Courtesy of Raw Story:
State lawmakers in South Carolina are pushing for legislation that would mandate prayer sessions in schools.
The bill, H. 3526, would require teachers to lead a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day, during which the teacher would be allowed to deliver a prayer. Students who didn’t not want to participate would be allowed to leave the classroom.
Most of the legislation’s sponsors are Democrats. It was introduced by Reps. Wendell Gilliard (D), Robert Williams (D), Joseph Jefferson (D), Carl Anderson (D), Liston Barfield (R), Bill Clyburn (D), Heather Ammons Crawford (R), Lonnie Hosey (D), Robert Ridgeway III (D), and Don Wells (R).
The bill was introduced in February 2013, but is currently stuck in the House Committee on Judiciary.
Of course the Supreme Court has already ruled on the unconstitutionality of having public school teachers endorse one religion over another, but this apparently does nothing to dissuade this group from pushing their agenda.
The lawmakers said they were willing to compromise on that point.
“The compromise would be to have the students to pray to whomever they want to. If they want to do away with teachers conducting the prayer that would be fine with us. The essential part of the bill, the important part, is putting prayer back in school,” Gilliard told WCIV.
“There would be no noise, no disruption, no anything. But the teacher would conduct it to let the students know we would have one minute for a moment of silence of prayer. That person can pray to whomever they please,” he added.
Of course that does not speak to the nonreligious who would simply sit there in awkward silence while their less evolved classmates asked for supernatural assistance in accomplishing the educational tasks that their atheist or agnostic classmates were accomplishing through hard work and discipline.
Yeah nothing about that seems like it favors one type of belief system over another.
Not at all happy to see this effort being led by Democrats either.
You see THIS is why I always hesitate to align myself with any political party, even when I agree with most of them, most of the time.
This should automatically evict each sponsor of that bill from public service. They obviously don't understand the United States Constitution.and that should disqualify them for holding any office.
ReplyDeleteOh damn. North Carolina is scarier than I previously thought.
ReplyDeleteAnd democrats!? Blue dogs on religious meth it seems.
South Carolina
DeleteWell, what if the teacher is an athiest and refuses to pray to jesus christ or santa for that matter? Do they think they can fire him?
ReplyDeleteYes (or her)
DeleteI'm sick of the religious agenda being pushed down our throats
ReplyDeleteA few quiet moments to "center" on the coming day's activities is probably a good idea with rambunctious kids. It has nothing to do with prayer, though.
ReplyDeleteLet's start a fund - goes to the first SC teacher to lead with a pryer to the Flying Spaghetti Monster:
ReplyDeleteOur pasta, who art in a colander, draining be your noodles. Thy noodle come, Thy sauce be yum, on top some grated Parmesan. Give us this day our garlic bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trample on our lawns. And lead us not into vegetarianism, but deliver us some pizza, for thine is the meatball, the noodle, and the sauce, forever and ever. RAmen. from FSM site.
Only $30 to become a minister in the Church of the FSM. You could hang a framed certificate of ordination right next to your bachelor's degree and your teaching credential.
DeleteIt's what *I'd* do if I were required to adhere to such an asinine and illegal law.
This should be fun to watch. I lived in Upstate SC during the 1980's then outside Charlotte during 2004-2010. The question someone ask you when you meet them is, "What church you go to?" That is how you are defined.
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you, each church is different. If you go to Assembly of God, you do not make close friends with a Southern Baptist. The in fighting will make this law unworkable. Are you saved by grace or works? Is there a trinity? They are really opening a can of worms they will regret.
Mel68
Meh, if you've raised your children right then they should not be threatened by religion and this would then open the door for dialogue between those who stay and pray and those who are allowed to leave the room. At least is would make it easy to figure out who to invite to dinner at your house and who to avoid like the plague :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen my kids were little, they were in a day-care center. At some point, I came by mid-day and found them praying! I pointed out that none of their advertising, nor anything in their literature suggested that this was a Christian school. They were pretty astonished that anyone would object, but said they would come up with a solution. This turned out to be to send my child to the principal's office whenever they prayed. Obviously, this was problematic because kids only went to the principal's office when they were in trouble, and my child wondered why she was being punished every day. I then had to point out that unless they were willing to forgo the national school lunch program participation, they had to stop religious training. What was so disturbing was that they truly did not understand why it was wrong to impose their religious beliefs on the children in their care without regard to the parent's preferences. Their attorneys told them they had to stop or loose funding, so they did, but I was concerned that they would take it out on my child, so I withdrew her.
ReplyDeleteCould I then pay my $30 to get ordained in the Church of the FSM and then lead prayers for beer, pasta and pirates?
ReplyDeleteRamen!
"The bill, H. 3526, would require teachers to lead a moment of silence at the beginning of each school day, during which the teacher would be allowed to deliver a prayer. "
ReplyDelete"But the teacher would conduct it to let the students know we would have one minute for a moment of silence of prayer. "
WHOA, NELLIE. These two sentences are inconsistent. A teacher saying a prayer aloud is NOT a moment of silence. It is state imposed religion of the most uncontrolled kind. The teacher can say any idiot thing s/he wants. Quotations from the Quoran would be absolutely peachy with this law. Do the legislators really want their little darlings listening to the Quoran every morning?
In other words, are the legislators clueless morons incapable of discerning the simplest consequences of their proposed legislation. You betcha.
For what it's worth, the D's are black, and the R's are white. Two of these House members live in my town (one D, one R), but I haven't heard peep about this bill. Thanks for publicizing the story. http://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=3526&session=120&summary=B&headerfooter=1
ReplyDeleteI didn't send my kids to school to stand up for a moment of silence everyday for the god of their choice. Allowing kids to leave will open them to ridicule from the believers, if they're in school, they're there to learn, not worship, regardless of political party nor any perceived belief or non belief on their part.
ReplyDeleteI don't go to the library to get a massage and I don't go to a masseuse to take out a book. What's wrong with these people?