or other non-instructional time periods.

Students could engage in religious expression before, during, and after school hours to the same extent that a student may take part in secular activities at such times.

The bill also would prohibit schools from disallowing religious expression in class assignments.

http://wdtn.com/2016/02/17/ohio-bill-seeks-to-allow-religious-expression-in-schools/

[Tien1985]

1. Right up until

a Muslim kid starts praying. Or a Pagan kid explains the changing of seasons in terms of the the Goddess and the God shifting through their aspects.

[rug]

3. Not to mention the gauntlet children would pass on the way from the bs to the classroom.

[Angry Dragon]

18. I seem to lean towards Satanists

[PatrickforO]

2. Why? Why do people's children and grandchildren have to be exposed to

someone else's 'religious expression' in a public school that is paid for with taxes?

I want them to learn about our government, to read and write well, to perform mathematics, algebra, geometry and calculus, and learn life, physical and social science. I DON'T want, nor should I EVER have to have, the children of some religious nut 'express' their faith in front of my own children and grandchildren.

[rug]

4. The "hostile environment" standard will come into play in the first lawsuit filed over this.

[PatrickforO]

6. Maybe, but I don't think reasonable people

are jumping up and down to foist off their religious beliefs on the rest of us. I'm not. Am I reasonable? Is the separation of church and state reasonable? Is it reasonable to expect our children can go to tax funded public schools WITHOUT being proselytized?

Let's hope we don't have fundy fanatic judges ruling on this.

[rug]

10. Most likely some local groups want to have a prayer breakfast over their oatmeal before class.

Which is all well and good until some extremists want to hold a healing service outside the nurse's office. Or erect a statue of Baphomet in the parking lot.

[exboyfil]

12. Your position is more extreme than that of the ACLU

Here are links to some guidelines:

http://www.aclu-tn.org/pdfs/briefer_religion_in_public_schools.pdf

https://www.aclu.org/joint-statement-current-law-religion-public-schools

1. Students have the right to pray individually or in groups or to discuss their religious views with their peers so long as they are not disruptive. Because the Establishment Clause does not apply to purely private speech, students enjoy the right to read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, pray before tests, and discuss religion with other willing student listeners. In the classroom students have the right to pray quietly except when required to be actively engaged in school activities (e.g., students may not decide to pray just as a teacher calls on them). In informal settings, such as the cafeteria or in the halls, students may pray either audibly or silently, subject to the same rules of order as apply to other speech in these locations. However, the right to engage in voluntary prayer does not include, for example, the right to have a captive audience listen or to compel other students to participate.


9. Students have the right to distribute religious literature to their schoolmates, subject to those reasonable time, place, and manner or other constitutionally- acceptable restrictions imposed on the distribution of all non-school literature. Thus, a school may confine distribution of all literature to a particular table at particular times. It may not single out religious literature for burdensome regulation.

1. Student participation in before- or after-school events, such as "see you at the pole," is permissible. School officials, acting in an official capacity, may neither discourage nor encourage participation in such an event.

12. Students have the right to speak to, and attempt to persuade, their peers about religious topics just as they do with regard to political topics. But school officials should intercede to stop student religious speech if it turns into religious harassment aimed at a student or a small group of students. While it is constitutionally permissible for a student to approach another and issue an invitation to attend church, repeated invitations in the face of a request to stop constitute harassment. Where this line is to be drawn in particular cases will depend on the age of the students and other circumstances.

[Jester Messiah]

5. That'll last until that local Satanic temple gets wind of it.

Whenever the god-botherers get a forcible reminder that equal protection under the law still exists, they take down these statutes in a hurry!

[rug]

7. The Satanic Temle is a sham but they are in Cleveland.

https://www.facebook.com/TheSatanicTempleClevelandOhio/

[Jester Messiah]

8. They're all shams. That's kind of the point of the ST. [nt]

[rug]

11. Except they're not. That's the first thing wrong wit the Satanic Temple.

The second thing is Doug Mesner.

[AtheistCrusader]

13. Your church is no different.

[rug]

14. If you say so.

[AtheistCrusader]

15. It demonstrates it, every day.

It's bigger. It's got more cash flow. It pretends to be a lot more serious. That's it.

[Humanist_Activist]

16. Are you going to link to Satanic Panic conspiracy theory nutcases again to make your case?

I really don't understand what your problem is, The Satanic Temple is out there, its honest about being mostly a sham(its Humanism with some added flair), its leader proclaims the same, and they are excellent trolls doing good work in the real world.

You can claim they are a complete scam, but you would have to come up with some evidence, for example, of them scamming donors or something.

[cleanhippie]

17. No more of a sham than the RCC.

But you know that already.

[PatrickforO]

9. Yeah, I always get a kick out of that. Here the fundies go to all that trouble

and expense so they can proselytize on public dollars, and then that pesky Church of Satan wants equal time!