The excitable lot in continuing its
quest to promote a secularist religion last month fulminated over the penchant
of AHS principle Jason Rowland to throw out references to God
on his page attached to the school’s web site and that prayer boxes, marked
with crosses, sprinkle the campus. It asked for the school to cease and desist
in supporting this activity and requested reeducation sessions of school
employees.
Perhaps the organization felt
emboldened by its apparent success in browbeating Caddo Parish officials earlier
this year when it scolded
employees at Walnut Hills Elementary-Middle School for posted website material
such as a newsletter to parents asking for prayer for exam-taking success and
in its publicizing a student-run prayer group. While the community rallied on
behalf of the school, the district
said it would investigate and since then has mentioned nothing more
publicly about the matter. Such references have disappeared from Walnut Hill’s
communications.
This episode also apparently had a
spillover effect when Ridgewood Middle School removed from its marquee the
phrase “In God We Trust.” Area families made of sterner stuff rallied to have
that return within days of its disappearance, where jurisprudence clearly
supported government endorsement of that phrase (take a look at U.S. coins).
And this resoluteness is shared by
BPSD. Rather than roll over, its School Board supported the AHS activities and
reaffirmed its support of constitutional religious expression, in essence telling
the ACLU to take a hike. A rally
held this month attracted hundreds, including Republican gubernatorial
candidate Sen. David Vitter.
As in the case of any bully when the
intended victim fought back, the ACLU to date has slunk away without protest. While
the phrase “God bless you” that set off the ACLU no longer appears on the site,
at present Rowland’s
page contains a caption of a picture apparently in Arizona stating “God
created the Grand Canyon, but he lived in Sedona.”
The ACLU has not responded because jurisprudence
rests firmly on the side of the district. As the area’s state Rep. Mike Johnson, a
constitutional lawyer expert in First Amendment rights as they deal with
religious practice, affirmed,
the use of the words “God bless you” by Rowland is an innocuous reference to
America’s religious heritage, with that sentiment even part of the Pledge of
Allegiance. In fact, in some ways the phrase has become secularized; it and its
variants often peal out when somebody sneezes.
Prayer boxes, even with crosses,
also do not constitute a constitutional violation, as long as it is a student
organization that is behind them. Allowing such boxes circulation around campus
injects nothing into a school’s atmosphere beyond religious neutrality and in
no way discourages containers maintained by any student organization dedicated
to collecting pleas to Allah, petitions to Gaia, curses to be dispensed by
Beelzebub, or rants into the ether if of atheist persuasion.
Besides Vitter’s physical support, other
Republican candidates for governor Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle and Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne also expressed defenses of religious
freedom at AHS. Conspicuously absent was any mention by the major Democrat
candidate, state Rep. John Bel
Edwards, who holds himself out regularly on his website, in commercials,
and in debates as a committed Catholic. It’s not the first time Edwards has
shied away from walking the walk: during this year’s legislative session, when
Johnson presented a bill to safeguard individuals acting on their belief in
traditional marriage against punitive state actions, Edwards copped
out by doubting a perfectly reasonable and constitutional bill and voting
against it in committee.
It’s odd that a candidate so willing
to publicize as part of his campaign his faith seems unwilling to lend his backing
to the exercise of religious faith. True character is revealed in what one
does, not just what one says. Voters should keep this in mind as they evaluate
the candidacy of Edwards.
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