ACLU To Sue Jonesboro High School Over Prayer at Graduation
http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2005/11/23/aclu-to-sue-jonesboro-high-school-over-prayer-at-graduation/
Stop the ACLU - New Cumberland,PA,USA
KAIT
In May of this year, a Jonesboro student gave a prayer during a high
school graduation ceremony at the Arkansas State University Convocation
Center. During the prayer, which lasted four minutes, she gave an “altar
call” to the community, asking those in the audience to come forward to
accept Jesus Christ.
“In the closing moments of this service, if you would like to accept
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, here’s your chance,” said senior
Jessica Reed in a May 20, 2005 taped video of JHS graduation ceremonies.
“We were contacted sometime after that by the American Civil Liberties
Union that they felt like there had been a violation of the First
Amendment, separation of church and state with regard to a prayer,” said
Jonesboro Public Schools Attorney Donn Mixon.
And now the ACLU is looking for a plaintiff in a case against Jonesboro
High School. In a letter written by the Arkansas ACLU executive director
Rita Sklar, the event is described as a “blatant display of contempt for
the First Amendment.”
[end of excerpt]
and
ACLU plans to sue over Jonesboro graduation speech
http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=4161496
[excerpts]
WMC-TV - Memphis,TN,USA
A graduation speech created an uproar, when the topic turned to God; the
ACLU says it's a violation of the separation between church and state.
Before marching with the Jonesboro High class of 2005, Jessica Reed was
president of fellowship of Christian Services.
"I'm here today to tell you that God is someone that he's amazing," said
Reed in her May 20 speech.
Jonesboro's superintendent of schools admits Reed's comments violated
separation of church and state guidelines but he also says schools cannot
prohibit students from expressing their views solely because they're
religious in nature.
[end excerpts
**************************************************************
Posting and reading from alt.politics.usa.constitution OR alt.education
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the U.S. and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
.
|
