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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (41283)	4/10/2005 11:43:24 AM
From: John Sladek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

Your post fails to point out that the school was in violation of a court order. In June, 2000 the ACLU won victories in two cases: The American Civil Liberties Union, which argued in Santa Fe Independent School District v Doe on behalf of students and their families who were subjected to harassment when they opposed student-led prayers, hailed the decision as a "total victory" for freedom of religion. In a related decision on religion in public schools, the Court also today refused to review a lower court ruling striking down as unconstitutional a Louisiana school board's policy requiring that the teaching of evolution be accompanied by a disclaimer mentioning "the biblical version of creation." "The Court's decision today on stadium prayer rests on the principle that the Constitution does not allow school officials to hold elections to decide whether and when students should pray," said Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director of the ACLU. "Today's ruling should effectively put an end to so-called student-initiated prayer at all school sponsored events, including graduation," he added. aclu.org The decisions are here: supct.law.cornell.edu. Fast forward to 2005 Louisiana School Board Repeatedly Defied Federal Court Order, Charges ACLU April 5, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: media@aclu.org ACLU Files Motion for Criminal Contempt to Protect Religious Liberty, Uphold the Law NEW ORLEANS--The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana today filed a motion for criminal contempt against the Tangipahoa Parish School Board for defying an agreed on court order banning official prayer at athletic events. This marks the second contempt motion filed against the school board within the past two weeks for violating court orders. "The school board and its superintendent cannot get away with a shell game that mocks the judiciary and its role of interpreting and upholding the rule of law," said Joe Cook, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana. "It is time to put out the welcome mat to believers and non-believers alike at all public school functions across the state and the nation. Children and parents whose beliefs are different from the majority must not be made to feel like outsiders in their own schools." On behalf of offended parents with children in the Tangipahoa Parish school district, the ACLU has filed three lawsuits against the school board on religious liberty issues over a ten-year period. The lawsuits include a challenge to the promotion of the biblical faith-based story of creation as opposed to the scientific theory of evolution; the presence of a "pizza preacher" proselytizing via a free lunch; and the latest case on school-sponsored prayer. The school board’s consistent defiance of the law not only dishonors and endangers the Constitution, said the ACLU, but it also sends a message of religious intolerance and polarizes the community. The latest violation came on March 24 when an adult identified as Shane Tycer used the PA system to deliver a prayer before the start of a baseball game between Loranger High School and Sumner High School. The action was in direct violation of a court judgment, which the school board voluntarily signed on August 27, 2004, that strictly prohibited such activity from that point forward. The court order came after a parent of two children in the school district sued the school board in 2003 for engaging in illegal conduct to advance religion by conducting invocations prior to athletic and other sponsored events. aclu.org