| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
16 Jan 2007 02:17:32 AM |
| Object: |
Separating church, state |
Separating church, state
Central students get lesson from the source
http://www.dailyherald.com/story.asp?id=268856
[excerpt]
By Melissa Jenco
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Friday, January 12, 2007
Like any public school, Naperville Central doesn’t teach religion classes.
On Thursday, a group of students met the man whose family played an
integral role in keeping religion out of schools.
Jim McCollum, whose mother was the plaintiff in the landmark 1948 McCollum
vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case, spoke to students before giving
a speech for the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
“The kids need to be conscious of the First Amendment,” said Gloria Schor
Andersen, president of the west suburban chapter of the group. “They need
to be conscious of what it … takes to protect it and what it took to
protect it and don’t take it for granted.”
McCollum, who was raised an atheist, grew up in Champaign. In 1943, his
school started offering Christian Bible classes that were voluntary — but
he said teachers pressured students to participate.
McCollum said his mother “hit the roof” when she found out he was made to
sit in a detention desk in the hallway while the classes were conducted.
“I and some of the Jewish kids who were in school at the time who also
didn’t participate were being harassed by the other kids … beaten by the
older kids who felt that God somehow needed their assistance,” he said.
After his mother, Vashti, tried unsuccessfully to ask administrators to
stop the program, she took the case to court. It made its way to the
Supreme Court, which ruled 8-1 that the classes were unconstitutional.
McCollum, now an attorney, said it was the first time the First Amendment’s
establishment of religion clause was applied to the states via the 14th
Amendment.
[end excerpt]
***************************************************************
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 US 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)
.. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
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