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Date Posted: 18:47:28 06/17/03 Tue
Author: Mt. Healthy Mountaineer
Subject: Me too...
In reply to: Bob 's message, "A good Summary -- I'm surprised there was any confusion!" on 16:01:06 06/17/03 Tue

While this policy makes sense to me, the group Americans United for Seperation of Church and State does not like the policy. I tried to include a link that clearly defined their position, but all I could find was random quotes here and there so I will do my best to summarize it:

They seem to be bothered by the parts of the policy that enable students to intitiate prayer and religious activities on their own. The most popular example would be a Valedictorian who decides to include a prayer in his or her speech at graduation. The Dep't of Ed. policy is that this is student generated - not an official part of the program in which the school, as a government entity states that "we are all going to pray now, whether you like it or not" but rather it is a student, taking advantage of a situation that they have earned to speak on whatever topic they want. It would actually be contrary to the student's right to freedom of speech and their right to freely practice their religion to censor their presentation and remove the prayer.

Another good example would be the stereotypical prayer in the locker room before an athletic event. It used to be that a minister would come in to the locker room to lead a prayer. That would be government promoting religion. However, it is different if a student athlete says, "Hey, let's pray." That is student-initiated and it would not be the coach's position to quash their right to pray.

From a cursory reading, it seems Americans United for Seperation of Church and State does not want any mention of religion in any public building no matter what. The Dep't of Ed site mentions a Supreme Court brief in which a jsutice writes that students do not shed their rights when they enter a school. True. You have the right to express yourself politically, religiously, etc. in the proper forum. (If a student refuses to let a class continue on while he or she delivers a sermon on the life of Christ that should be dealt with the same as any classroom disruption)

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