There is a mostly silent minority WITHIN the LFO community that is glad that Catoosa County will now be following federal and constitutional law. As a teacher, when you hear students of other faiths remark, "Maybe someone understands us too," while students of the majority faith counter, "YOU don't have to come to OUR games and look at OUR signs," it speaks of a problem that goes deeper than the personal or public display of one's faith. Promoting division into US and THEM, into INSIDERS and OUTSIDERS, the signs and overly-dramatic media coverage have revealed sad facts about what values we are teaching our children. According to the media stories and statements by school officials it is more important for the majority to present a "united front" than to obey the law and to love and respect others if you are part of the majority and you don't want to do so. In fact, the more we oppress others, the prouder we should be....
Promoting the marginalization of students (and adults) of other faiths under the auspices of a government institution is exactly the sort of thing against which the establishment clause should (and theoretically does - depending on where one lives) protect. Yet, we deliberately confound the ideals of individual religious freedom, free speech, and the endorsement of religion by the state, and we are teaching our children to do so too. Even worse, now we have the media and community applauding just this sort of behavior by focusing not on the constitutionality of the issue (or even the ethics), but by undermining such messages by focusing on the source of the complaint. Not only is the establishment of religion by a state institution unconstitutional, it is unethical and hurtful, a fact that cannot be overlooked by those of us who teach students who have been relegated to the status of outsiders.
LFO Bible verse ‘complainant’ denies call for ban
There is a mostly silent minority WITHIN the LFO community that is glad that Catoosa County will now be following federal and constitutional law. As a teacher, when you hear students of other faiths remark, "Maybe someone understands us too," while students of the majority faith counter, "YOU don't have to come to OUR games and look at OUR signs," it speaks of a problem that goes deeper than the personal or public display of one's faith. Promoting division into US and THEM, into INSIDERS and OUTSIDERS, the signs and overly-dramatic media coverage have revealed sad facts about what values we are teaching our children. According to the media stories and statements by school officials it is more important for the majority to present a "united front" than to obey the law and to love and respect others if you are part of the majority and you don't want to do so. In fact, the more we oppress others, the prouder we should be....
Promoting the marginalization of students (and adults) of other faiths under the auspices of a government institution is exactly the sort of thing against which the establishment clause should (and theoretically does - depending on where one lives) protect. Yet, we deliberately confound the ideals of individual religious freedom, free speech, and the endorsement of religion by the state, and we are teaching our children to do so too. Even worse, now we have the media and community applauding just this sort of behavior by focusing not on the constitutionality of the issue (or even the ethics), but by undermining such messages by focusing on the source of the complaint. Not only is the establishment of religion by a state institution unconstitutional, it is unethical and hurtful, a fact that cannot be overlooked by those of us who teach students who have been relegated to the status of outsiders.