Baldeagle, you're right there is tension within different parts of the Constitution, and there is definite tension between the religious freedom provisions and the free speech clause of the 1st Amendment. I think what you're missing is that it is proper for the government to place minimally restrictive limits on when, where and how people speak, so long as there is a good reason for the limits and it doesn't change what is trying to be said. In other words, free speech doesn't mean you get to say whatever you want, whenever and however you want to say it. It means you have to be given a meaningful opportunity to say what you want. The girls on the cheer squad can express their religious beliefs, but they don't get to hijack a secular school event to do so.
I am totally confounded by your idea that a community should vote on what religious view points are endorsed by the government. The whole idea of protecting individual liberty in the bill of rights is centered on the idea that the majority vote shouldn't be able to take away certain rights from individuals, including the right to not suffer the subjugation of any one religious belief to another.
But BaldEagle, its a school event. The school has a responsibility to ensure the school event is legal. No one has claimed the students should be prosecuted, but the SCHOOL is proper in taking the necessary steps to ensure that the school event does not promote religion.
Personally, I agree that students should have the right to speak in school without government restriction. That refers to a different part of the 1st Amendment about speech, not religion. Courts have decided that students in schools only have some free speech rights, not complete rights. However, even if they did have full rights, its proper--and legal--that doesn't mean they get to speak whenever they want, just that they have to be given the opportunity to speak. Expressing that right while performing a school sanctioned function (cheering) may not be proper. At the very least, the school would have to also similarly accommodate anyone else who wants to similarly speak. So those football players better be ready and willing to ru through the Atheist banner, the Pagan banner, the Christian Scientist banner, the Mormon banner, the Jewish banner, the Catholic banner, the Muslim banner, the Agnostic banner, and on and on.
Clearly not every single student, employee and community member at the school and in attendance at the school event had the same religious beliefs, so I'm not sure how you decide which views get be promoted, and which are silenced?
Sigh. The pesky thing about reading the Constitution is you actually have to read--and understand--the whole thing.
For those who are interested in learning, a skeleton sketch of the 1st Amendment prohibition on government establishment of religion:
1. The 1st prohibits Congress from making any law "respecting" the establishment of a religion. That has always been understood to: (1) mean favoring any one religion over another, and (2) apply to any act of the federal government, not just the actual laws of Congress. The amendment would be toothless if it didn't recognize that giving favor to one religion over others could be tantamount to actually establishing that religion as an official state religion. Similarly, limiting the 1st to actual acts of Congress would improperly ignore that Congress early delegated much of its legislative authority to different agencies and authorities of the federal government who develop policies. That's why the local Social Security Office can't decide to pay claims to Pentecostal Christians less than to Orthadox Jews.
The 14th Amendment took most of the provisions of the bill of rights, including that first amendment, and applied it to the acts of STATE governments. And once ratified, that 14th Amendment became part of the Constitution too. So the whole not promoting or favoring one religion (or no religion over religion, for that matter) applies to your state government too.
A public school is part of the state government. School events are subject to all those pesky Constitutional concerns. No promoting one religion over another, no promoting religion over no-religion, and no promoting no religion over religion. In other words, leave religion out of it, or make it inclusive for ALL beliefs without denigrating anyone else's beliefs.
A football game is a school event. That seems pretty obvious. The government (in this case the school) is responsible for making sure its done constitutionally.
Bible verses are religious speech. Agreed?
Bible verses being promoted as part of a football game is government promotion of a religious belief over other beliefs in direct violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. In other words, its pretty un-American.
oh and by the way, one of the purposes of the Bill of Rights is to protect the MINORITY from the tyranny of the MAJORITY.
Cheerleaders’ religious signs draw fire
Baldeagle, you're right there is tension within different parts of the Constitution, and there is definite tension between the religious freedom provisions and the free speech clause of the 1st Amendment. I think what you're missing is that it is proper for the government to place minimally restrictive limits on when, where and how people speak, so long as there is a good reason for the limits and it doesn't change what is trying to be said. In other words, free speech doesn't mean you get to say whatever you want, whenever and however you want to say it. It means you have to be given a meaningful opportunity to say what you want. The girls on the cheer squad can express their religious beliefs, but they don't get to hijack a secular school event to do so.
I am totally confounded by your idea that a community should vote on what religious view points are endorsed by the government. The whole idea of protecting individual liberty in the bill of rights is centered on the idea that the majority vote shouldn't be able to take away certain rights from individuals, including the right to not suffer the subjugation of any one religious belief to another.
Cheerleaders’ religious signs draw fire
But BaldEagle, its a school event. The school has a responsibility to ensure the school event is legal. No one has claimed the students should be prosecuted, but the SCHOOL is proper in taking the necessary steps to ensure that the school event does not promote religion.
Personally, I agree that students should have the right to speak in school without government restriction. That refers to a different part of the 1st Amendment about speech, not religion. Courts have decided that students in schools only have some free speech rights, not complete rights. However, even if they did have full rights, its proper--and legal--that doesn't mean they get to speak whenever they want, just that they have to be given the opportunity to speak. Expressing that right while performing a school sanctioned function (cheering) may not be proper. At the very least, the school would have to also similarly accommodate anyone else who wants to similarly speak. So those football players better be ready and willing to ru through the Atheist banner, the Pagan banner, the Christian Scientist banner, the Mormon banner, the Jewish banner, the Catholic banner, the Muslim banner, the Agnostic banner, and on and on.
Clearly not every single student, employee and community member at the school and in attendance at the school event had the same religious beliefs, so I'm not sure how you decide which views get be promoted, and which are silenced?
Cheerleaders’ religious signs draw fire
Sigh. The pesky thing about reading the Constitution is you actually have to read--and understand--the whole thing.
For those who are interested in learning, a skeleton sketch of the 1st Amendment prohibition on government establishment of religion: 1. The 1st prohibits Congress from making any law "respecting" the establishment of a religion. That has always been understood to: (1) mean favoring any one religion over another, and (2) apply to any act of the federal government, not just the actual laws of Congress. The amendment would be toothless if it didn't recognize that giving favor to one religion over others could be tantamount to actually establishing that religion as an official state religion. Similarly, limiting the 1st to actual acts of Congress would improperly ignore that Congress early delegated much of its legislative authority to different agencies and authorities of the federal government who develop policies. That's why the local Social Security Office can't decide to pay claims to Pentecostal Christians less than to Orthadox Jews.
The 14th Amendment took most of the provisions of the bill of rights, including that first amendment, and applied it to the acts of STATE governments. And once ratified, that 14th Amendment became part of the Constitution too. So the whole not promoting or favoring one religion (or no religion over religion, for that matter) applies to your state government too.
A public school is part of the state government. School events are subject to all those pesky Constitutional concerns. No promoting one religion over another, no promoting religion over no-religion, and no promoting no religion over religion. In other words, leave religion out of it, or make it inclusive for ALL beliefs without denigrating anyone else's beliefs.
A football game is a school event. That seems pretty obvious. The government (in this case the school) is responsible for making sure its done constitutionally.
Bible verses are religious speech. Agreed?
Bible verses being promoted as part of a football game is government promotion of a religious belief over other beliefs in direct violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. In other words, its pretty un-American.
oh and by the way, one of the purposes of the Bill of Rights is to protect the MINORITY from the tyranny of the MAJORITY.