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Pagan mom challenges Bible giveaway at North Carolina school

jamesrage said:
Seeing how this is public school it therefore makes it a tax payer funded institute and as such it can not show preference to any particular religion since that would be respecting the establishment of religion.Therefore you must allow all religious books to be distributed.
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No, you can't hand out any religious material, because these are kids being educated. Religious groups should have no access to them in a public school. This is not about the rights of people who want to express their religious views, it's about the rights of the students and parents.
 
misterman said:
No, you can't hand out any religious material, because these are kids being educated. Religious groups should have no access to them in a public school. This is not about the rights of people who want to express their religious views, it's about the rights of the students and parents.
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Misterman I'm sorry but you are wrong. Any religious material should be allowed to be passed out. If a wiccan walks into the school there there should be a means for them to pass it out. Same goes for Atheist the Christian and what not.
 
winston53660 said:
Misterman I'm sorry but you are wrong. Any religious material should be allowed to be passed out. If a wiccan walks into the school there there should be a means for them to pass it out. Same goes for Atheist the Christian and what not.
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I totally disagree because the argument of inequality can always come up. One thing was distributed differently than another or only to certain students or for different periods of times etc etc etc

Its best to leave it as it is. No religion in public schools, that what assures fairness and equality and no discrimination otherwise you have to open yourself up to 1000 different scenarios.
 
Objective-J said:
I totally disagree because the argument of inequality can always come up. One thing was distributed differently than another or only to certain students or for different periods of times etc etc etc
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In this case the Bibles were left for kids to pick up or not. If other items are sitting on the same table or something none of this comes in to play.

Its best to leave it as it is. No religion in public schools, that what assures fairness and equality and no discrimination otherwise you have to open yourself up to 1000 different scenarios.
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As it is, is that schools can not discriminate with who they allow access. They can allow none, or all.
 
Is there any update on this story since it was reported?
 
misterman said:
No, you can't hand out any religious material, because these are kids being educated. Religious groups should have no access to them in a public school. This is not about the rights of people who want to express their religious views, it's about the rights of the students and parents.
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Again, the OP's article said that interested students could pick the Bibles up, not that they were handed out/distributed.
 
1Perry said:
In this case the Bibles were left for kids to pick up or not. If other items are sitting on the same table or something none of this comes in to play.



As it is, is that schools can not discriminate with who they allow access. They can allow none, or all.
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says you, it all can still come into play. Maybe some one complains one thing was talked more than the others or left out for distribution longer or the kids seemed MORE encouraged to grab something over another.

This is why the government has it right, no religion in public school.
 
Ockham said:
What's the problem? He came home with a bible?
Perhaps if the Wiccan groups want to have a give away, they can hand out booklets on Wicca.... :shock: It's not like they're sending Jr. home with a 5 cc syringe of high quality vein candy.
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Would you be asking the same thing if it would have been the Satanic Bible? Religion has no place in public schools.
 
Kali said:
Would you be asking the same thing if it would have been the Satanic Bible? Religion has no place in public schools.
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No, religion has no place being taught. There's a difference, and in no way was this kid taught anything by the school.
 
Objective-J said:
I totally disagree because the argument of inequality can always come up. One thing was distributed differently than another or only to certain students or for different periods of times etc etc etc

Its best to leave it as it is. No religion in public schools, that what assures fairness and equality and no discrimination otherwise you have to open yourself up to 1000 different scenarios.
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If you want to nit pick it to death fine. It sounds like a cold dry school to me that kids would run away from. If a Wiccan wants to come in go for it same goes for the Jew, Christian whatever.
 
winston53660 said:
If you want to nit pick it to death fine. It sounds like a cold dry school to me that kids would run away from. If a Wiccan wants to come in go for it same goes for the Jew, Christian whatever.
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its not nit picking its REALITY.
Religion does not belong.
Government has it right.

Its the best solution.
 
winston53660 said:
Misterman I'm sorry but you are wrong. Any religious material should be allowed to be passed out. If a wiccan walks into the school there there should be a means for them to pass it out. Same goes for Atheist the Christian and what not.
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Just saying I'm wrong doesn't make me wrong.

This is not about religious access to schools. It is about the rights of families to control what their children learn about religion.

The courts, who actually consider this stuff carefully, agree with me, as my earlier link shows.
 
nota bene said:
Again, the OP's article said that interested students could pick the Bibles up, not that they were handed out/distributed.
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The distinction is pointless in a school setting. These are children we're talking about, they are not capable of making their own decisions about religion, including whether to pick up a religious text or not. The parents should make that decision.
 
Objective-J said:
says you, it all can still come into play. Maybe some one complains one thing was talked more than the others or left out for distribution longer or the kids seemed MORE encouraged to grab something over another.

This is why the government has it right, no religion in public school.
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THe government has not taken that position.
 
misterman said:
Just saying I'm wrong doesn't make me wrong.

This is not about religious access to schools. It is about the rights of families to control what their children learn about religion.

The courts, who actually consider this stuff carefully, agree with me, as my earlier link shows.
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Access of Religious Groups to Public Property.—Although government may not promote religion through its educational facilities, it may not bar student religious groups from meeting on public school property if it makes those facilities available to non-religious student groups.

Those groups can make information available to others that want it.

Access of Religious Groups to School Property :: First Amendment--Religion and Expression :: US Constitution :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia
 
1Perry said:
Access of Religious Groups to Public Property.—Although government may not promote religion through its educational facilities, it may not bar student religious groups from meeting on public school property if it makes those facilities available to non-religious student groups.
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That's about meetings and stuff like that. Putting out literature is a little different.
 
Objective-J said:
This is why the government has it right, no religion in public school.
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Hmm.

Shall we then have no Bible or Koran in the school library? No books on religion or its impact on society? No mention, in textbooks, of the importance of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, or the importance of monasteries in preserving knowlege after the fall of Rome? No teaching of Greek or Roman mythology/religion, no literature which discusses religion?

Religion is actually not banned in public schools. You can have student-initiated religious activity/groups/teaching, just not staff-lead religious activity.
 
1Perry said:
Access of Religious Groups to Public Property.—Although government may not promote religion through its educational facilities, it may not bar student religious groups from meeting on public school property if it makes those facilities available to non-religious student groups.

Those groups can make information available to others that want it.

Access of Religious Groups to School Property :: First Amendment--Religion and Expression :: US Constitution :: US Codes and Statutes :: US Law :: Justia
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Sounds roughly like what the first amendment says regarding religion.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
 
jamesrage said:
Sounds roughly like what the first amendment says regarding religion.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
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Yes, except in a school setting, those two (establishment and free exercise) can be confused. Students have the right to free exercise. Teachers and administrators working as government employees in an official setting don't get to claim free exercise when it also becomes establishment (a teacher can't read from the bible in class and claim it's free exercise, for instance).

In this case, establishment isn't as clear, but that's still the conflict.
 
tryreading said:
Bibles distributed to public school students?

People who wants their religion promoted in public schools, almost always Christians, should be careful what they hope for. You have to also allow witch's spell books and the Quran to be equally promoted.


Ginger Strivelli, who practices Witchcraft, a form of Paganism, said she was upset when her 12-year-old son [who did not wish to be photographed for this article] came home from North Windy Ridge intermediate school with a Bible.


Pagan Mom Challenges Bible Giveaway At North Carolina School | Fox News
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First off, nobody made the boy pick up the bible and take it home. Maybe he wanted to see what Christianity was about instead of being "birthed" into paganism. I'd like to know if the mom made the boy throw it away.

Secondly, if you're going to allow one religious text to be given away then you have to allow them all to be given away.
 
tryreading said:
Bibles distributed to public school students?

People who wants their religion promoted in public schools, almost always Christians, should be careful what they hope for. You have to also allow witch's spell books and the Quran to be equally promoted.
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No you don't. The Bible is the only one of the three you listed that was actually used in US schools before anti-Christian hysterics got it banned. It's better to say that someone attempted to restore something that once was.
 
DashingAmerican said:
First off, nobody made the boy pick up the bible and take it home.
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Irrelevant.

These are kids we're talking about. They are not entirely responsible for their own actions. It's like saying a school can put out poison and if a 6-year-old eats it, nobody made him do it.
Maybe he wanted to see what Christianity was about
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Irrelevant.

It's not his choice, it's the parents'.

If your kid came home with a Satanic bible, you'd be pissed too, and all these lame excuses you're using wouldn't work any more.
 
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Sunbelt said:
No you don't. The Bible is the only one of the three you listed that was actually used in US schools before anti-Christian hysterics got it banned. It's better to say that someone attempted to restore something that once was.
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Sorry, you can't use the public schools to teach your religion.
 
misterman said:
That's about meetings and stuff like that. Putting out literature is a little different.
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No it isn't. If some group wants to meet and let it be known that their literature will be available for any student that wants it, there is no law against that. There are laws that state once they allow one group to do this they can't stop others.

I do not know off the top of my head what the requirements of notifications of parents about what groups are meeting but law or not I agree they should know.
 
jamesrage said:
Sounds roughly like what the first amendment says regarding religion.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"
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Yes, it's really not a difficult concept.
 
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