It has forbidden the agents of the state (such as teachers and principals) from doing so in their capacity as agents of the state. It has not forbidden them as individuals and outside their duties as agents of the state from doing so. If you write religious practices into the school curriculum, you are pushing that religion. What you would be teaching might be perfect other than the fact that it is forcing people to teach it and forcing people to participate in it. Would you like to be forced to take part in religious practices with which you strongly disagree?

You also run into situations like this one in which the state violates what the Supremes have said by trying to stop people from speaking as individuals when not acting as agents of the state. There are many violations which are not considered because nobody complained. If there is a complaint, that means someone felt they were being compelled to observe religious practices with which they disagree.

Had the school not been violating the law in the first place, the problem wouldn’t have come up in the first place. Then the solution violated the law in a different way by telling the teachers what they could do as private citizens and students what they could say in addresses.

David for smarter educators
and understanding the Golden Rule
(at least by those who know what it is)

Your point about who pays is spot on.

However, do you see the irony in your post

“The very first amendment included the statement “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”
That was a restriction on what the United States Congress could do.

Then it was amended again to include “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The Supreme Court prohibited the free exercise and deprived those who wished to do it of liberty.

I agree with Mr. Sherman’s point, too. Although, I disagree, the US Supreme Court has, in fact, ruled against prayer in school…except under very strict guidelines…which again is somewhat restrictive…right? (One case involves the Sante Fe ISD in Texas and using the PA for prayer at ball games).

I forget. Who pays the insurance companies to insure them?

David the forgetful

The ACLU would love you to think that they selflessly chose to waive their attorney’s fees against the School District. The fact is the ACLU has no right to any attorney fees at all. Their involvement in the Allen case filed by Liberty Counsel was as a Defendant-Intervener thus disqualifying them from collecting attorney fees.

An accusation that Liberty Counsel has been awarded any taxpayer money is ridiculous. Any money that Liberty Counsel is receiving is solely from insurance companies, not on the backs of taxpayers.

The only nod to religious practices in the unamended Constitution is in “If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law,” so it assumed the President would take off on Sundays, probably for religious practices since golf wasn’t popular back then.

The very first amendment included the statement “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”

That was a restriction on what the United States Congress could do. Then it was amended again to include “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

That restricted what the states could do and affected religious liberty as well. That’s why schools–as agents of the states–are restricted.

So you know what it says. To know what it means, you must turn back to Article 3 which includes “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court,“ which means the Supreme Court is Supreme in its decisions as to what it means–even if they are liberal or conservative or have an agenda it says it means what they say it means, ‘cause they‘re the SUPREMES.

They change their minds every so often, but are never wrong, by definition.

David for liberty

Let me explain it this way – Bring Prayer into Public Schools – but first – Whose prayer? We must satisfy everyone because there is no mention of a specific religion in the U.S. Constitution! So on the first Monday of the month we do Anglican, then Baptist on Tuesday, then Buddhism on Wednesday, then Catholicism on Thursday, then Deism on Friday, then Episcopalians on Monday, then Hinduism on Tuesday, then Holiness on Wednesday, then Islamic on Thursday, then Judaism on Friday, then Lutheranism on Monday, then Methodism on Tuesday, then Nazarene on Wednesday, then Pentecostal on Thursday, then Rastafarian on Friday, then Samaritanism on Monday, then Scientology on Tuesday, then Sikhism on Wednesday, then Taoism on Thursday and finally (for now) Zoroastrianism on Friday. Then you start over to make certain that no religion was excluded and to then include the overlooked religions and now begin again … and do it again and again and again. How do you feel? How do you fell about your child being forced to listen to the prayers and beliefs of a dozen or more religions that you do not believe in – all because YOU wanted prayer in public schools. Be careful what you wish for … you may get it!

Do you now understand why it is imperative that the government or its’ agents must remain neutral in matters of religion. Read your history, look at all the religious wars throughout the ages, look at how one state sponsored religion has oppressed, tortured, and killed millions upon millions in the same country throughout time. Do you not know that Jews, Christians, and Muslims ALL sprang from the same source. That Jesus and ALL the disciples were born and raised Jewish. That “Allah” is the standard Arabic translation for GOD – the only Deity, creator of the universe and omnipotent.

I am certain that I would not want my children to have any part in a religion that proclaims its superiority by belittling the beliefs of others or coercing children to change their beliefs. That does not sound like the “Golden Rule” that I learned – in CHURCH.

Joe may have it right. Sometimes the unintended consequence rears it’s ugly head all too soon.

It is time for the states to stand up for themselves and quit bowing to this corrupt federal leviathan in DC.