News article ,The Religious Right's New Tactics for Invading Public Schools

[ladyinred]

Here is the link:http://www.alternet.org/rights/64211/

[Progo35]

I have to say that on this one, we disagree, LIR. I think that such an act is a good idea. In my own experience, I've found that the public school environment is currently extremely hostile toward the expresssion of individual religious viewpoints. It is one thing to oppose prayer that is mandated by the state, it is another thing to silence anyone who wants to express their views freely in school.

[ladyinred]

"Frustrated, Religious Right advocates are adopting new strategies to bring state-sanctioned fundamentalist outreach into the schools. The Texas law, critics say, is merely a new twist on an old fight.

It's not the only one. As another school year got under way last month, public schools around the nation found themselves under siege by groups obsessed with using the schools as instruments of evangelism.

The Texas law reflects the Religious Right's latest ploy: drafting students as evangelists to preach to a captive audience of their peers. The groups hope that the courts will consider the prayers and sermons offered during the "limited public forum" as a form of free speech that is, technically, not sponsored by the school." and

"This law is fundamentally at odds with the principle of religious freedom," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin-based group that opposes the machinations of the Religious Right. "It will force public school students to participate in public events that promote religious views -- through prayer or even proselytizing -- that they and their families may not share or may even find deeply offensive. So rather than protecting religious freedom, this law represents a grave threat to it."

Schools should not be made to conform with a certain religious group's agenda , what if it conflicts with other's religion and faith? Proselytizing, there are other people of varying Christian faiths that don't fit into this order as those who are not Christian. If this law were fair then protestants, episcopalians, methodists, Catholics and other religions should be allowed to do it too.

Also from the article:As the school year gets under way, public schools around the nation are under siege from Religious Right pressure groups determined to turn them into instruments of evangelism.

Again what if you are methodist, episcopalian, nondenominational, progressive, UCC, jewish ,moslem,interfaith, and other faiths ,or even no faith?
Remember they are pushing their own interpretation of the bible on the rest of us, totally unconstitutional. As a mother I don't necessarily want my son to have to listen to their proselytizing and hellfire and damnation preaching. The religious right evidently wants special rights.

Also quoted from the article:Nevertheless, some students seem eager to take matters into their own hands. Graduation ceremonies are sometimes marked by speakers who veer off into fundamentalist tangents. ABC News reported that in Duval County, Fla., earlier this year, valedictorian Shannon Spaulding of Wolfson High School "quoted the Bible and spoke about Jesus Christ, suggesting that those who didn't believe would go to hell."

My son came home one day after hearing kids say if you aren't a Christian ,believe in Jesus , then you are going to hell. His response? "I hate God." Well that's progress isn't it?

[Progo35]

But, everyone else is allowed to do that. There is no law or rule saying that people who are of another religion besides Christianity cannot express their religious beleifs. If they do do so, that is generally more tolerated by our society than when Christians do the same thing.

I'm sorry that your son had that experience at school, if he was being bullied, which is wrong. If the other child was responding to a question about his or her religion, than I think that that child is entitled to respond truthfully about his or her beliefs, which in, in my experience, is not the same thing as forcing religion on someone else, the latter of which is marked by hostility. I would suggest that you and your son sit down and chat about his feelings regarding this matter and whether or not God truly endorses what this individual said. When I was growing up, I was taught that we couldn't predict who was going where, and was extremely upset when other people used the exclusivist doctrine to justify bad behavior or shoved it down other people's throats. What matters here, in my opinion, is whether or not this is a repeated occurence, whether the child was bullying your son or simply expressing a viewpoint, etc.

[ladyinred]

Progo I hope you didn't read into my disagreement as a sign of disrespect. But I am very leery about people who use threatening messages that scare kids. I don't think the God loves you but you are going to hell message would give any child the idea God loves them.

[ladyinred]

When my son was younger he had no such notion of God, he was 7 ,I remember walking the dogs and my son said mommy why don't you pick up the other stuff,I said to my son I'm not responsible for cleaning up after other people's dogs. His response," Mommy , God would really appreciate if you did." He has never stepped inside a church by the way. Does that sound like a child who hated God ? It wasn't just one child by the way.... that said these things. I live in a very conservative area. They even as I heard got a teacher fired for taking the kids to a museum where I guess they saw nudity, perhaps a statue or a painting. I don't know the full details. But what do kids see on tv alot?Sex is practically thrown in their face. Something like that wouldn't have offended me but i guess I would just view it as art, not porno.

[Progo35]

LIR,

No, I don't feel disrespected at all, and I hope that you do not feel that way, either. And, I agree with you, because I had similar experiences when I was little and I was very traumatized. I couldn't understand a God that loved everyone but who would send nonbelievers to hell, and the people aroumd me communicated their beliefs with hatred and malice. I still don't understand that, which is why I have simply accepted that I cannot know that answer. I just know that God is good, so whatever He does will be just and good. So, I continue to maintain hope for nonbelievers that they will go to Heaven despite not believing in Christ.

The exclusivity doctrine certainly isn't something that should be repeatedly thrown in other people's faces, esp. when it is such a complicated one. I feel badly that your son is going through this. Please keep us apprised on what we can do to help with that, even if its just by giving advice.