Lawsuit against Texas "Moment of Silence"
Why do the majority of people in this country continue to allow a small minority of agitators to dictate what we can and cannot do?
Case in point: a Dallas couple has filed a complaint in federal court against Texas governor Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, charging that the state's mandated moment of silence in public schools is unconstitutional.
The Texas law allows children the opportunity to "reflect, pray, meditate or engage in any other silent activities" for one minute each day. However, Plaintiff David Croft said, "This is just a ruse to get prayer in school without calling it prayer in school."
We have a similar law here in Indiana, and I'm sure that there are some students, both here and in Texas, who use that minute to say a silent prayer. There are probably also some who use that minute to think about what they have to do that day, some who spend that minute wondering why they're supposed to be quiet for one minute, and some who are simply trying to stay awake.
If some students are offended because some other students choose to pray, that's too bad. The Constitution does not guarantee anyone freedom from religion. It does, however, guaranteed everyone freedom of religion. As long as no one is being forced to pray, there is nothing unconstitutional about this.
UPDATE: After a little digging, I have come up with some information on the plaintiff in this case, David Wallace Croft. Mr. Croft is the secretary of the Dallas Brights , a Dallas chapter of the Brights Movement . According to their website, a bright is "a person who has a naturalistic worldview," whose "worldview is free of supernatural and mystical elements," and whose "ethics and actions ... are based on a naturalistic worldview."
On Mr. Croft's own website , he lists Optihumanism as his religion, and provides a link which defines Optihumanism as "a religion based on a number of influences including Humanism, Individualism, Objectivism, Reductionism, and Transhumanism." He states that "as a transhumanist, I believe that future technologies such as nanotechnology will one day permit us to live forever." Croft lists membership in the American Humanist Association and the Atheist Alliance International. He also mentions that he serves as "Vice Chair and Webmaster of the Metroplex Atheists Reading Group" and has been nominated to serve as the "Chair of the Metroplex Atheists."
Do we understand who these people are who are trying to destroy the right of those of us who believe in God to express our beliefs? Do we clearly understand their agenda? Make no mistake: their agenda is to construct a completely Godless society. They attempt to camouflage their true intentions under the guise of "separation of church and state," but it's not separation they want. It's the destruction of the church they want.
Case in point: a Dallas couple has filed a complaint in federal court against Texas governor Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District, charging that the state's mandated moment of silence in public schools is unconstitutional.
The Texas law allows children the opportunity to "reflect, pray, meditate or engage in any other silent activities" for one minute each day. However, Plaintiff David Croft said, "This is just a ruse to get prayer in school without calling it prayer in school."
We have a similar law here in Indiana, and I'm sure that there are some students, both here and in Texas, who use that minute to say a silent prayer. There are probably also some who use that minute to think about what they have to do that day, some who spend that minute wondering why they're supposed to be quiet for one minute, and some who are simply trying to stay awake.
If some students are offended because some other students choose to pray, that's too bad. The Constitution does not guarantee anyone freedom from religion. It does, however, guaranteed everyone freedom of religion. As long as no one is being forced to pray, there is nothing unconstitutional about this.
UPDATE: After a little digging, I have come up with some information on the plaintiff in this case, David Wallace Croft. Mr. Croft is the secretary of the Dallas Brights , a Dallas chapter of the Brights Movement . According to their website, a bright is "a person who has a naturalistic worldview," whose "worldview is free of supernatural and mystical elements," and whose "ethics and actions ... are based on a naturalistic worldview."
On Mr. Croft's own website , he lists Optihumanism as his religion, and provides a link which defines Optihumanism as "a religion based on a number of influences including Humanism, Individualism, Objectivism, Reductionism, and Transhumanism." He states that "as a transhumanist, I believe that future technologies such as nanotechnology will one day permit us to live forever." Croft lists membership in the American Humanist Association and the Atheist Alliance International. He also mentions that he serves as "Vice Chair and Webmaster of the Metroplex Atheists Reading Group" and has been nominated to serve as the "Chair of the Metroplex Atheists."
Do we understand who these people are who are trying to destroy the right of those of us who believe in God to express our beliefs? Do we clearly understand their agenda? Make no mistake: their agenda is to construct a completely Godless society. They attempt to camouflage their true intentions under the guise of "separation of church and state," but it's not separation they want. It's the destruction of the church they want.
posted by Bryan Alexander | 10:03 PM
2 Comments:
I wonder how we got to the place where Mr Croft's "religion" can preach and proselytize in the public schools unchecked by the majority view.
:Do we understand who these people are who are trying to destroy the right of those of us who believe in God to express our beliefs?
Probably not.
:Do we clearly understand their agenda?
Apparently
:Make no mistake: their agenda is to construct a completely Godless society.
It certainly would appear that way at times but they are unlikely to ever achieve that goal.
:They attempt to camouflage their true intentions under the guise of "separation of church and state," but it's not separation they want. It's the destruction of the church they want.
True enough. It might interest you to know that David Wallace Croft joined the Community Unitarian*Universalist Church of Plano Texas in 2005. He is by no means the only fundamentalist atheist activist to join the U*U "church". Indeed it would seem that a fair number of Texas Unitarian*Universalists aka U*Us are like-minded atheist "Humanists". In fact, some similarly militant fundamentalist atheist "Humanist" U*Us are even ordained as U*U ministers. The Rev. Ray Drennan, formerly of the Unitarian Church of Montreal, is a a poster-boy for such intolerant fundamentalist atheists, as an appropriate Google search will quite readily demonstrate to you.
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