thebeave

Check this out:

No Prayer - No Money

I wonder who's behind this? Can you imagine depriving children of an education simply because their school doesn't comply with the "freedom to pray in school" requirement? Are we getting closer and closer to a theocracy government or what?

SLD

No. It's just a stupid law that holds that all schools submit paperwork indicating that they are in fact complying with the Constitution of the U.S.

What a useless law; just a bureaucratic paperwork hassle that has no real impact on our education (other than to drain time spent on real teaching); Congress passed it to show the public all the good things they are doing. You'd think they'd try to balance the budget or something.



SLD

dangin

We really need more wiccan prayer groups in schools. And pagan ritual groups over the lunch hour. American christians need to remember the double edged sword of equal access.

Seeker630

I've read the Federal regulations and guidelines that cover this stuff, and there's nothing ambiguous about them. They date back to 1991 or 1992. This must be just more BS, but I don't think such proof of compliance has ever been required by the feds before by local school districts.

I wonder if the gov't is going to require the same standard of constitutional compliance on the matter of not using tax money for religious purposes in the faith based shit going around now.

Yeah right--------I'm back on the planet now

Jewel

First of all, why would there need to be a law telling schools that they must follow the Constitution?? Second, singaling out prayer sounds fishy to me. Just what secular purpose does this law serve?


Sounds to me like they are trying to make a law in respect to religion and dressing it up to sound constitutional. I wonder if it would hold up in court if challanged.

Stephen Maturin

The reporting requirement is part of that deceptively titled federal abomination know as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Anyone who's interested can check out the U.S. Department of Education's statements on the reporting requirement and its guide to constitutionally protected school prayer here. I wouldn't recommend reading anything else on the Department's website, though. The stuff that falls from Rod Paige's piehole is downright depressing.

Godless Dave

It's the classic Christian gambit: make up a fake enemy (in this case all those godless school teachers and administrators who are preventing children from praying. Examples? Well I'm just sure it happens everywhere. Don't you watch the 700 Club? It's happening all the time. Wait, here's one example, from 5 years ago, and the kid's parents sued and won with help from the ACLU. See, I knew Jerry Falwell wouldn't lie to me!), then come up with a meaningless solution to your fake problem.

Captn Kidd

Perhaps the bit about "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

All they're doing is requiring the school districts to certify that they have no policies in place that violate the first ammendment. I think that's a good thing.

tribalbeeyatch

You really think this is a good idea? I don't see that it actually accomplishes anything.

Jewel

I'm not buying it. I just don't see the point in a law that says you have to follow the law. Plus they are singling out prayer. Are they also going to take away funding if a students right to privacy is taken away? Or what about other forms of speech that are not (xtain) prayer? Somehow I doubt it.

edited to add:
I agree with what Godless Dave said.