Religious group recognized by university

Southern Illinois University will again recognize a religious group whose student organization status had been revoked because its members must pledge to adhere to Christian beliefs.
Tuesday's announcement came 10 months after the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an injunction re-establishing the Christian Legal Society's status while its lawsuit against the university proceeded.

As part of the settlement, the university said it will officially recognize the group and its membership and leadership policies. Southern Illinois also will establish a $10,000 scholarship fund that the society will administer.

"Every student group has the right to ensure that its leaders and members support its mission; religious student groups should be treated no differently," said Casey Mattox, litigation counsel for the society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom.

Alasandra's Book Club~The GOD Delusion by Richard Dawkins

Complete and utter rubbish comes to mind.

I read the book in the hopes of understanding atheist better, instead of explaining why atheist believe what they do he spent the majority of the book bashing religion. Any and all religions. The stated goal of the book in the preface is to turn you into an atheist by the end of the book, all he achieved was my realizing the fundamentalist Christians who have been whining about atheist being "out to get them" aren't paranoid they are right. And while the annoying fundamentalist Christians at least have some excuse for their beliefs and a noble goal in trying to keep you from burning in hell, Dawkins has no excuse. From his writing he seems like a reasonably well educated man and his only goal is to keep you from "wrongly believing in religion". I find his rantings deplorably, especially when he equates passing on ones religious beliefs to ones children with child abuse. Dawkins' stated goal is to have a world with "NO RELIGION" and he intends to impose his atheist beliefs on everyone in order to achieve it. Frankly I don't see any difference between him and fundamentalist Christians who want to impose their religious beliefs on everyone in order to have a world with "ONE RELIGION", theirs.

I am completely baffled by his attitude. My personal beliefs are none of his business and his arrogance in assuming his atheist religion (because for him atheism has all the earmarks of a religion) should dominate the world and be forced on me is INFURIATING. Why can't these people fundies and atheist alike leave everyone alone to believe whatever they wish without trying to impose their beliefs on others? I want a world where people respect one another and allow each other to follow whatever belief they wish. He makes a big deal about America being founded as a secular nation, he misses the point the founding fathers gave us FREEDOM OF RELIGION, not freedom from religion. We have the right to believe whatever we wish and I'll be ________________ if Dawkins and his atheist cronies are going to impose their atheist beliefs on me or prevent me from teaching MY children MY religious beliefs.

From the Blog World

Edspresso explains why Greg is wrong, in the post The collectivist argument against choice.

Congress should restore parental rights in public schools according to Phyllis Schlafly.

Bryan Killian faces religious discrimination in his North Carolina Public School. HT: O'Donnell Web.


Illegal Alien runs down student on spring break.

Here They Go Again Bashing Homeschooling

A small minority of homeschoolers hold a very public Creationist Science Fair, and now the general public thinks all homeschoolers are creationist and that homeschooling should be strictly regulated on a national level or altogether banned. Carlo elaborates in his post Homeschooling at Musings of the Mad Biologist.

Regardless, the scariest aspect about home-schooling, in my mind, is that 'No single organization tracks the numbers of homeschoolers nationwide, but using state-by-state data, the National Home Education Research Institute estimates that 1.3 million to 1.7 million students were educated at home last year...'

Why does the author think homeschoolers need to be tracked? We aren't criminals, we aren't doing anything wrong and we certainly don't deserve to have our privacy invaded merely because we choose not to send our children to public schools.

He then goes on to ask how parents could possible teach their children everything? Apparently it has never occurred to him that homeschoolers join together with other parents in co-ops in order to take advantage of each parents area of expertise, we hire tutors, we take advantage of online courses, etc. Homeschoolers do not have to know everything we merely have to be resourceful enough to find someone to "teach" the subjects we are weak in.

He also worries that children won't be taught the "right" things. I am appalled by the number of people that think the government should be the ones to decide what children are taught. As a parent it is my responsibility to instill my values and beliefs in my children, other parents have the right to teach their values and beliefs to their children. No one has the right to decide that a parents values and beliefs aren't "good enough" to pass along to their children.

Carlo also expresses the naive belief that public school parents who are unhappy with the academic education their children are receiving could just ADD to their children's education, instead of homeschooling them. Pray tell when? My children were in public school for awhile. I know from personal experience that there isn't any free time during the school year to ADD to your child's education. When they aren't in school being indoctrinated with the local communities dogma they are loaded down with homework, which usually has no educational value but must be done for your child to get a passing grade. The public school my children attended even sent work that they didn't have time to cover during the regular school year home with them, for them to do over the summer, with their parents help.

I can only speak for the homeschoolers I know. But amongst our group the homeschoolers are all normal kids that fit in well with their public school peers. We are so normal in fact that it lead to an interesting discussion with one soccer mom who unaware that I homeschool approached a group of moms I was talking with ranting about homeschoolers. She was very embarrassed when I calmly stated that I homeschooled my kids but she was utterly flabbergasted when I told her three other boys on the soccer team were homeschooled. When I challenged her to pick them out she couldn't because, "they were so normal". I imagine that all the people that claim that the only homeschoolers they know are "weird" don't realize that they do know normal homeschoolers, after all we don't wear signs saying we homeschool.

Also the parents in my group intend for their children to go to college. As a parent who has successfully homeschooled a child into college I am often asked for advice. Since my eldest knew he wanted to major in computer science and what colleges he was interested in attending we visited their websites to find out their admission requirements. I then tailored his course work to their requirements. Since he scored a 28 on the ACT at 15 he was eligible for early admission to college and they had no problem accepting the transcripts I had made. He started college at 16 and is having a wonderful time. He has joined Phi Theta Kappa, made the Vice President's List and has tons of friends. Not only does he attend college full time but he works part time at a fast food place.

I also find it amusing that many people assume that all homeschoolers are white heterosexual Fundamentalist Christians nothing could be further from the truth. I know Atheist, Pagan, Agnostic & Free-thinking homeschoolers. I know single moms who homeschool, gay couples that homeschool and African-Americans who homeschool. Homeschooling is not restricted to white heterosexual Christian Fundamentalist couples.

More Post on homeschooling
Ten Questions About Homeschooling at FamilyEducation.com
Homeschools Run By Caring Parents at Home~Schoolers Rule
Sensationalism & Dr. Phil at Home~Schoolers Rule
All Homeschoolers are Not Christians & All Christians Are Not Homeschoolers at Home~Schoolers Rule
Social Skills & Homeschooling: Myths & Facts at FamilyEducation.com
Deep Thoughts at Alasandra
Who Decides Part II at Deep Thoughts
Hello, We don't all have big families at The Homeschool Cafe
Homeschool Quandry at The Homeschool Cafe
The Other S Word at The Homeschool Cafe

Carter Spreads Message of Religious Tolerance and Compassion

In Southern Baptist Splitsville? Craig Ziemba denounced former President Carter for his message of religious tolerance and compassion.

Here is my response.

Don’t Criticize and then you won’t be criticized? For others will treat you as you treat them. And why worry about a speck in the eye of a brother when you have a board in your own? Should you say, ‘Friend let me help you get that speck out of your eye,’ when you can’t even see because of the board in your own? Hypocrite! First get rid of the board. Then you can see to help your brother. Matthew 7:1-5 (The Living Bible)

Apparently when Ziemba was reading his Bible he skipped over that passage, as he was full of criticism for Carter’s message of tolerance in his column Southern Baptist Splitsville?

For too long religious bigotry has permeated our nation. Too many religious zealots have forgotten Jesus’ numerous examples of compassion and tolerance. They are far more interested in pointing out their brother’s sins and punishing him then they are in examining their own conscious. They are also determined to gain control of the government in order to end freedom of religion, as they are threatened by others religious beliefs and determine that everyone will believe the same as they do. Thus the message of religious tolerance, compassion for those less fortunate and our duty to protect the environment God entrusted to us must be denounced as a political ploy, moral relativism, or liberalism, even though there are numerous scriptures that deal with these very issues.

Carter's humility and his love for mankind show through in the pages of his book, Our Endangered Values – America’s Moral Crisis, I encourage everyone to read it and form their own opinions instead of letting others tell them what to believe.

What is Santeria?

The city's code says the law against slaughtering animals is intended to promote "the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the city," "to protect property values" and "to enhance the quality of life of persons, pets and other animals."The dispute has left many residents in the Dallas-Fort Worth area wondering: What is Santeria? How did it get to Euless? And where do you draw the line between religious tolerance and a community's right to ban the killing of animals?Santeria, also known as Lukumi, originated among the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria thousands of years ago and came to the Caribbean through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It arrived in South Florida during the Cuban exodus of the 1960s. High priests, or obas, like Pichardo estimate that there are 3 million to 4 million followers in the U.S.

I hope the city wins. While I believe in religious tolerance, I know I wouldn't want to live next door to someone making animal sacrifices in their home. Perhaps a compromise could be reached where the followers of Santeria had some designated area for their worship services rather then conducting them in their homes in residential neighborhoods. I also have concerns about how humanly the animals are treated? Hopefully those concerns could also be addressed.

Foot in Mouth

A Muslim group is asking Virginia Republican Rep. Virgil Goode Jr. to apologize after he told hundreds of his constituents that more Muslims will follow Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., to Congress if strict immigration laws aren't passed. "The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran," Goode wrote. "I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America and to prevent our resources from being swamped," Goode wrote. Corey Saylor, national legislative director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Goode's "Islamophobic remarks send a message of intolerance that is unworthy of anyone elected to public office."

Silly me I thought freedom of religion was in our constitution somewhere.

Follow Up To Hell In The Classroom

Many of my readers will remember my post in November about Matthew LaClair, who was told he was going to hell by his Christian teacher.

Sixteen-year-old junior Matthew LaClair says he was shocked when history teacher David Paszkiewicz, who is also a Baptist preacher in town, spent the first week lecturing students more about Heaven and Hell than the colonies and Constitution. He said Paszkiewicz told students that if they didn't accept Jesus, "you belong in Hell." He also dismissed as unscientific the theories of evolution and the "Big Bang.".

Why Homeschool has a follow up post on the story.

Where do these people come from

Greice Coelho, who took Mr. Paszkiewicz’s class and is a member of his youth group, said in a letter to The Observer, the local weekly newspaper, that Matthew was “ignoring the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gives every citizen the freedom of religion.” Some anonymous posters on the town’s electronic bulletin board, Kearnyontheweb.com, called for Matthew’s suspension.

While every citizen is free to pursue the religion of their choice, they aren't free to force their views on other people, especially a captive audience of public school students.

The class started on Sept. 11, and Matthew quickly grew concerned. “The first couple of days I had him, he had already begun discussing his religious point of view,” Matthew, a thin, articulate 16-year-old with braces and a passion for politics and the theater, recalled in an interview. “It wasn’t even just his point of view, it went beyond that to say this is the right way, this is the only way. The way he said it, I wasn’t sure how far he was going to go.”

In other words this public school teacher was showing an appalling lack of tolerance for others religious beliefs.

Bloggers around the world have called Matthew courageous. In contrast, the LaClairs said they had been surprised by the vehemence of the opposition that local residents had expressed against Matthew.

I am impressed that someone so young had the guts to not only stand up for himself but for future students who may get stuck with this intolerant teacher.

Freedom of Religion in America

Supposedly we have freedom of religion in America. From the behavior of some Fundamentalist Christian groups, and the uproar they are creating over Ellison's decision to forgo the Bible at his swearing in ceremony and use the Quran, you would never know that. Apparently they believe the only religion protected under our constitution is Christianity.

But Ellison would not be the first member of Congress to forgo a Bible, and the list of those who have reaches all the way back to the earliest days of our government. In 1825, John Quincy Adams took the presidential oath using a law volume instead of a Bible, and in 1853, Franklin Pierce affirmed the oath rather than swearing it. Herbert Hoover, citing his Quaker beliefs, also affirmed his oath in 1929 but did use a Bible, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. Theodore Roosevelt used no Bible in taking his first oath of office in 1901, but did in 1905.Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., took her oath in 2005 on a Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, she borrowed from Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., after learning a few hours before that the speaker of the House didn't have any Jewish holy books."Each of us has every right to lay our hand on the Bible that we were raised with; that's what America is all about, diversity, understanding and tolerance," said Wasserman Schultz.

The founding fathers were very aware that Christianity wasn't the only religion and they made provisions.

"Affirming" an oath without reference to God or sacred works is an option the founding fathers provided for in the Constitution to protect the rights of atheists and agnostics, argued Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor specializing in free speech and religious issues, on National Review Online, in response to the Prager piece."Why would Muslims and others not be equally protected from having to perform a religious ritual that expressly invokes a religion in which they do not believe?"Many say prohibiting Ellison from taking his oath on the Quran would violate the constitutional provision that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

All the people complaining need to get over themselves. Freedom of Religion means that Ellison has the right to be a Muslim, it means he has the right to consider the Quran the "holy book", and it means he has the right to use it in his swearing in ceremony. It doesn't hurt you or take away from your religious beliefs in any way.

News & Views

Do Public School Students Have a Right to Free Speech?

"The question comes down to whether a school may, in the absence of concern about disruption of educational activities, punish and censor non-disruptive, off-campus speech by students during school-authorized activities because the speech promotes a social message contrary to the one favored by the school," wrote 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld. "The answer under controlling, long existing precedent is plainly `No.'" The case began in early 2002, when students at Frederick's school were excused from class to watch the Olympic torch pass by on its way to Salt Lake City. As the torch passed, Frederick and some friends revealed a large banner with "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" on it. The banner was caught by television cameras at the event. Morse confronted Frederick, asking him to put down the banner. When he resisted, saying he had a First Amendment right to display the message, she confiscated it and later suspended him for defying her and for having the banner.

Read more in the Sun Herald.

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What's the Fuss About?

When newly elected members of Congress raise their right hands as they take their oaths of office in January, they won't be placing their left hands on the Bible, their high school yearbooks or any religious texts. During official swearing-in ceremonies, elected members don't place their hands on any books. It's up to individual members, however, if they want to carry sacred texts. "Some members carry a Bible. You don't actually put your hand on a Bible. I can't see how anyone would object to carrying a Quran," Senate historian Don Ritchie said.

I agree with Senate Historian Don Ritchie, how can anyone object to the Quran being used. We do have freedom of religion in America don't we?

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Epa Libraries Being Shut Down

As the Environmental Protection Agency closes some scientific libraries around the country, EPA scientists and other environmental advocates worry whether that kind of information could become harder to find. They fear that the agency's plan to save money by replacing printed resources with digitized versions on the Internet could make information less - not more - accessible. "Nobody is against modernization, but we don't see the digitization," said Francesca Grifo, a botanist and the director of scientific integrity at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group for the environment and other scientific issues. "We just see the libraries closing. We just see that public access has been cut off."