I swear. Do high school administrators not have a clue about coercion of a religious message? This is no brainer but apparently the administrators of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School don't have much of a brain to consider such matters.
It seems that since 2003 the cheerleaders at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School have displayed religious banners that the football players crash through at the beginning of games. But these banners went far beyond Go Team. Oh, no. These banners were overytly religious & urged fans & players to commit to the Lord and take courage and do it.
I suppose that would be all fine & dandy at a private school but LFO is not a private school & the tax payer dollars of all citizens are at work on that football field.
So finally --- after 6 years, evidently --- someone had to nads to stand up, complain, & tell the school superintendent that those banners with Scripture quotations are illegal. Finally.
So the school system did the right thing & made the cheerleaders stop using Biblical quotes on the banners. According to the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, the school system issued a proper statement about respecting the law & the religious beliefs of all citizens of the county.
But let's not let a little thing like the Constitution stand in the way of a politician looking for votes, or a minister in need of a cause to stir the passions of the flock, not to mention the coffers.
Such is Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Ronnie Cobb who said: "If it's offensive to anyone, let them go watch another football game. Nobody's forced to come there and nobody’s forced to read the signs."
Ok. Thank you very much, Mr Cobb. Perhaps you will be so kind as to tell all non-Christians they are not welcome in your fair city & they should take their shopping dollars elsewhere. Please. I'm interested in how you would frame that scenario.
Or The Reverend Scott, who has several of the cheerleaders attending his church, said the most recent sign he saw quoting from Timothy 1:7 could be considered inspirational in many settings.
Sure it could, Rev. Scott. In many settings. But it is not appropriate at a public school anymore than a banner quoting the Koran would be. Not all that complicated.
Sigh. More Godslingers in action. I bet Jimmy Madison & Tommy Jefferson are rolling over in their graves.
3 comments:
When will they ever learn? Not anytime soon, I fear.
is it in the constituetion that schools are not allowed to have any religious comments posted anywhere? seriously.. is it? i guess i could have looked it up but figured you knew where it was exactly.
Actually, Mr. or Ms. Anonymous, it is in the Constitution that the gov't is not allowed to promote religious messages. Perhaps if you had bothered to read the 1st & 14th Amendments & consider the implications of gov't being neutral in matters of faith, you would understand that the only way Xians are protected is to also protect all other faiths. The 1st Amendment is clear: gov't is to give no faith a Most Favored Status. None. If the majority in LFO were Muslim, would you --- as a Xian --- feel comfortable at a football game where the cheerleaders held up banners saying "Live for Allah?" The football game is a public event with public tax dollars & such banners give the implied endorsement of the gov't. Private banners are fine. Private speech is fine, even in public. But no private speech must ever be construed as having gov't endorsement --- that's what the 1st Amendment says on the Federal level & the 14th Amendment alos applied to the states & local municipalities.
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