To all who found the teacher's actions permissible, let me tell you why they may not be.
If you believe in an absolute separation of church and state, then I think you're on a slippery slope to allow this teachers actions. One of the key issues would be, how did the teacher answer Moshe's question. She would be on safer ground if she said, "It's something very personal to me," which is a neutral answer. If she said, "It's because I believe in God," she potentially has a problem and all of her other actions can be viewed with suspicion. It could be argued that the symbol and the book server mainly a primary purpose of raising the question so that she has a chance to evangelize. In racial discrimination cases, the high court has ruled that you need not you need not prove racist intent to find a practice, if its final result discriminates against a race of people, violates the 14th Amendment. Extrapolating from that, it's not a stretch to say that you need not prove an evangelical intent to say the teacher created an infringement. As we have discussed, kids are easily malleable. It is conceivable that a teacher who even makes a minor display of faith could have an evangelical effect on the children in her classroom, if not now, than years from now when the student learns a little more about the world, etc. That idea could very much be in the teachers mind. Personally, however, I think having the government micromanage these issues is a little bit more of big brother than I really want in my life. So my point is, there must be some public accommodation of religion or we reach a point of absurdity. And to come back to the issue of allowing a Christian group to meet in a school room, after class, with a teacher supervisor -- it is absurd not to allow it. It's so absurd that I've run out of words on the subject. H. -----Original Message----- From: Michael Dinowitz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2002 9:52 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: Religious Freedom Part II My first son (second child) is Moshe while the baby is Shemaryahu (not a rare as you may think). Now your example person has not imposed their views onto a captive audience but instead is answering a question put forth. If the answer was "well, this is the book of my deity who says all infidels are going to have to serve as waiters to me in the afterlife for not believing in her", well its still a legitimate answer. It might not be a nice answer but its the answer to a question put forth. It's like asking for spam. If you ask for it, you deserve what you get. If on the other hand she got up in the front of the classroom and said "class, now lets praise saffo, creator of the universe who gave us math and then open your books to page 214 and divide the numbers" she has a captive audience who can't leave and has to listen to something that they don't want. Like unrequested spam. So how do you want your spam today? > Let's change the religious practice of Mrs. Smith slightly. > > She's a rather quiet woman who is quite happy to just do her job and teach > the children. She never discusses her religion on school grounds. > > But, she does wear a small pin every day on her lapel. This pin is a common > symbol of her religion. > > She also keeps a copy of her religious book in the top drawer of her desk. > She never takes it out of the desk while students are in the room. She only > reads it while eating lunch in private. But students are able to see the > book when she opens the drawer at times when they are standing near the > desk. > > One day, Michael Dinowitz's son (sorry Mike, I don't know the names of your > kids), asks Mrs. Smith what the pin on her lapel is for, what it means. > > Note, please, that I have been very careful not to label Mrs. Smith as a > member of any particular religion. For the purpose of this question, her > religion, whether it be any of the Big Three monotheists, wiccan, Satanism > or secular humanism, is irrelevant. What matters only, are the facts as I've > presented them. > > Here are the questions: > > 1) Can Mrs. Smith wear a religious symbol on her lapel while in the > classroom with students present? > > 2) Can Mrs. Smith keep a copy of her religious book in her desk? > > 3) How should Mrs. Smith answer little Mike Jr.'s question? > > H. > > > ______________________________________________________________________ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
