Comments on: House moves forward on prayer in schools

By: David reid

David reid — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:05:21 +0000

If free speech is aloud in school even stuff that dont have no reason to be in schools as wrong as it maybe be then kids should have the same right to rip on how stupid religion is talking bush anyone? Or better yet why does god kill babies?

By: Slateguest24

Slateguest24 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:39:13 +0000

“The Declaration of Independence refers to God four times”? Well, the Constitution–the supreme law of the land–doesn’t refer to God at all.

I can’t wait to hear non-Christian students start school days with prayer: Wiccans, Muslims, Buddhists, Scientologists. Then maybe Rep. John Bennett will finally see the value of church-state separation. It protects everyone from unnecessary religious proselytizing. Keep prayer in the church/synagogue/mosque.

By: Garett

Garett — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:55:30 +0000

@Anonymous on February 20, 2013 @ 4:17 pm – A wise man once said: “The beautiful thing about science is that it works whether you believe in it or not.”

logger said – “If people want a church, they can find one. What they can’t find are jobs or a trace of the prosperity that vanished about fifty years ago.” @Anonymous – See that? That’s called simple, straightforward logic. You want free expression of religion? You want public assembly to express the beliefs of you and your ilk? You already have it, go have fun doing so in those tax-exempt, designated locations.

There are enough unnecessary distraction going on for kids in school that keeps them from concentrating on the fundamentals of what’s important, the reason they are in school. They do not need daily theological influence added on to that.

I’m especially amused at the addled use of quotations for “scientific theories”.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:46:21 +0000

John Bennett is mistaken in stating that the Declaration of Independence refers to God four times. It refers to “Natures God”, “their Creator”, “Supreme Judge of the World”, and “divine Providence”. While all of these titles can be applied to the Christian God, they can also all be applied to several other deities from other religions. I’m sorry Rep. John Bennett, but you are a narrow minded idiot. By defining it strictly according to your viewpoint of the Christian god, you are stating that the only religion recognized is the Christian faith. While I do not think a student should be penalized for speaking about god and their religion to their fellow students when they are not in class (ie lunch time maybe or between class discussions, after or before school starts) I do not believe that religion should be involved in addresses to the school body itself. There is a difference between a private conversation and a lecture. What Rep John Bennett is talking about is giving room for religious lectures pure and simple. And that is NOT a separation of church and state.

By: donna

donna — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:02:51 +0000

School children are a captive audience and should not be required or forced to listen to private opinions on religion. They are at school to get an education not to be indoctrinated. Religion has no place in government sponsored functions or the public square and in my opinion belong only with the individual in their churches or private homes.

By: TJ

TJ — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:57:46 +0000

This bill does nothing but allow the overwhelming majority to silence the minority through numbers. Additionally, there is a tacit implication that the school approves the messages that are presented to students in school assemblies since the students are forced to attend them. Unless students are given the option to opt out of those assemblies then this will be nothing more than an invasion of the school system to make converts of children. Religion should be kept private.

“The legislation would give student volunteers organizing the assembly the authority to determine the content of a message and who will deliver it.”

By this measure, the child of a Pastor could organize an assembly and then decide that their father or other outside speaker is who they want to speak. This opens doors for direct proselytization in schools.

I have no issue with an anthropological class called “World Religions” as an elective for high-school students. But this legislation would further harm the already tenuous nature of children’s school life. School should be a place for facts. Not political or religious crusades. Keep religion in the churches where it belongs.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:48:24 +0000

The Declaration of Independence is not a legal document of the United States of America.
How many times was any ‘god’ mentioned in the Constitution???
ZERO. Did the our Founding Fathers simple forget to mention a ‘god’ ?? Hmmmmm
You can also look up the Treaty of Tripoli from 1797 where Article 11 clearly states: “As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;….”
So if you allow ONE ‘god’ in… you have to allow them ALL. That means a Satanist has to be given equal time, etc…
Keep this mythical crap out of our schools.

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:45:46 +0000

Uh, separating church and state is also in the Constitution… Also, the Declaration of Independence refers to Nature’s god, which Thomas Jefferson preferred over the Abrahamic god. Thomas Jefferson was a deist, not a Christian. What an uneducated fool leading poor children astray from their education.

By: Wade

Wade — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:45:08 +0000

In VA. Falwell got a policy of not sending religious fliers via the child’s “backpack mail” changed in order to send home fliers to parents about upcoming church events. A group of Pagans took advantage of this (as was their right according to the new policy). When Christian parents saw these fliers, they were outraged. How dare the school try to poison the mind of children with this filth!!! Christian parents tried to get the vile Pagan fliers stopped. One mother even said (paraphrasing) that this was the exact reason we need to bring religion to school. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the definition of hypocrisy.

A belief in a god has no place in an institution of knowledge. Faith is not knowledge, it’s arrogance parading as humility. Faith is the pathway to ignorance. Besides, kids can pray in school now, they have that freedom of speech. What they cannot do is have the school organize or sanction a religious ceremony. This would violate the very FIRST part of the FIRST sentence in the FIRST Amendment, which reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”. Stop trying to bully your ignorant beliefs on people who want to gain knowledge!

By: Adjel

Adjel — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:05:51 +0000

Everything in this country has gotten worse since the Baiji River Dolphin went extinct in 2006. If they hadn’t gone extinct, then we wouldn’t have stupid atheists and gays trying to get equal rights, and we’d have prayer and the Christian god still being pushed onto all our youth, regardless of their belief, like it well should be. And do you know that the school shootings began to increased just about the same time as the artificial heart was successfully used in the 1980′s?? And don’t get me started on all the stuff that went wrong when the dodo went extinct! Just look how the crime rate has gone up since then! Cause and effect! If they had had prayer in schools all that time, all this stuff wouldn’t have happened! Oh, wait…