Atheism & Religion in the news
(Church-State Separation)
Dateline: June 03, 1998
Below are a number of recent news stories involving the separation of church and state. The stories themselves are directly from original wire reports - I have only made changes in order to condense the information or to avoid violating copyrights. What you read is what was reported. The italic sections following the reports are my own comments on these stories.
Gov't. seeks to restore tax exemption for Bibles
Bibles and other religious books should be exempt from sales tax, the Ridge administration argued early in May, asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that said the tax should be collected. This, despite the fact that both the state and federal constitutions prohibit supporting religion. The challenge to the law was made by a number of people, including a publisher of non-religious books and a consumer who bought religious and non-religious books and noticed the difference in the way the sales tax was applied.
This is absolutely ridiculous, and as a resident of Pennsylvania, I am going to do what I can to fight any tax exemption given exclusively to religious material. This obviously supports religion, which is not something which our government should do. It would also put the government in the position of defining religion for people, unless it is willing to allow anyone to walk up to a counter and say that any book is "religious" to them, thus granting them the exemption. I've written a letter to the editor (which was published) about this which was published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
School Board Settles Religion Suit
A south Alabama school board voted at the end of April to finally settle a lawsuit filed by a Jewish family who claimed that their children were teased, mocked and forced to pray by Christian students and teachers. Board members agreed to abide by a federal judge's ruling restricting coercive religious practices in public schools in a north Alabama county.
This is exactly the sort of thing which we try to prevent when we prohibit organized prayers in schools. People like to claim that bringing prayers are "good" for students, but these sorts of incidents happen all too frequently. Those who are "different" suffer when the beliefs of a majority are given official governmental support. Of course, people who hold those majoritarian beliefs don't see this - in fact, when it comes to Christian fundamentalists, they may not even see a problem with the harassment of those who believe differently. What really gets me is the fact that this school board actually needed to be told that coercive religious practices are wrong.
First Grader Had No Right to Proselytize Classmates
On May 19, the American Jewish Congress argued before the United States Court of Appeals (Third Circuit) that a first grader should not be allowed to read Bible stories to public school classmates and called upon the Court to uphold a judgment of a lower court which declared the reading a violation of the First Amendment separation of church and state. A teacher wouldn't let the girl read to her classmates, and she (or her guardians) allege that it is a violation of her rights to not be allowed to proselytize.
Simply amazing. What sort of parents think that their child has the right to preach to other students during school time? What are they teaching her and what sort of example are they setting? The children in class are a captive audience who are not allowed to leave. The teacher is a powerful authority figure, and if the girl in question were allowed to preach, other students would necessarily interpret this as with teacher approval and support. When parents entrust their children to the government in schools, it has to be with the assurance that the school will not be used as a forum for religious teaching - even if by another student.
Traficant: Let God back in schools
Democratic Rep. James Traficant of Ohio spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives on May 22 and, in reaction to the recent school shootings, that ""If the community wants to help, they might allow God back into our schools. Parents with the help of God will be much more effective in raising our kids." He also said that the responsibility of raising children belongs to parents.
It is depressing to see an elected representative display so little respect not only for atheists, but also for our Constitution. Didn't he have to swear an oath to uphold our Constitution? I wonder if he really meant it. The community has no real say in having "God" in schools - children can pray all they want on their own, but no one's religion should be granted any sort of support or endorsement by school officials. If that isn't a violation of the separation of church and state, I don't know what is. And why does he think that I can't be as good a parents as a neighbor who is a theist? He doesn't know me, and certainly has no justification for making such pronouncements about my fitness as a parent. I've written a letter to him about this, but haven't heard back. I encourage others to do the same.
Court Allows Student-Led Prayer
On Wednesday, May 27, The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a rural Idaho school district's policy of allowing the top students in each senior class to decide whether to include a prayer in graduation speeches. This ruling affects nine Western states. The Supreme Court, which has barred compulsory prayer in public school classes since 1962, ruled in 1992 that public schools may not require prayers in graduation ceremonies. An American Civil Liberties Union attorney, Stephen Pevar, said that district trustees knew that students in the district, which is more than 90 percent Mormon, would put prayers in their speeches. He said the graduation program also included religious songs. "Whenever you authorize a religious practice, then you're not being neutral," Pevar said. He also stated that his non-Mormon clients "feel like outcasts" at graduation ceremonies. In fact, their mother was allowed to challenge the policy under the name of Jane Doe, saying she feared retaliation.
This is a very difficult situation. On the one hand, individual students should certainly be allowed to pray if they wish. However, what right do "top students" have in forcing other students to sit through personal prayers during a graduation ceremony? What is is about academic achievement that confers authority in mandating that others sit through a religious ritual? I am also concerned that in permitting this practice, the school district is implicitly expressing support for prayers at graduation. What is the point of public prayers at graduation anyway? It's not as if there weren't enough other opportunities for prayer in the rest of a person's day.
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