Maryland School Sued for Refusing to Let Girl Read Bible

[Bishka]

Originally Posted by PureX

"So she eats her lunch, she's taking a break, she's reading her Bible, and this school official comes up to her and says she's going to be disciplined if she doesn't stop reading it ..."

That official should be fired if he/she is really that stupid. But I have heard of and read lots of these kinds of stories from around the web and many of them turn out to be bery biased and inaccurate. They are designed to inspire "outrage" against one group or another for some alterior purpose.

Well, this one was a news story, although when I read I did find a touch of bias.

[lilithu]

The school official may not understand "separation of church and state." It seems to me that a lot of people are unclear on the subject and think that it means there can be no expression of religion in a public setting. The school official may have just been trying to conscientiously do his/her job.

I am bothered by what the president of the American Atheists said (surprise, surprise):
"What probably happened is this kid, I'll bet you, was being disruptive. I bet this kid was proselytizing, was preaching, doing something that was annoying other kids and was told to stop...."

She displays a clear antipathy, assuming that the kid was proselytizing when it's clear she doesn't really know. That's the kind of thing that prevents us from reaching any common understanding.

Otoh, I wouldn't put it past this "conservative civil liberties group" to be turning this into a high-profile lawsuit when it might have been resolved peacefully within the school.

[Ðanisty]

I think that what the president of the American Atheists said was terrible. Making a speculation like that makes her (and atheists in general) look bad. Unfortunately, she may have a point. I don't think I ever saw anyone reading the Bible at school and I live in the Bible Belt. I think what she said reflects what a lot of non-Christians see...children who aren't really interested in religion, but pretend to be to appease the people around them. I can't see how a teacher would notice what book the child was reading either if she wasn't drawing attention to it somehow. I mean, I read The Satanic Bible at lunch and nobody noticed!

[Seyorni]

It's hard to conceive of anyone in education being so abysmally ignorant of the rules on religion in school that s/he actually forbade the reading of a religious book. Perhaps this student was proselytizing or being somehow disruptive, though the particulars of the case haven't been presented.

No law has ever been passed prohibiting prayer, reading religious texts, &c. in school, though congress did rule that these may not be part of the curriculum.

[Lindsey-Loo]

"What probably happened is this kid, I'll bet you, was being disruptive. I bet this kid was proselytizing, was preaching, doing something that was annoying other kids and was told to stop. Kids don't normally want to read the Bible at lunch time-I don't care who they are. It's just not something kids want to do," said Johnson.

Pshh, this is a laughable statement. This person has nooooo idea what they're talking about. Because, you see, many of us kids, believe or not, do in fact, enjoy reading our Bibles. In sixth grade, I was trying to decide on whether it was the right time to be baptized or not, so I started bringing my Bible to school to read during my free time. Some kids told me it was illegal and stuff, but none of my teachers had a problem with it. I finished the NT in two months thanks to being allowed to read during school hours.

I think that this whole "we can't have any religion in school" thing has gone a little too far. For example, I posted on how a group of kids @ my school have started praying right before lunch in the kiva, and each prayer group had a teacher joining them. Well, some parents got way upset, and threatened to sue the school if they kept letting teachers pray with the students. I understand their point of view, but we Christians don't threaten to sue the school when the theory of evolution is taught as fact. *sigh...* it's just not fair...

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Ðanisty

I think that what the president of the American Atheists said was terrible. Making a speculation like that makes her (and atheists in general) look bad. Unfortunately, she may have a point. I don't think I ever saw anyone reading the Bible at school and I live in the Bible Belt.

I've seen kids read bibles in public and I don't live in the bible belt. Granted it's not a common sight but I don't see why it's beyond the realm of believability. (Is that a word??)

[Sunstone]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

It's hard to conceive of anyone in education being so abysmally ignorant of the rules on religion in school that s/he actually forbade the reading of a religious book. Perhaps this student was proselytizing or being somehow disruptive, though the particulars of the case haven't been presented.

No law has ever been passed prohibiting prayer, reading religious texts, &c. in school, though congress did rule that these may not be part of the curriculum.

It might be hard to imagine school officials being so ignorant, but I think it's possible that some are. There have been some pretty stupid things done by school officials here in Colorado Springs.

For instance, one assistant principle a while back busted some 12 year old girls for playing with Tarot cards during break. She accused them of Satanism, and tried to get them to confess that they had links to covens in Hollywood. With that kind of stupidity possible, who's to say that some other assistant principle somewhere is not clear on the fact the Bible can be read at school by a student during his or her free time?

[Ðanisty]

Originally Posted by shaktinah

I've seen kids read bibles in public and I don't live in the bible belt. Granted it's not a common sight but I don't see why it's beyond the realm of believability. (Is that a word??)

I never said it was outside the realm of believability. I just said that even though I live somewhere that the possibility could be higher than average, I had not once seen it. It's certainly possible that there are kids out there reading bibles in public. That's why I said that what the president of the American Atheists said was terrible. It's a ridiculous blanket statement to make, especially for someone in a position to be making statements that may reflect on a large group of people. What she said was unjustified, unverified, and probably negatively affected a lot of people's opinions on atheists. It was the wrong thing to say in every way possible. It doesn't necessarily mean she's wrong or that she doesn't have a good point. She certainly didn't articulate it well though.

[silvermoon383]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

It might be hard to imagine school officials being so ignorant, but I think it's possible that some are. There have been some pretty stupid things done by school officials here in Colorado Springs.

For instance, one assistant principle a while back busted some 12 year old girls for playing with Tarot cards during break. She accused them of Satanism, and tried to get them to confess that they had links to covens in Hollywood. With that kind of stupidity possible, who's to say that some other assistant principle somewhere is not clear on the fact the Bible can be read at school by a student during his or her free time?

There was a situation like that at my high school- a Wiccan friend of mine used to wear a pentagram necklace and one day a teacher saw her with it in the hallway and ordered her to take it off. She later switched to wearing a 12-point star necklace to keep from getting (almost) yelled at by that teacher.

[Lindsey-Loo]

There was a situation like that at my high school- a Wiccan friend of mine used to wear a pentagram necklace and one day a teacher saw her with it in the hallway and ordered her to take it off. She later switched to wearing a 12-point star necklace to keep from getting (almost) yelled at by that teacher.

Tha't stupid. It would be like a teacher ordering me to take off my cross. Stupid. Does anyone else believe that school is just stupid?