Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
"Render unto Caesar . . .
the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s."
Seems like some Christians could stand to re-read their bible:
School brass facing prison time for luncheon prayer
Two Florida school administrators face contempt charges and possible prison time for saying a prayer at a school luncheon.
Frank Lay, principal of Pace High School, and Athletic Director Robert Freeman are accused of violating a consent decree banning employees of Santa Rosa County schools from endorsing religion.
They face a non-jury trial September 17 before U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers. The statute under which they are charged carries a maximum penalty of up to six months in prison, subject to sentencing guidelines.
Of course, the folks at Liberty U, who are backing the accused, say that this is an infringement of their 1st Amendment rights:
"It is a sad day in America when school officials are criminally prosecuted for a prayer over a meal," said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the law school at Liberty University, founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. "It is outrageous and an offense to the First Amendment to punish a school official for a simple prayer."
However (all quotes from the same news report):
Lay is not facing jail time for praying, he said, but for violating a court order.
"The moral of this story is, for us, this is about the students' right to be free from teachers and school administrators thrusting upon the students their religious beliefs," Katon (director of the Religious Freedom Project for the ACLU of Florida) said. "They keep talking about the religious rights of the administrators, but the administrators and the principals don't have any right to trumpet their religious beliefs in a school setting."
Hey, details, details - these poor Christians are just picking and choosing what parts of the Constitution they value. Like they do their bible.
Jim Downey
(HT to ML.)
Bookmark/Search this post with:
Stupid is as stupid does
Under ideal conditions, in America, there are no limitations on what a person may hold to be true. Or hold to be better than true.
The price of such privilege is extending similar accommodation to others.
Some seem to have missed the price part.
Even so, life seems to be quite equitable without supernatural diddling.
While others write books about how to cope with the end of the world and the coming of glory many others simply go about the business of being human.
Soon, we will arise! Bwa-ha-ha-haaaa!
Prison "for" prayer
CNN gets it wrong.
Both the title and the lead sentence, "Two Florida school administrators face contempt charges and possible prison time for saying a prayer at a school luncheon" are misleading.
As it says low in the story, "Lay is not facing jail time for praying [...] but for violating a court order."
The title should be something like "School brass facing prison time for violating court order" and the lead should be "Two Florida school administrators face contempt charges and possible prison time for violating a court-administered consent decree formerly agreed upon by school authorities."
The hopefully-unconscious-but-possibly-deliberately-sensationalistic slant of the story, especially in the current right-wing media atmosphere, makes it seem as if innocent Christians are being threatened with prison for exercising their freedom of religion.