School Valedictorian Stuns Audience (1 Viewer)

[Det. Brees]

Would you be offended if a Native American smoked Peyote in a public square? Would you be offended if a practitioner of Santeria sacrificed a chicken in a public square?

Some religious acts should be performed in private. Prayer is a differnent from acts that many consider illegal. do i mind if people smoke peyote or kill chickens as part of religion, no! However society may not approve of them being done on the street corner.

 

[KulBreez]

Everyone is missing the point entirely. Prayer is not banned from public schools. However govt backed prayer is banned. In other words if a school requires prayer that is a violation of the first admendmant. However students are allowed a moment of silence to honor their own beliefs. People that complain about prayer in school are just preaching that they want their christian beliefs to be forced upon all children. The student that decided to read the Lord's Prayer is just as ignorant as all the other people complaining about prayer in school.

 

[St. Widge]

Some religious acts should be performed in private. Prayer is a differnent from acts that many consider illegal. do i mind if people smoke peyote or kill chickens as part of religion, no! However society may not approve of them being done on the street corner.

So, who gets to decide what is offensive and what counts as the proper kind of prayer in public? Do we submit to the "tyranny of the majority" or do we follow the First Amendment? I mean, maybe society has decided that it's offended by the Lord's Prayer being said at a graduation?

I'm not, but maybe society is. Is it reasonable to let society decide that is offensive and should be stopped? If not, how do you justify restricting other forms of prayer in public places?

 

[Taurus]

She signed a contract where as he didnt.

She refused to sign the contract.

But she knew the fine was coming, even though her parents had tried to negotiate with the school about the feather.

 

[Det. Brees]

So, who gets to decide what is offensive and what counts as the proper kind of prayer in public? Do we submit to the "tyranny of the majority" or do we follow the First Amendment? I mean, maybe society has decided that it's offended by the Lord's Prayer being said at a graduation?

I'm not, but maybe society is. Is it reasonable to let society decide that is offensive and should be stopped? If not, how do you justify restricting other forms of prayer in public places?

currently if someone starts killing animals in a public square they would / could be charged. the courts would then decide if its a religious freedom. as far as i know under the name of religion you cant kill animals in the town square. Also i believe Peyote is a narcotic and illegal so the same probably applies. However I've never had to deal with peyote on a legal level so i could be mistaken.

 

[St. Widge]

currently if someone starts killing animals in a public square they would / could be charged. the courts would then decide if its a religious freedom. as far as i know under the name of religion you can kill animals in the town square. Also i believe Peyote is a narcotic and illegal so the same probably applies. However I've never had to deal with peyote on a legal level so i could be mistaken.

IIRC, SCOTUS has said that neither of those are protected under the First Amendment. But, the above is a cop out (no pun intended) by you. How do we decide what is protected and what isn't? Is it just about what the majority of society finds weird?

 

[seandroog]

Religion comes from the infancy of the human race. I am going to bring my kid to a public school so that he isn't exposed to that infancy, and I would be rather annoyed if some kid said a prayer at the graduation.

I don't think of religion highly enough to get that offended by this, the prayer doesn't directly hurt anyone. It just shows a lack of understanding by the person that said the prayer.

 

[daybreaker]

Literally four verses before the Lord's Prayer:

"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."

 

[Galbreath34]

IIRC, SCOTUS has said that neither of those are protected under the First Amendment. But, the above is a cop out (no pun intended) by you. How do we decide what is protected and what isn't? Is it just about what the majority of society finds weird?

If you don't have a ballsy SCOTUS decision, pretty much that runs everything. The tyranny of the majority was a great fear in the founding, and we fight against it at times, but rarely successfully when the minority is small enough. We get our government to stand on principles more than most, but, that said, it's still relatively rare that it actually does stand on principle over majority opinion.

 

[Det. Brees]

IIRC, SCOTUS has said that neither of those are protected under the First Amendment. But, the above is a cop out (no pun intended) by you. How do we decide what is protected and what isn't? Is it just about what the majority of society finds weird?

like i said the courts decide. how is that a cop out

 

[St. Widge]

like i said the courts decide. how is that a cop out

Because the Courts aren't always right and/or you don't have to agree with what they do.