School never was this fun when I was there.
David Wallace Croft is suing Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district in federal district court, arguing that the state's minute of silence, in effect since 2003, is unconstitutional and amounts to state-sanctioned school prayer.
Croft says he is fighting against the influence of "Judeo-Christian monotheism." His son is enrolled in an elementary school in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton. Croft—a former Baptist— has even started an online group called the Cryobaptist Church, which he defines as having "a postmortem baptism in liquid nitrogen," and linked to his belief in "universal immortalism."
One year he appealed to the school board: "Ask yourself how those parents of the majority religion would react if they discovered that their children were being made to sing a patriotic and religious song about Allah, Satan, the Goddess, the Gods, or the Outer Space Aliens. Those songs would be inappropriate, and so is this one [God Bless the USA]."
Ah, those wacky Texans. But this story shows it's not all hypothetical:
One day last winter, Martiza Tamayo, the principal of Unity Center for Urban Technologies in Manhattan, told an assistant principal Melody Cooks-Simpson that she had a friend who could perform a Santeria “cleansing” of the building to counteract misbehaving students. (Santeria is an Afro-Caribbean syncretic religion, some of whose adherents--including some baseball stars-- believe in trances, animal sacrifice and sacred drumming and dance.)
According to the article on The New York Times, Ms. Tamayo promised the friend “could burn sage and incense in the school and it would calm the students down,” according to the report.
“Wear white,” Ms. Crook-Simpson said she remembered Ms. Tamayo instructing her. “If there’s anything evil, it won’t get on you.”
At the ceremony, chicken blood was sprinkled, Tarot cards were shuffled, cigars were smoked.
The next week the principal demanded $900 from her colleague to pay half of the ceremony fee. The New York Public School District investigated and suggested that Ms. Tamayo be removed.
The high school seems normal enough from its website: "Unity offers a challenging academic curriculum. We apply a holistic approach to education as our students are prepared to compete in the global marketplace intellectually, culturally and socially."
So, what have we learned here?
Get a G.E.D.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
No religious belief left behind
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3 comments:
Hmm. Reminds me of a buddy of mine whose new goal is to get the Babylonian Creation Epic taught in public schools - you know, so the students get all the perspectives.
Or, conversely, teachers who try to teach History or Literature without mentioning religion. Good luck explaining the puritans!
When my children were in High School, 2 out of 3 of them got their G.E.D. At the time, I was devastated because I had this Norman Rockwell picture of what a "real" family was, and it included everyone graduating from High School with cap and gown on and grandparents in attendance. But, ka-pow, that picture exploded before my eyes. Looking back, though, I consider it the grace of God, as the condition of the schools, at that time,were becoming more and more secular. I also see how God has circumvented man's legislation of "no prayer in school," by making Himself accessible at any time, spirit to spirit. Also, I believe, that it is His backdoor protection in allowing the legistlation,as the ACLU would mandate all religions to say their prayers if Christians could say theirs outloud. So, God's will is being done nonetheless.
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