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This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: RE: My God is better than your God. You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

RE: My God is better than your God
by Decius at 7:56 pm EST, Dec 11, 2002

flynn23 wrote:
] School district bans holiday decorations.

On the one hand, students have a protected right to religious speech.
On the other hand, it is illegal to turn a school into a chapel, or to coerce religious messages upon a captive audience.

Its possible that hanging a bunch of religious material up in a school could constitute the latter, but its extremely unlikely in a holiday context. Courts are not stupid. They aren't going to declare this establishment unless it IS really establishment.

One wonders about the facts of the case. What promped this decision? This article is fairly short on facts. The idea of children's art being torn off the walls is fairly sensational. The fact that they don't say WHY leads me to suspect that if they did it would make the story less interesting.

The article I'm linking here is a reasonable coverage of religious rights in schools. It does not cover this issue exactly. However, it does have this to say about holidays:

"Generally, public schools may teach about religious holidays, and may celebrate the secular aspects of the holiday and objectively teach about their religious aspects. They may not observe the holidays as religious events. Schools should generally excuse students who do not wish to participate in holiday events."


 
 
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