> I dunno this reeks to me more of "I'm gonna get that > teacher back for (insert various reasons here)" then "Oh > my God she's wearing a cross my rights have been violated"
> I guess in my grand scheme of things, someone wearing an > emblem of their religion (Star of David, Cross, Crescent, > Pentacle or whatever) isn't that important. It's slightly less an issue with teachers than it is with say cops... but since it's a legal requirement (in this country) for parents to send their children to a public school (if they can't afford some alternative) that does rather create the relationship of the government allowing public servants to endorse their own personal set of religious beliefs and to have government support in doing so, which is the same sort of thing we're trying to eliminate with things like the ten-commandments displays in court-houses... The real question is this, would a Wiccan teacher be allowed to wear a pentacle in the same classroom? And the answer (currently in any place I've been, and I suspect most places I haven't been) is absolutely not. Not only would the teacher not be allowed to wear it, there is a good chance she would be fired the minute any school administrator found out she was Wiccan, regardless of whether she chose to attempt to wear it or not, and then would be unnable to find an attorney willing to defend her rights to have that job in spite of unconstitutional descrimination against her for her religious beliefs (as compared to the cross-wearing teacher who of course has support left and right). Hell, I read a news article recently about a couple who were being divorced, both of whom were Wiccan, but who were being required to be involved in some state-run parenting bs as part of their divorce. The case-worker told the judge during a hearing that they were Wiccan and the judge ORDERED them not to expose their child to any "non-mainstream religion". (OH NO! We can't have anything UNORTHODOX! If we allowed that, then we'd have human sacrifices in the town square!)... Which is a direct violation of the constitution (you know, "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"). From: http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html Amendment I - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. What I abhore is not the issue of wearing or not wearing the symbol per-se. If we lived in a culture which actually valued diversity of religion it might be a different story, but as it is allowing _any_ religion to appear in a public place today in _this_ country is government sanctioned religious discrimination (because not every religious symbol is allowed), a condition which is explicitly prohibited by our own constitution, which is supposed to be the highest law in our country. It's the hipocricy I abhore. In truth, making no law respecting an establishment of religion would be allowing all teachers to wear any religious symbol (my preference), but as that's highly unlikey at any time in the near future, I think allowing none is a necessary evil because the alternative is having laws which allow government endorsement of only certain religions (because the same government that allows a teacher to wear a cross will allow religious descrimination against a Wiccan). It's worse with cops. Trust me, a wiccan does _not_ feel comforted when the cop who comes to his door to "ask a few questions" is wearing a cross, whether they're doing anything illegal or not. Imo any cop who feels the _need_ to wear a cross while on-duty is too married to their own religion to be a public servant anyway, since it's likely they'll only serve those members of the public they like. Although I suppose the case could be made for having _a_ religous symbol of choice become a mandatory element of every officer's uniform. That way people can make their predisposed judgments more easily. :) p.s. I'm not Wiccan. s. isaac dealey 954.522.6080 new epoch : isn't it time for a change? add features without fixtures with the onTap open source framework http://www.fusiontap.com http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:162292 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
