Give a Religious Righter enough rope...

[DarkMagician]

...and they'll hang themselves.

The dispute started last summer when Gabriel and Joshua Rakoski, twins who attend Hollymead Elementary School, sought permission to distribute fliers about their church’s Vacation Bible School to their peers via “backpack mail.” Many public schools use special folders placed in student backpacks to distribute notices about schools events and sometimes extra-curricular activities to parents.

*snip*

Some local Pagans who attend Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Charlottesville, decided to take advantage of the new forum as well. They created a one-page flier advertising a Dec. 9 event celebrating the December holidays with a Pagan twist and used the backpack system to invite the entire school community.

Nice. A school is threatened into distributing religious advertising handouts, and the Pagans use the same system to distribute their own, and the people for "religious freedom" show their true colors.

 

[supercorgi]

That is the funniest thing I've read for awhile! Go Pagans!

 

[Tricky]

...and they'll hang themselves.



Nice. A school is threatened into distributing religious advertising handouts, and the Pagans use the same system to distribute their own, and the people for "religious freedom" show their true colors.

From the link.

Another conservative Christian blogger in the county complained about finding the flier in her child’s folder. Apparently unaware of Falwell’s role in bringing it about, the blogger who goes by the name Cathy, noted disclaimer language at the bottom of the flier noting that the event is not connected to the school and wrote, “They [the school officials] aren’t endorsing or sponsoring this? Then it shouldn’t have been included in the Friday folders. The Friday folders have never been used for any thing other than school work and school board and/or County sanctioned/sponsored programs.”
She then fumed that a “pagan ritual” is “an educational experience my children don’t need.”

Could it be? Naw, our Kathy is Kurious, right?

 

[Cello Man]

Indeed, it's funny to see the tables turned. At the same time, Pagans vs. Christians ultimately comes down to Woo vs. Woo.

 

[Canadian Malcontent]

Sounds like another case of 'politicising children', how sad.

 

[Canadian Malcontent]

That is the funniest thing I've read for awhile! Go Pagans!

Nice cheer , do you have pompoms?
Do you know what 'magic' is?

P.S. note to cello; 'magic' aint woo.

 

[Meadmaker]

Now, just for a moment, imagine what would happen if they allowed Christmas carols at the school holiday pageant.

 

[tkingdoll]

Nice cheer , do you have pompoms?
Do you know what 'magic' is?

P.S. note to cello; 'magic' aint woo.

Pom-poms.

 

[Dark Jaguar]

Nice cheer , do you have pompoms?
Do you know what 'magic' is?

P.S. note to cello; 'magic' aint woo.

You mean illusions? Sure that's not woo. There really are illusions.

 

[Huntster]

......A school is threatened into distributing religious advertising handouts, and the Pagans use the same system to distribute their own, and the people for "religious freedom" show their true colors.

Problem?

 

[Tricky]

Problem?

The problem is that a public school should not have made accomodations for the distribution of religious literature. That some Christians got their knickers in a twist when the "wrong kind" of religious literature was distributed is just funny.

 

[drkitten]

The problem is that a public school should not have made accomodations for the distribution of religious literature.

I'm not sure that I agree; I don't see any harm done by the accomodations, or any problems.

I think it's perfectly legitimate for a school to refuse to distribute religious literature.

I also think it's perfectly legitimate for a school to distribute religious literature on an even-handed basis.

I can also see someone feeling that the second is more legitimate than the first, or vice versa.

I think the "problem" is not with the school, but with the Christians that want to have their cake and eat it to. The two choices outlined above are the only choices. Option 3 -- distribute only religious literature for preferred groups -- is not on the table.

 

[ImaginalDisc]

I'm not sure that I agree; I don't see any harm done by the accomodations, or any problems.

I think it's perfectly legitimate for a school to refuse to distribute religious literature.

I also think it's perfectly legitimate for a school to distribute religious literature on an even-handed basis.

It's inappriopriate for a public (read: government funded) school to distribute religious propaganda. That's the use of government resources for religious purposes. It's arguably a violation of the first amendment.

I can also see someone feeling that the second is more legitimate than the first, or vice versa.

I think the "problem" is not with the school, but with the Christians that want to have their cake and eat it to. The two choices outlined above are the only choices. Option 3 -- distribute only religious literature for preferred groups -- is not on the table.

Agreed.

 

[scotth]

I just wanna chime in that I find the article exceptionally amusing.

 

[Orangutan]

Awesome find, you have brightened my Friday DarkMagician. Thankyou.

 

[drkitten]

It's inappriopriate for a public (read: government funded) school to distribute religious propaganda.

So, you feel that the US Postal Service shouldn't deliver mail that comes from churches?

You feel that the FCC should not permit churches to advertise on TV?

Stretches of roads in front of churches should not be paved or plowed?

That's the use of government resources for religious purposes. It's arguably a violation of the first amendment.

Yes, but not by any sensible argument. The USPS is also a government resource -- but by policy and design, it's open to all in an even-handed and content-neutral fashion.

If the school wants to make "backpack mail" available on an even-handed basis, that's fine. One could even argue -- sensibly -- that it's more fair. If (as the article says), backpack mail can be used by other groups for extracurricular activities, then churches can have extracurricular activities, too. (For example, if the Sierra Club got to advertise a planned lecture on the Solar System, so should the YMCA, despite the fact that the YMCA is a church group.)

 

[scotth]

So, you feel that the US Postal Service shouldn't deliver mail that comes from churches?

You feel that the FCC should not permit churches to advertise on TV?

Stretches of roads in front of churches should not be paved or plowed?

This argument is ridiculous and not a parallel at all.

Does the USPS carrying church mail endorse the message of the church or just treat the church as a customer?

The same treatment can be applied to TV and paving.

Now, bring up the church's lack of taxation, maybe discount postal rates, or other favoritism displayed toward the church and I'll resolutely state my objection.

 

[Trantor]

Nice article. This is a typical response from Fundamentalist Christians who only want their religion represented in the schools.

I remember a about a year ago, reading about a Christian group that wanted their version of creation represented along with evolution in a public zoo display about the beginning of life on Earth. After all, we do want to be fair when we represent the competing views of how life came to be. When the zoo decided to add several other religion's creation theories, in addition to their evolution display, the Christian group was not happy at all! For them there was only two choices - Christian creation or evolution.

 

[ImaginalDisc]

So, you feel that the US Postal Service shouldn't deliver mail that comes from churches?

You feel that the FCC should not permit churches to advertise on TV?

Stretches of roads in front of churches should not be paved or plowed?

Don't be silly, the USPS is intended to delivery mail. Schools are not. These religious whackos pressured the schools to distribute religious propaganda that has nothing to do with the education of these students. If they want to spam people with their prosyletizing, they can use the mail.

 

[ponderingturtle]

It's inappriopriate for a public (read: government funded) school to distribute religious propaganda. That's the use of government resources for religious purposes. It's arguably a violation of the first amendment.

Is it inappropriate to distribute religious propaganda on a state owned media? How then do religious broadcasting works as the state licenses out its ownership of the airwaves.

I don't see how this is all that different, clearly if they provided the distribution method and the people wanting it distributed I don't see why it is clearly inappropriate.