Jessica Ahlquist Has Won Her Lawsuit!

If that would say School Moto do ya think this would be such a big issue?

Great job Jessica! Way to stick with what you know is right, even in the face of peer pressure!

Just contributed to Jessica’s college fund.  We need more clear-thinking young people like her.

Incidentally, when it’s worded like that, clearly Jessica is holding up her end of the bargain 🙂

You made my WEEK!

Donated! 

I may have intentionally left those out as well 😀

Well done, Jessica. Thanks for persevering in the face of ignorance and intolerance to do the right thing. It is just possible that those who have opposed and ridiculed you may learn something useful from this.

Here’s my contribution to continuing the education of a bright young secularist. 🙂 (Apparently, it went to Hemant, so let’s hope he puts it in the right place!)

In bad news, SCOTUS just gave religious organizations a carte blanche to do whatever the fuck they want and ignore any and all laws, so as long as they can make up some vague reason why an employee of theirs needs to be called “minister”:

http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/01/opinion-recap-a-solid-ministerial-exception

It is nothing wrong with the banner

Jessica has a promising future ahead of her. Very brave young woman and I think shes proven that she is a force to be reckoned with ;]

While I like yours its almost like you’re asking permission from someone, perhaps something like this?

Our Scholarly Promise:

Each day we promise to do our best.
To grow mentally and morally as well as physically.
To be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers.
To be honest with ourselves as well as with others.
To be good sports and smile when we lose, as well as when we win.
To learn the value of true friendship.
To conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West.

I was gonna stick a “So Say We All” at the end, just because Edward James Olmos is cool, but it doesn’t really seem fitting to exchange one religious ending with another.

Still, I’m thinking, that as a gesture of good will one of the organizations that helped Jessica with all this should print up a new secular banner so they can replace the one in the school and start a new tradition.

Prejudice against the South, or a realization that the South is often more deeply and negatively religious? What are you referencing? 

Except being clearly unConstitutional.
Why do you hate the Constitution? Why do you hate America? Are you a terrorist? A Communist?

Really very excellent news. I read some of the comments on other articles, from supposed Christians saying that Jessica should just give up all her money because God’s name is on it and other such illogical, nonsecular nonsense. Well, here, try this on for size. At http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/classic/classics/The-Brag.html is a document known as the Church of the Subgenius’ Brag of the Subgenius, a document meant to inspire terror in every pink soul that I see in this forum, hating against the proper Constitutional decision made in this case. May you all burn in Pink hell when the Alien Sex Goddesses arrive in their Pleasure Saucers come X Day at 7 a.m. on July 5, 1998. Oh, you say it’s 2012? Well, the saucers haven’t come, so the calendars must have been messed about by the Conspiracy of Normal People, those food tubes, somnambulacs, the things in the way at the grocery store, so we’re still awaiting 1998 to get here. So, what I’d like to see is The Brag of the Subgenius hung on every auditorium wall, since it seems to be the only decent, industrial, post modern church, one that ACTUALLY PAYS ITS TAXES, and one that has earned my respect!! Praise J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, and fry in hell, you Pinks. And damn it, put my Brag on every school auditorium wall. It’s the only DECENT thing to do.

Get the idea now?

why is it anticonstitutional to pray? If you want to pray, pray… and if you don’t want to, don’t do it..
I’m not familiar with her story, did the school oblige her to pray?
I believe everyone should do what they want as long as they don’t hurt others in any way….
She seems a strong woman, but,  was it really neccesary what she did or it’s just a case of teenage rebelion, which I’m totally  OK with, we all have been teenagers some more rebels than others…thou..

It’s not unconstitutional for individuals to pray. Stop falling for the Christian lies. What’s not allowed is the school or teachers officially endorsing religion. Which is what happens when teachers lead students in prayers, introduce religious content into the classroom or when the school displays stuff like this

You might want to become familiar with the story before sharing your ignorance with the rest of us.

Congratulations, Jessica, and thank you for standing up about this issue.

This isn’t just about the banner. It’s about religion in schools in general. Your idea would basically allow Christians to take over public schools as long as they give some crumbs to other people every now and then. You just need to look at prayers (or as they call it “invocations”) before political meetings or Christianity in the military to see why that doesn’t work

Most adults don’t have those traits, much less a 16-year-old.

Um, she is an adult?  Perhaps you mean “legally recognized adult” or “older person”? Neither of which matter to this article.

Nope.

1) It explicitly only covers the employment status of “ministers”.  Violations of law aside from hiring/firing (abuse, hostile work environment, etc) are not covered.

The case before us is an employment discrimination suit brought on behalf of a minister, challenging her church’s decision to fire her. Today we hold only that the ministerial exception bars such a suit. We express no view on whether the exception bars other types of suits, including actions by employees alleging breach of contract or tortious conduct by their religious employers.

2) There is no evidence that the status of “minister” is easily abusable.  The person in question became a commissioned minister, underwent ministerial training, and considered herself a minister and some of her duties ministerial duties.  The majority opinion makes no clear stand on the definition of minister, but even the extremely broad definition in Thomas’ concurrence does not allow insincere or pretextual definitions of minister.

Further, while this is the first application of the ministerial exception to employment discrimination, the exception itself has been around for years.  There is no evidence of churches randomly assigning the title “minister” to get itself out of trouble.

Lookie! This site has a poll…
http://bit.ly/wqYkP8

Jessica,

Way to go kid!!! Way to go!

Never give up the fight!

Well done Jessica Ahlquist – not only standing up in the situation, but doing so in a way that makes you a public face of a fight like this takes a lot of courage.Also, wow – reading the decision, another situation where a bunch of townspeople make the sectarian religious effect of the banner clear, whatever the “historical artifact” defense the school board tried to put up.

For starters, the religious connotations that have built up around the word. “Amen” is used almost exclusively in religious settings, and occasionally used in a snarky manner elsewhere.

So, yeah, “Amen” still presents a problem.

Troll.

Not really – my point is that her age really doesn’t matter here and calling a 16 year old “not an adult” only serves to increase the Bigotry that youth already face.

Hate to break it to you, but a 16 year old IS STILL A CHILD. The brain doesn’t fully mature until ~25 years of age, either.

So, no, this ain’t “bigotry”.

Bigotry is when you’re beat up or killed for being different. Bigotry is when you’re fired (or not hired) because you’re black, brown, atheist, or female. Bigotry is when you can’t marry the love of your life because “The Rules” say you can only marry someone of the opposite sex.

You, on the other hand, are expressing nothing more than White Whine.

that’s your interpretation…  not everybodies…in spanish amen means love…

No, it doesn’t. You’re thinking Amor.

Nope, amor means love in Spanish.

she is just a rebelious teenager, which is pretty normal….

“Amen” in Spanish is a third-person verb meaning “they love” or in some cases “you (plural-formal) love”. Regardless, Choqueras was simply pointing out that despite current religious connotations with the word “amen”, it’s not exclusively used in a religious sense, and that “common connotation” is not a valid legal argument that the plaintiff and ACLU used.

So what if a prayer banner was on display? If you like it, pray it. If you don’t, ignore it. Why have it removed? I don’t support her. She expects them to be tolerant whilst she is not.

Why are you so quick to judge and so intolerant? Does the Constitution prohibit a belief in faith?

Uh, no. The school is a government funded building, it’s public. You probably wouldn’t be singing the same tune if they banner was invoking the one God, Allah, or maybe Zeus. It makes people of other faiths (or lack thereof) feel excluded, and it makes the government seem like it’s endorsing a specific religion.

What part of “Congress shall make no law” are you having problems with? 

Don’t pray in my school, and I won’t think in your church.

This girl is an inspiration to me.  Braver at 16 than I am in my middle ages.  I support her wholeheartedly – and yes, contribution forthcoming and well deserved.  Bravo!

Plaintiff is clearly an articulate and courageous young
woman, who took a brave stand, particularly in light of the
hostile response she has received from her community.

“You, on the other hand, are expressing nothing more than White Whine.”

I find it funny that on a blog dedicated to reason we still have people making ad hominem arguments

This is like going to court over the last french fry in a bag…

T-man “When in fact it’s not about religion”
The banner starts: Our Heavenly Father
yup, its about religion.

Because it’s somehow an ad-hom to point out that what you’re complaining about (“discrimination” against children) just doesn’t EXIST.

All this time and energy wasted when she could have been out perfecting her hand-job and blowie technique…..

Regardless of what you think it means in spanish, or arabic, or any other language- the fact of the matter is that here it’s only ever used in a purely christian context to end a prayer of a specific religion- and that’s exactly what it’s being used for here. Better to make these words acceptable by all people and not just the religious majority of an area. To them, it simply says, “here we do this, you don’t have a choice in the matter.”

There’s nothing rude about being told you’re ignorant about something when it’s true.

This girl bothers me greatly, she says she prayed to God for her mother and he didn’t do what she said. This obviously shows how religious and uncommitted she is to Christianity. If her family was really Christian and just weren’t trying to blend in with the other families they would know that not every prayer is answered, if you pray to get a job, it does not mean you will get that job, even if you do, you earned, God just did not give it to you because you prayed. She refers to her other family members as being the only ones like her when she was younger and left out her mother. What I see here is a mother of a family who just moved to a place and wanted to fit in and be accepted so they pretended that they were Christian. Then once the health of her mother declined the other members of the family forgot about this ethic and did not care if they fit in or not. This girls seems like one of those people who wants attention, and she obviously does. She is claiming it is unconstitutional to have a religious prayer in a school, that does not make sense. Yes I understand it is a school and there is a time and place for everything, but I disagree with the ideology of why it does not belong there, that is such a stupid statement. Everyone has their own right to their own beliefs, Catholics believe in praying so therefore they should be allowed to post prayers for all to see( Freedom of Religion). Let’s say you see the ‘Our Father’ on a sign on the side of a building, are you going to sue them to and file complaints because it’s not what you believe in and you want everyone else to conform to your beliefs. It is not like the school said you have to memorize this prayer or else you fail, its just out there to show their beliefs and what they support. 

So what if she is a Christian? She still recognises that the state is secular and she knows what is right and what is wrong, no matter her religious convictions. I fail to see how her personal religious views somehow debase the fact that she is doing something like this.

It promotes freedom of religion. The banner only represents the Christian religion whereas no banner can open it up for all religions (or lack of).

This girl bothers me greatly, she says she prayed to God for her mother and he didn’t do what she said. This obviously shows how religious and uncommitted she is to Christianity. If her family was really Christian and just weren’t trying to blend in with the other families they would know that not every prayer is answered, if you pray to get a job, it does not mean you will get that job, even if you do, you earned, God just did not give it to you because you prayed. She refers to her other family members as being the only ones like her when she was younger and left out her mother. What I see here is a mother of a family who just moved to a place and wanted to fit in and be accepted so they pretended that they were Christian. Then once the health of her mother declined the other members of the family forgot about this ethic and did not care if they fit in or not. This girls seems like one of those people who wants attention, and she obviously does. She is claiming it is unconstitutional to have a religious prayer in a school, that does not make sense. Yes I understand it is a school and there is a time and place for everything, but I disagree with the ideology of why it does not belong there, that is such a stupid statement. Everyone has their own right to their own beliefs, Catholics believe in praying so therefore they should be allowed to post prayers for all to see( Freedom of Religion). Let’s say you see the ‘Our Father’ on a sign on the side of a building, are you going to sue them to and file complaints because it’s not what you believe in and you want everyone else to conform to your beliefs. It is not like the school said you have to memorize this prayer or else you fail, its just out there to show their beliefs and what they support. 

The point is she is not Christian and never was, she pretended to be one and thought she knew how the religion worked, she did not, so she just gave up whatever beliefs she had and then preceded to take down and forms of Christianity to get revenge for her prayers not being answered.

I’m agnostic and personally don’t mind organized religious symbols so long as they’re not weaponized (Pastor ‘Burn a Quoran’ Jones and the Westboro ‘God Hates Fags’ church for example), but a public school isn’t the place for them outside of a class studying theology and religion.

Don’t get mad when I put up islamic prayer banners in your kids’ school then.

Don’t get hypersensitive when I place Islamic prayer banners in your kids’ school then bro. Show some tolerance.

only if replaced by a sign that says “There is no god”

Secular and atheist aren’t the same thing. Taking it down promotes secularism.

It most certainly does prohibit government funded public schools from exhibiting a belief in faith. 

Hemant, please consider running a separate article just about the scholarship fund, with the donation box included, so we can post it separately on Reddit and it will come up there under a title like “Hemant Mehta raising scholarship donations for Jessica Ahlquist”. There are a lot of readers there and it might help improve donations.

Just because you don’t understand the constitution doesn’t mean that it should be ignored.

What exactly does this have to do with whether or not the sign posted in the school was constitutional?

Yeah, you’re absolutely right. The school should have been allowed to continue violating the constitution and religious freedom. Right.

Well done Jessica!

As evidenced by the arguments of your detractors here and everywhere, God does always answer one prayer of the atheist: 

“O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous!”
–Voltaire

I much prefer rudeness over ignorance.

Try being Christian and ‘tolerant’ in a village full of people who believe the total opposite of you, who prove their way is better by being violently opposed to you, and who continuously tell you how intolerant you are of their fantasy friend.   Militant Christianity is not Christ-like and that is a public school paid for by Muslim tax money, Buddhist tax money, Jewish tax money and Christian tax money, as well as atheist’s tax money and agnostic’s tax money.  The secular version of the ‘prayer’ is just as effective, if the intent was to teach. What the original teaches is an underlying intolerance to nonbelievers; that is what all religions teach and why I oppose them.  (That and their believers usually stop learning at the end of reading a few passages out of a bible…). 

Good for her. And It’s about time a clear message was sent out that you can’t hide behind “tradition”. Tradition has never been a viable excuse to do wrong.

Exactly

She’s quippy. I like her.

The thing about fiction is, it’s not real.  I mean it could be. Maybe the Ark is in some crate in a warehouse.  Or maybe people can drop goats by staring at them.

No, it merely promotes the proper separation of religion from government. When they mix, they corrupt each other, and everyone’s freedom is threatened. That banner was an illegal co-opting of a government agency to promote religion. 

The banner should never have been put up in the first place. If I remember correctly , it was put up in the early 1960’s after SCOTUS ruled that such things in public schools were unconstitutional. So they knew they were breaking the law.

ok, rich person, time to study our Constitution again: “Congress shall make no law…” The prohibition is on government (Congress) legislating, not on schools, cities, states, or anyone else, only CONGRESS. We have allowed courts to turn the founders anti-tyranny efforts into the exact opposite. Thus, one misguided student and a runaway judiciary can overturn centuries of free expression. When the banner is gone, the bigotry will be hanging in its place, and liberty will have died a little more. You’ve been duped by progressive hatred. Study up.

I don’t see an accent on amen in that banner…:)

I’m from Spain, amen, means love, it’s :
verbo Amar, Modo Imperativo o Subjuntivo: Ellos amen
Learn your spanish grammar well…
but amén menas let it be…
anyway, you are not getting it, it’s just absurd this whole deal about a banner in a wall….with other stuff around it….just hang out something else next to it…

“it’s only ever used in a purely christian context to end a prayer of a specific religion-“????
that’s quite a statement! a wrong one if I may say… in spanish countris we use the word amen a lot, but coming from an american who think the whole world revolves around them, I understand….

Maybe because the banner is in English?  And the word is the one used to end prayers?  No matter how much it may sound like a form of the verb ‘to love’ in Spanish, it’s not.  Bringing Spanish into this is like bringing the sound of dogs into a discussion of trees.

How full of yourself do you have to be to have made it a prayer in the first place?

What’s wrong with it? It’s illegal.

Actually, in afterthought, it’s extremely relevant, and bolsters the plaintiff’s case.  “Under God” and “In God We Trust” have been ruled constitutional.  So there are some religious phrases that pass the Lemon test.  However the fact that everyone kept bringing Christianity into the discussion helped show that the mural did notserve a clearly secular purpose.  When people see it, they, like Richard Shapiro, think “Christ”.

You are deleting comments you don’t like? so much for freedom of speach!

Choqueras, what has been deleted? If something you wrote disappeared, I’m certain it was some screw-up of the Discus software, and not a deliberate deletion by Hemant, who is the only person who could do it. That is not how he operates. He has great integrity.  This kind of glitch happens once in a while. If a comment of yours was lost, please try again.  I usually copy my comments before I submit them just in case they disappear.

Read the first amendment, farski, it prohibits ONLY federal legislators (Congress), “Congress shall make no law…” Period. Public institutions, private institutions, NOBODY but Congress is prohibited promoting or preventing religious practice. Our founders were anti-tyranny by government; they were NOT anti-religion by believers. Got It?

Someone needs to study their Constitutional law.  Past precedent has interpreted the First Amendment to be much more than just “Congress shall make no law.”  It extends to the government ENDORSING one religion, or any religion, over another.  A public school is a part of government.  This has been the interpretation of the First Amendment for at least the past sixty years.
You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. 

In this case, it WAS used in the religious sense, as evidenced by the use of “Heavenly Father”. It was clearly a prayer to the God of Abraham, and had no place in a secular public school.

???????????????to do what???????????

Oh Goody, Goody!  Jessica got her 15 minutes of fame.  The Indian turd helped.  Goody.

Um… ageism definitely does exist, and in fact, your post is proof of it!   Good job?

So, Jessy did this for money did she?   

How calculating and……….predictable.

Save the scholarship money for a nose job you toucan.

Anything that is funded by the government is funded through laws. So anything that is funded by the government can not respect an establishment of religion. This includes public land. 

Wow, I suppose it’s also “discrimination” to have, say, a person who is developmentally delayed (like, stuck at the mental age of about five) under the care and supervision of another adult, and have that adult making decisions for her… right? Oh, wait, no, that’s “discrimination”. Guess we should just allow her to end up on the streets, abused, raped, and at a high risk of being murdered, because it’s “discrimination” to keep her safe.

Because according to you, making a decision for a child — i.e. taking the child in for vaccines, or consenting to surgery for the child, or telling the child to eat what is served, or choosing the child’s outfit, or enforcing bedtime — is “bigotry”. We don’t let children marry or sign contracts — is that “bigotry”?

Can you cite me even ONE relevant example of this so-called “ageism” that’s just sooooo rampant?

Waiting…

Anything that is funded by the government is funded through laws. So anything that is funded by the government can not respect an establishment of religion. This includes anything that happens on public land.Perhaps you should read the Constitution yourself, as well as the Federalist Papers, the Treaty of Tripoli, and the Case Law of the US with regards to the Establishment Clause.

You know I love a lot of what you have to say, but when it comes to kids, I’m just glad you’re not planning on having any of your own.

I’m from England and I don’t see what the problem is. It seems stupid for her to have laboured over this just to get one thing taken down. She should have pushed to get something put up to represent her and the people that believe the same as her.

Flagged.

Well, actually I like this banner 🙂   A pragmatic fix could be to remove the first two and the last line, that should make it appropriately secular without removing the actual (not particularly religious) substance.

But that’s just my opinion ymmv 😉

The school district cannot allow use of school buildings to advertise for religions “their beliefs and what they support”.  Advertising religious beliefs is properly done by the religions themselves with their own money on their own buildings, and no one is attempting to stop that.

There is indeed an absolute right to freedom of religion, but there is absolutely no right to have the government fund any aspect of religion, promote being religious as a good idea generally, or give any religion or group of religions an advantage over another group.

Yeah, I guess we should just allow anyone to violate the US constitution whenever they feel like it. I mean that wouldn’t be setting a dangerous precedent at all.

Yes, I’m sure that she started this knowing that someone on the internet in Chicago would start a scholarship fund for her. You pathetic troll.

it’s not that she is being intolerant.  why don’t you guys see that?  its ILLEGAL.  besides, why should she have to ignore something that is bothering her?
she wasn’t saying she’s doing this for an atheist stance or whatever, she didn’t say “i hate god”  hell, she did everything exactly right.

if some girl got refused the chance to put up some kind of prayer in her school, with OBVIOUS religious phrases, she would be touted as a hero for trying to follow her beliefs and blah blah blah tebow blah blah blah, and the courts would be seen as “big evil monster attacking cute girls beliefs”.  she’d get a movie deal and be on the fast track to a presidential campaign…

good for jessica, i can only imagine the hate sent her way because of this.  98% of it from christians i’m sure.  She stood up for what she felt was right, regardless of the odds against her.

Dear heavenly father, 

stay out of school and in your church where you belong.

America

I wonder if they will be good sports and smile even though they lost…

how many christian scholarships are there… too many.  This is being done out of the greatness of peoples hearts.  Not by a corporation known as religion.

http://www.zazzle.co.uk/religion_is_pointless_tshirt-235785176799336976

No, you don’t get it. It’s the promotion of ANY religion. Not christianity, not islam, not judaism…not any religion.

Congratulations Jessica for standing up for what is right.  Those who were against you sought to retain their religious privilege and failed to appreciate the basic principle that public schools should represent all students equally.  

You really are a nasty piece of work.  Nothing constructive to say, so you resort to a personal insult.  Are you a troll or just a mean-spirited person?

“Telling Christians that they cant share their religion publicly is just as bad as when Christians say things about us being atheist.”

hmmm i wonder what christians feel about their book telling them not to share their religion publicly

oooo yesss
wctube

Pshaw. She’s going to go to Dartmouth. Keep your muddy, tribalistic loyalties out of this discussion, Figdor.

 I’m pretty sure that was the point the poster was making, most likely in regards to one of the Christian posters.

You’re being disingenuous, Choqueras. And consciously ignoring a very important part of the word.

If you translate “Amen” into Spanish, you have “Amén”, notice the tilde. And it means exactly the same: “let it be”.

The word you’re translating as a verbal form of Amar (love) is “Amen”, without tilde… it’s a different word. “Ellos amen — May they love”.

Why are you playing this word game at all, I have no idea, but don’t try to fool people.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for
they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners
to be seen by others …
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your
Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in
secret, will reward you.”Matthew 5You’re one of the hypocrites Jesus was talking about. 🙂

Not in my part of Spain I assure… perhaps in a very ultra conservative part of South America. And as they have already said Amén is different form Amen and in English amén would be amen and amen would be love.

Why so people get so upset over a simple banner? All it promotes is everyone doing their best. Who cares that it is written as a prayer? I work with A Muslim girl who brings her prayer book with her and leaves it in the drawer where I have to see it, i have Christian faith, but seeing a religious book or statement doesn’t bother me if its different than what I believe. If u don’t believe it, than your belief system shouldn’t be threatened by a simple banner that is there obviously because enough people at that school do believe in god. Get over yourself, your ego, and just ignore it. People in this world are fighting to change the wrong things.

Apparently YOU don’t get it. Read the many responses to your ignorant and narrow-minded view of the Constitution.

Plus, I really don’t see the difference between the Ten Commandments and a banner that clearly says “school prayer”. Why is one OK to fight again, but not the other? Why is one offensive but not the other? They are both religious documents (one straight out of the bible, another written in the same spirit) that do not belong on public (i.e. taxpayer-funded and owned) property, in a public school no less.

– People get upset because they like separation of church and state.

– It officially promotes religion in a public school.

– Individuals and public institutions are not the same. People are welcome to pray to whoever they want. Public institutions can’t promote religion because they’re part of the state, and the state has to be open to all religions or lack thereof.

– Nobody is feeling threatened by the sign. That’s not why she did it. She did it because she thought promoting religion in a public school is not right. Incidentally, the writers of the Constitution happen to agree with her.

– Ego has nothing to do with it, either.

– Ignoring it is not a good strategy to honor the Constitution and get rid of the sign.

– You’ve failed to argue why official endorsement of religion by public schools is a wrong thing to change.

The 14th amendment is generally considered (by which I mean the supreme court has consistently ruled) that the 14th amendment applies the bill of rights to the states.  Pluswhich, Rhode Island has its own constitution that also explicitly separates church and state:
(From section I)
”
Section 3.
Freedom of religion. — Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free;
and all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or
by civil incapacitations, tend to beget habits of hypocrisy and
meanness; and whereas a principal object of our venerable ancestors, in
their migration to this country and their settlement of this state, was,
as they expressed it, to hold forth a lively experiment that a
flourishing civil state may stand and be best maintained with full
liberty in religious concernments; we, therefore, declare that no person
shall be compelled to frequent or to support any religious worship,
place, or ministry whatever, except in fulfillment of such person’s
voluntary contract; nor enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in
body or goods; nor disqualified from holding any office; nor otherwise
suffer on account of such person’s religious belief; and that every
person shall be free to worship God according to the dictates of such
person’s conscience, and to profess and by argument to maintain such
person’s opinion in matters of religion; and that the same shall in no
wise diminish, enlarge, or affect the civil capacity of any person.”
 

But he wasn’t praying; he was prayering.

Ok! i will stop here because obviously atheists, except Tim Minchin, do not have  a sense of humour, from being a slighty humours remark ( if you read my firts 2 posts) it has turn in a very serious discussion, never mind…

Hi Jose. re:”Why are you playing this word game at all, I have no idea…”
Maybe I’ve been listening to Tim Minchin too much… sorry I just love him…I’m addicted…sorry  🙂

Why do you use the term rebellion? Her parents — who did not raise her Christian, from what I understand — supported her in the lawsuit, which makes this sound like almost the opposite of rebellion. Is it just to minimize her actions because she’s a teenager?

Dartmouth? Please, she wants an education, not beer pong lessons.

xD

Oh and how fitting, wanting to start a college fund for this kid, who again wasn’t even offended by the banner and again didn’t even notice it for an entire year. Pretty fitting you want to give the kid a ride through a crucial part of her life instead of having her work for it, goes well with throwing a tantrum until you get your way. Well done. What ignorance or intolerance was in play here? The KID DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE THIS THING FOR A FULL YEAR. 360 days. Remove “heavenly father” and “amen”. Boom. It goes back to no one caring about it, just the way it had been for 40 years. Atheists – we don’t want to believe in God, please stop making me (even though no one is making you) do so, instead follow whatever I believe in because that’s alright. Shove THAT down everyones throat instead.

Tim Minchin himself is defneding Jessica on Twitter.

I didn’t think I could love Tim Minchin more than I already did… but now he’s defending Jessica on his Twitter page!

https://twitter.com/timminchin
“Congratulations, @jessicaahlquist !”

“@alexmillier Won a case in the US to get a prayer banner out of her school. She’s amazing. See you in a few weeks?”

“@PaulDBannister @jessicaahlquist A disinterest in secularism is your choice, but cases like this have extremely important ramifications.”

“@PaulDBannister The US constitution specifically separates church & state. Personal belief is fine, but God in gov’t schools is illegal.”

“@PaulDBannister “In God we Trust” appeared on notes in 1957, “Under God” appeared in the Pledge in 1954, both should’ve been fought.”

“@PaulDBannister Small fights (school banner) are worth winning in court to ensure constitutional secularism is upheld.”

“@PaulDBannister It’s nowt to do with Atheism. Secularism is important to religious people too. Your freedom to personal belief is protected.”

It’s fine if you want to abolish the US Constitution in favor or a religious theocracy in which church and state are one and the same (that’s the only way you can legally allow prayer posters in public schools).

Some other Americans disagree.

Now, a judge has decided that according to the law, the constitutionalists are right.

There’s really nothing more to it. Everything has been very civil and every step of the democratic process has been dutifully taken. No screaming, no hate. And the result is simply the proper application of the law.

You prefer Iran’s system, well, that’s your right.

Whether you believe in God or not, a banner that encourages being a better person is NOT a problem. It’s some girl who thinks she’s standing up for something–she is not. I’m sure winning this case has really made her feel better about herself, like she is actually doing something. That’s great and all, but there is no way she was genuinely offended by such an inoffensive banner. She is only serving to make atheists look pigheaded and intolerant. It’s nitpicking a few “religious” words. No one is forcing her to believe in God, and the words in that banner are extremely weak.

Christians are pretty much dense.They won’t get it.They’ve always thought of themselves as victims.I think someone should sell crying towels during Mythmas saying,”I’m a Christian and I’m a victim”.

Remove a few words and the banner is legal.
But the school wouldn’t do this.
Maybe now it will.

“Schaden” WHAT?

Great response, Jose.

Tell it to the judge!

Or, or, hey, maybe if I stare at this feather long enough, I can levitate it!

/snark

Read the First Amendment, it is very clear, government cannot endorse any religion period end of story.

That you ‘don’t see’ is an understatement. Pathetic ignorance of our founding documents underlines your every utterance.

I would hate to be Jessica on Judgement Day! Dear Lord, bless us all.

You actually communicate with the creator of the universe?

You’re an amazing lady!

Spanish speaker here. Nope.  Amen is just amen.  Aman means they love, which is the closest I could get to amen.  Maybe they *sound* alike to you — can’t help you on that one.  But two different words.

OK, ellos amen — may they love — is similar to amen.  But it’s accidental:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen

Amen, meaning “so be it”, is said to be of Hebrew origin [5][6], however the roots of the word can be traced to most Semitic Languages. The word was imported into the Greek of the early Church from Judaism.[1][7] From Greek, amen entered the other Western languages. According to a standard dictionary etymology, amen passed from Greek into Late Latin, and thence into English.[8]The Hebrew word amen derives from the same ancient triliteral Hebrew root as does the verb ʾāmán.[9] Grammarians frequently list ʾāmán under its three consonants (aleph-mem-nun), which are identical to those of ʾāmēn (note that the Hebrew letter א aleph originally represented a glottal stop sound, which functioned as a consonant in the morphology of Hebrew).[8] This triliteral root means to be firm, confirmed, reliable, faithful, have faith, believe.

“So be it; truly” makes far more sense in the context of the end of a prayer than “may they love”.  May they love what?  You? Me? God?

In any case, the response to Jessica has been extraordinarily hateful (just check out the responses to her on twitter and facebook), so I’m still gonna guess that amen as a form of amor is wrong. :-/

By the way, where can one contribute to said fund?

What Amen means in Spanish is IRRELEVANT it has NOTHING to do with this topic, can we please STFU about the Spanish meaning of the word & get back to reality?

I’m from England as well and I say good for her. Keep your stupid myths in your temples and leave the children alone.

It’s all fun and games until you’re burning in HELL.  hahaha

Dear Davedodobird in England, religion is not a “stupid myth”! If everyone kept the 10 Commandments and followed Jesus, the world would be a better place.

That’s… nice, dearie, but the rest of us outgrew having an imaginary friend around the age of six. *pats Diana on the head*

The disgusting Twitter response by Christians to her legitimate protest is making them all look pigheaded and intolerant.   Jessica is simply standing up for the First Amendment by asking that the church and state be kept separate.  Yes, the banner is just a silly school thing, but their refusal to remove the references to religious figures is what makes it illegal and more than just a message for students to try to live by.

Yes, aren’t you just clever, speaking on America’s behalf ?
“God Bless America” CLEARLY makes a mockery of your snooty point.

It doesn’t mean the two words share the same etymology. 

Dude…the story can be found via the links at the top.  Why are you expecting people here to do that work for you?  Lazy much?

Can someone help me out?   Someone is telling me that since the banner was donated by a class that it’s student led and that means it’s ok.   That’s not true correct?

From the decision: 

Again, to perform this analysis, the Court must examine the Prayer Mural at three points in time.  When the Prayer Mural was hung in 1963, a reasonable observer would no doubt have concluded that Cranston West endorsed its message, and approved its installation in a place of prominence in the new auditorium.  While the Prayer was authored by a student, and the Mural was paid for by a group of graduates, the School would never have permitted the exhibition of a message of which it did not approve.

That the money was donated makes no difference.  By allowing it to be posted in the school, the school is endorsing it.  They would not allow a banner saying “There is no God” or an Islamic prayer.

“I want things to go my way and when they don’t, I’ll stomp my feet like
a fucking child who couldn’t get that new toy, until I get what I
want.” – Christian  mentality (dont forget to add “attack those who disagree with me”)

she opposed the banner—went to court.
people who supported the banner—threats of bodily harm, hate speech, heckling, people who opposed it had to be removed for their own safety.

Barely an offense? Hypersensitivity? Well, okay, I can see that.

Maybe if the opening/closing were changed from:

Our Heavenly Father and Amen

To:

“Dear Ridiculously Impossible To Exist Omnipotent ‘Sky Fairy'” and “Pass the Ammunition!”

We’d see just how offended and “hypersensitive” the protesters would suddenly become.  I’d bet five years worth of salary that they would suddenly request that it either A: be taken down or B: be re-worded.

It’s great that you’re not offended.  Neither was she. She merely felt uncomfortable. If something makes you uncomfortable, do you just put up with it, or do you do something about it?

So – ummm – you guys are HAPPY about this? Well. I am a PROUD Christain, and I feel bad for each and every one of you. I have no idea what put this kind of hatred into your hearts but, unfortunately, without God, you’ll probably never get over it. That’s a shame, and I feel bad for you.

I can’t speak for everyone, nor can I speak for the atheists (since I’m not one, although I’m also not a Christian) but .. I don’t hate Christians. I don’t hate Jews, Muslims, atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.  All that being said, I’m still happy to see that this was the end result.  

Everyone should have the right to practice/display their own personal beliefs.  I applaud Christians who will pray before eating in a public restaurant, kudos to them for not caring what anyone around them thinks or believes.  Would I do it? No.

But if those same Christians requested that I join them in prayer, or silence my own conversation for the sake of their prayer, etc. then it becomes a different issue altogether.  Jessica (and in fact, nobody above that I’ve seen) is not saying that the Christians in the school don’t deserve the right to have their beliefs or have their prayers.  What’s being said is that it doesn’t need to be on the wall, big as life, in everyone else’s face.

So sorry Jessica that so many terribly immature “Christians” have posted so many hateful things. Christ would never have acted in that way- He died a humiliating and terrible death so all could live, simply by accepting Him for who He is. All those who are called by His name, should act as he did- not like this.

I’m not a Christian. It’s not a belief of mine nor is it a path I’ve chosen to take. I have my own belief structure. When I hit a rough patch in my life, or I’m faced with adversity (which, is nowhere near the type of verbal assault this young woman is facing) I will happily accept prayers from my friends who believe it will help.  Even if I don’t believe it will, it always helps to know someone out there is thinking of me, and wants good things for me.

I appreciate seeing a comment of what I envision is a true Christian, shaming those who hate and threaten in the name of their beliefs. While she might not *mind* you praying for her, please don’t ruin your uplifting, loving, *true* Christian comment by saying she likely doesn’t care. I’m sure positive thoughts and words are the things she cares the most about right now.

Thanks, it is indeed rather arrogant of me that I assume what she cares about. Didn’t think about it in that way.

No not true. 

hrmm yeah was not a logical argument at all. nice try lol

Durn I kind of like to read those ones that are flagged cuz they are entertaining 🙂 

STOP WASTING TIME! DON’T BE SO PETTY!

 I belive if their is in fact a god he is not the hateful tyrant discribed in the bible. orginized religion just causes trouble, good luck girl you have a bright future ahead of you so forget the haters k you are wonderful and also pretty!

The people that leave threats also claim to be constitutionalists … Maybe they should read it first. Seperation of church and state , public schools ARE state. Religion.. ANY religion has NO place in a public school.

Bless her heart, from myself (a person of faith) and our family.  
http://www.geekfamily.co.uk/lord-of-the-flies/2012/01/14

So your contention is that the banner says this

Heavenly Farter
May we, each day, have the desire to do our best.To grow mentally and morally as well as physically.To be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers.To be honest with ourselves as well as with others.May we be good sports and smile when we lose as well as when we win.May we know the value of true friendship.And may we always conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West. 

They Love (in a completely different language)

Yeah, pull the other one

How you say hunk of bull shit in Spanish?

The scary thing about most of these posts is their navel-gazing. These posters morphed the discussion of the banner into something about themselves; whose Spanish verb knowledge is superior, for example. While everyone’s entitled to express an opinion, it would be nice if those opinions had something to do with the topic under discussion. Just because you can express an opinion doesn’t mean you should express an opinion, especially if the opinion expressed is (a) vapid; (b) poorly written; (c) self-centered; and (d) off topic. What is clear is that any school authorities posting a banner in their schools that begins, “Our Heavenly Father,” is bringing religious expression into the public schools, which is a misuse of taxpayer dollars and illegal. Less clear is exactly who posted this banner and why taking it down raised such a brouhaha. Kudos to the young woman who fought the good fight and won. But, those who posted their solipsistic “arguments” as a contribution to the discussion, deserve nothing less than the Spanish fig.

The scary thing about most of these posts is their navel-gazing. These posters morphed the discussion of the banner into something about themselves; whose Spanish verb knowledge is superior, for example. While everyone’s entitled to express an opinion, it would be nice if those opinions had something to do with the topic under discussion. Just because you can express an opinion doesn’t mean you should express an opinion, especially if the opinion expressed is (a) vapid; (b) poorly written; (c) self-centered; and (d) off topic. What is clear is that any school authorities posting a banner in their schools that begins, “Our Heavenly Father,” are bringing religious expression into the public schools, which is a misuse of taxpayer dollars and illegal. Less clear is exactly who posted this banner and why taking it down raised such a brouhaha. Kudos to the young woman who fought the good fight and won. But, those who posted their solipsistic “arguments” as a contribution to the discussion deserve nothing less than the Spanish fig.

He was being kind. At least he didn’t threaten to jump you, mug you, beat you up or kill you (aka, the people who reacted negatively to Jess).

That poor girl.  She is so brave though and has a truly strong character, I don’t know if I could stand up to those people.   Heck, I had a hard enough time standing up to bullies in school because I didn’t wear the right “brand of clothes.”

Like Intelligent Christian? …Seriously, stop being so closed-minded. It makes you look bad.

People are more than capable of having morals without following a religion. I’m proof of that, as are many of the other people commenting on this.

She noticed it right away and it bothered her for a year. And that is irrelevant. The point is, our Constitution calls for a separation of Church and State, and this banner meant that the school was in violation of this. She had every right to stand up for our Constitutional Rights and have it taken down.  And just because she’s the first to ask for its removal does not mean she was the first to be bothered by it. She was just the first to stand up and do something about it.

 Also, there are 365 days in a year, genius.

You’re from England, so maybe you don’t understand the Constitution of the United States.  Luckily, our court system does (sometimes) and acted appropriately.

The text of the decision is well worth reading in its entirety.

Jose….the tilde is the squiggly mark above the ‘n’, like in the first ‘n’ in manana. You referenced the accent mark above the ‘e’ in Amen….

> That girl is going to rule the world some day

Ooooh, I hope so!  She would definitely be an improvement on the people we have at present (and a *vast* improvement on most of the offerings).

Jessica — when I start feeling down and thinking there’s no hope for the future, I try to remind myself of you.  I hope for your sake and for that of the world that you’re able to maintain your energy and vitality as you get older.  (I’m not that much older than you and don’t mean to sound condescending; just the contrary, I admire you and wish I could be more like you.)

I am just going to tell you all that do not believe in Our Heavenly Father that I feel so sorry for you and I pray for you all.. if you read the Bible you will see that what is happening today is written.. you are a part of that.. she is a part of that.. you can’t remove Him.. He is real.. He is Risen.. Religion is not everything.. but He is.. if you do not believe that His Son died for all of you it is simple.. you will go to Hell, and that is it! He loves you all.. He just wants the same.. I will not comment or reply again.. so save the rude comments.. use you time to read The Bible.. learn about Him.. He is so truly worth it..

http://www.change.org/petitions/rep-peter-g-palumbo-vote-peter-palumbo-out-of-office-or-have-him-resign

Sign the petition to the have this dick removed.

Let’s compensate for the angry athiest girl because she’s mad at God because He didnt help her Mommy. You have no factual & no faith. You seem ignorant and oblivious and somewhat cocky.  This was actually quite annoying to listen to. If you have the right to take down a prayer, I have a right to keep it there. Fair game?

I far prefer:

“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
 — Isaac Asimov

Only 3 of the 10 commandments address actual crimes everyone can agree on. Most of the first 4 of them spend way too many words forcing Christianity down people’s throats. Don’t murder, don’t steal and don’t bear false witness – yes. But where are the commandments against rape and torture? Incest? Slavery? Oh wait, that’s right – there aren’t any. And the last of them starts getting into *thought crime*. That’s your great moral model? I’ll stick with modern, secular morality, thanks.

She went to them before going to the ACLU, and they were unwilling to even countenance removing the offending bits. It’s not like a more middle of the road solution couldn’t have been reached, if they’d been willing to talk about it, but they refused.

Why is it Christians always blather about compromise, but when it actually comes to a situation where compromise could be useful, so many of them won’t even consider it? “Our way or the highway” is pretty much never a useful attitude, guys.

An “activist” judge, appointed by that dirty liberal activist president, Ronald Reagan.

Why is it that anytime I see the words “activist judge” or “activist judiciary” I hear intolerant Christians whining like 5 year olds “waah, waaah, WHY CAN’T WE GET OUR OWN WAY, WHO CARES WHAT THE LAW SAYS”? Could you explain that one to me, please?

Blame the school administration for being completely unwilling to compromise and just remove the offending language. Jessica, as well as the ACLU lawyers, both attempted to have a dialogue, and were completely shut down. You can’t blame them for that.

Too bad the administration refused to consider the compromise option. Now it goes away completely.

Yeah, that sounds good. After reading the banner I thought it had a lot of good stuff in it and so I thought it would be nice to keep that stuff rather than just getting rid of the banner entirely. Shame the school board seems to hate compromise.

Quibbling is the first sign of a losing argument. 

Heroine, actually.

That would be good to clear up.  My understanding was that the school refused any changes, partly from the decision

Defendants, who have refused to alter or remove the prayer

and

At the conclusion of the public comment, School Committee member (and former mayor) Michael Traficante explained that the subcommittee had been instructed to consider three options: 1) keep the Mural; 2) remove the Mural; or 3) alter the display by either changing the text to remove religious references or by
adding additional banners representing other religions. 
Traficante reported the subcommittee had decided to recommend that the Prayer Mural be retained as is.  Following another round of enthusiastic applause, the School Committee and administrators had the opportunity to express their views.

At one point the School Committee approved a marker next to the mural to read:

…guarantee that student works of excellence be protected and conserved for current and future generations, and for historic and cultural reasons, without promoting any
ethnic, political or religious content, element or elements contained or perceived to be contained therein.

As for just taking out the “Heavenly Father” and “Amen”, there’s still the problem addressed by the judge:

While these goals are commendable, the reliance on God’s intervention as the way to achieve those goals is not consistent with a secular purpose.

Do you happen to have a link t her interview?  I would like to know what she said, lest in my attempt to spread fact about this case I inadvertently spread fiction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRXLjQZqkdg
At 24:00
“Early on it was suggested that the prayer banner might be edited to remove the offending portions.”

I guess the interview never said who suggested it. And of course just removing the beginning and end wouldn’t do it, but it still could be easily edited to get a similar message across without sounding like a prayer. It doesn’t have to ask for help or anything like that. Jessica didn’t seem open to the idea, but like I said, I don’t know if changing the way the whole thing was worded ever occurred to her.

I gave a few bucks, come to Princeton 🙂

Jessica, thank you for what you have done. You give me hope for the future. You are a true defender of our constitution and bill of rights, and I hold your action in highest esteem. Hang tough, girl! You are amazing!

I’m pasting this golden nugget from Greta Christina’s
article at Alternet, Jan. 18.  Last night, radio host Mike Malloy clearly quoted from
this same article, as he read a heaping-helping of the backward, near murderous
hatred directed at Jessica.   With the contact info from Alternet,
I’ll be calling “Representative” Peter Palumbo’s office this
afternoon, and find out if he is _really_ saying that he finds this eruption
of  ‘Christian’ lunacy to be, somehow, quite alright by him.   I
hope others will join me.  When Palumbo said, “we’re crucifying Jesus
again,” he seems confused about the meaning of the name, Jesus.  That
‘meaning,’ here, seems utterly devoid of Jesus, and ethics, and morality, to
the point of actually embracing mayhem, brutality, and calls to murder.  In
doing so, Palumbo ‘represents’ pure, wicked, SHAME.

Have courage, Jessica!

“Even her state representative, Rhode Island State Representative Peter G.
Palumbo, has gotten into the act. He went
onto WPRO talk radio to excoriate the ruling (saying, among other things,
“we’re crucifying Jesus again”), and to mock and vilify Ahlquist,
calling her a “pawn star” (that’s a 16-year-old girl we’re talking
about), a “clapping seal,” and an “evil little thing” (later
modified to “coerced by evil people”). (Slight tangent: It’s bad
enough when ordinary citizens don’t understand enough Civics 101 to know that
this ruling was not only correct but entirely uncontroversial. It’s much worse
when this isn’t understood by a state representative, whose job it is to understand
the law, and who took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Palumbo’s phone
number, by the way, is (401) 785-2882, and his email is
rep-palumbo@rilin.state.ri.us .)”

> have this dick removed.
I misread that and thought “wow, that’d be a bit harsh”. =P

Twice I have called Palumbo’s office.  No response of any kind. Twice I have sent this e-mail.  No acceptance of any kind.  Maybe his whole ‘system’ has shut down.  Maybe his address — rep-palumbo@rilin.state.ri.us — 

is all outbox, no inbox.  Maybe his is an electronic variant of, “STFU!”   So, maybe someone closer to the source can forward my earnest e-letter to Representative Palumbo.

[Subject:  Jessica Ahlquist, American Citizen]Dear Representative Palumbo,

This below, from Greta Christina’s article at Alternet, Jan.
18,

Why Is an Atheist High School
Student Getting Vicious Death Threats?

Her state representative has called the student
“evil” and she has been threatened with violence, rape and death.
What gives? 

http://www.alternet.org/belief/153803/why_is_an_atheist_high_school_student_getting_vicious_death_threats/?page=1

“Even her state representative, Rhode Island State Representative Peter
G. Palumbo, has gotten into the act. He went
onto WPRO talk radio to excoriate the ruling (saying, among other things,
“we’re crucifying Jesus again”), and to mock and vilify Ahlquist,
calling her a “pawn star” (that’s a 16-year-old girl we’re talking
about), a “clapping seal,” and an “evil little thing”
(later modified to “coerced by evil people”). (Slight tangent: It’s
bad enough when ordinary citizens don’t understand enough Civics 101 to know
that this ruling was not only correct but entirely uncontroversial. It’s much
worse when this isn’t understood by a state representative, whose job it is to
understand the law, and who took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Palumbo’s
phone number, by the way, is (401) 785-2882, and his email is
rep-palumbo@rilin.state.ri.us .)”

Ms. Christina also included something else:

“Have no doubt — people are
enraged. Not just disappointed; not just upset. Enraged. Even before the
judge’s decision, Jessica Ahlquist had been ostracized, bullied, and
even occasionally threatened over her lawsuit. But when the court ruling
came down last week, the climate of harassment and hostility against
her escalated out of control, into widespread vilification, venomous bile, and explicit threats of violence, rape and death. Including the following:

“Let’s all jump that girl who did the banner #fuckthatho”

“I want to punch the girl in the face that made west take down the school prayer… #Honestly”

“hail Mary full of grace @jessicaahlquist is gonna get punched in the face”

“Fuck Jessica alquist I’ll drop anchor on her face”

“lol I wanna stick that bitch lol”

“We can make so many jokes about this dumb bitch, but who cares
#thatbitchisgointohell and Satan is gonna rape her.”

“Brb ima go drown that atheist in holy water”

“”But for real somebody should jump this girl” lmao let’s do it!”

“shes not human shes garbage”

“wen
the atheist dies, they believe they will become a tree, so we shld chop
her down, turn her into paper then PRINT THE BIBLE ON HER.””

And it continues.  You can read it, if you dare.

So,
here is my question.  Do you actually support these expressions here? 
If you do not, have you renounced them?  Have you so stated a
condemnation in a second radio interview, contradicting what you stated
in the first?  

By the way, the two calls I made to
your office today were unanswered, even by an automatic answering system
that might kick in after, say, two minutes on the phone (2×2=4 minutes
of awaiting a pick-up).

I expect your answer on this vital question. 
Chuck Knowles
American Citizen

It’s a wonderful German word that got adopted into the English language.
It’s the pleasure you feel when bad things happen to bad people.

If you read about a man who tried rape a woman and got his penis bitten off by the woman’s dog, and you smile and say “good”, that’s schadenfreude.

If a school violates a student’s Constitutional rights, and the judge says the school has to pay all the student’s legal costs pursuing the case, and you’re glad they have to pay, that’s schadenfreude.

lmao thats retarded. im a native spanish speaker and AMEN in that context is purely religious.

This is just great! Congratulations my fellow “Christians” what next? Lets roast an Atheist for non belief, a Jew as a Christ Killer, Deicide, etc? It is written “”Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” Matthew 22:21
Just IMAGINE had those opposed to Jessica’s behavied as Christians are told to in Matthew 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly  whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer,
and thou be cast into prison.- a violation always, on one side or the other, of love your neighbor. Do not carry the contention to a court of law.
Perhaps IF the prayer banner had been presented as a artifact? or something along those lines?
Otherwise we will have Islamic, Buddhist, Wiccan, etc banners?
Freedom is not just for those who you agree with but your opponents even more so, otherwise it isn’t really freedom, is it?

Pretty much everything you said has been addressed already. How do you figure she shouldn’t use money? Of course she should use money. She just shouldn’t be okay with the unconstitutional text on it, which she isn’t. That argument is like Pascal’s Wager: overused and stupid to begin with.

Yes, there is nothing wrong with encouragement on a banner, but there is something wrong with religion in public schools. Religion is divisive and excludes students and makes them feel unwelcome. And people defended the banner specifically because it was religious.

She is not pushing her religion onto anybody. She doesn’t have a religion, but she’s not pushing her non-religion either. She’s standing up for her rights and getting her community to uphold the constitution by respecting everyone’s beliefs or lack of beliefs.

She HAS no religion! How’s that stupidity thing working out for you?

Why do we have to deny one another freedom of speech and religion or no religion with hate speech for one another? What are we teaching our children. In first grade my daughter was told to bring in her favorite book. It was about the birth of Christ, she was told it wasn’t appropriate. Why not it was her choice. Are we going to micro manage everything?

I certainly don’t think a child bringing a book to school about the birth of Christ was inappropriate. It was not by any means the school endorsing religion. It was just a child following instructions. I have a feeling the teacher would have been fine if it was a book about a minority religion because a sense of political correctness seems to give minorities special privileges for some reason. On the other hand, I think maybe the teacher was afraid things could get out of hand especially if there was, say, a Muslim student or something. And maybe if the teacher was Christian then she was afraid her own beliefs would come out and maybe she would lose her job over it.

At any rate, the Cranston West banner was unconstitutional and was not a matter of freedom of speech. Freedom of speech applies to people saying things on their own time, not as representatives of government establishments.

This country now officially sucks!  I can’t wait until the revolution.
 

Right, because Battlestar Galactica was totally secular.

We need all the help we can get from Almighty God – our Heavenly Father! Take God out of society and what you get is anachy, rebellion and lawlessness which is indeed the case as our society breaks down more and more.  To remove the banner which has words that can only benefit society is such a sorry indictment on us – I am grief stricken. To turn our backs on God will only bring His judgment upon us, not His blessings.  To put the words into practice, we need His help for it is impossible for us to do so without Him.  Try it for a month and see how you go.