From: Steven Durrett 

Jeff -

>

No, it isn't true. If a school is preventing Christian students from
praying during lunch or recess or between classes, the school is violating
the First Amendment. If a school says a child can't bow her head in a
silent prayer directed to Jehovah, the school is violating the First
Amendment. The solution to those violations is to go to court and get an
injunction, just like the rest of have to do when extremists of a different
stripe attempt to use public schools to promote their religious beliefs.

<< Why do atheists feel so threatened? It's not like I'm gonna hold
their mouth
open and shove it down their throats. >>

I can't speak for atheists, but as a polytheistic non-Christian, I have a
couple of current examples of why I feel threatened.

The US House of Representatives recently voted to approve legislation
sponsored by Rep. Aderholt allowing states to post the ten commandments
(including the ever popular, "Thou shalt have no other gods before
me") in every public building - including schools and courtrooms. The
legislation is currently in conference committee. If that provision is
approved in conference, it will likely be passed by Congress and signed
into law by Clinton (on the theory that the "ten commandment"
provision will be overturned by the courts). It's part of the House version
of the Juvenile Justice Act. If that isn't trying to shove Yahweh down my
throat, what is?

A US Congressman (Robet Barr, R-Ga) is threatening public hearings into why
the military allows Wiccans (a faith with some general similarity to mine)
to practice their faith on base. If that isn't trying to shove Jehovah down
my throat, what is?

Both of those acts are blatant violations of the First and Fourteenth
Amendments as they are currently interpreted, but that interpretation is
something Reps. Barr and Aderholt find deeply offensive ... and it could be
changed by a simple piece of federal legislation increasing the size of the
Supreme Court from 9 to 19, with reversal of Gitlow v. New York being the
litmus test for confirmation of the additional members. As someone who
refuses to comply with the first four commandments, I never, ever forget
that my right not to be a Christian is a fragile thing, just a majority
vote away from disappearing..

I don't consider the demise of that right to be at all likely, but I know
that it is possible. After all, anyone who thinks it a good idea to post
the first commandment on a schoolroom wall or a judge's bench has no
concept of what religious tolerance is all about - and a majority of the
current House (including 203 of the 222 Republicans) falls into that
category.

From where I worship, that is a very frightening thought.

Steve Durrett

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