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| The ACLU, One Muslim Student,
an Activist Judge, and Prayer at Graduation by John F. Wilhite, Ph.D., for
World Observer 12 June 2006
Freedom of speech vs. freedom of religion, the minority
vs. the majority, a Muslim vs. Christians, an activist judge vs. the
Constitution, and the ACLU vs. the people
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Muslim student, ACLU fight graduation prayer at KY school
"Terms like Jesus Christ,
heavenly father, and the prayers were offensive to me," the 17-year-old
Muslim, Arshiya Saiyed, said. But the ACLU and the Muslim with her
comments that are offensive to Christians lost the fight because the
Court Order Does Not
Stop Students From Saying the Lord's Prayer and Thanking God at
Graduation Ceremony.
The blogosphere is buzzing with
banter on the incident as the intolerant secularists will not remain
silent about a small victory for religious freedom as in the case of the
following piece: The writer of this related item,
Free Speech Offers No Right to Suppress Others' Religious
Freedom (Tucson Citizen,
Charles Haynes, 6.2.2006), with its deceptive title, berates those
exercising freedoms of religion and speech, suggesting they should
respect the one-person minority and her attempt to silence Christians.
The "others' religious freedom," although inaccurately written in the
plural (others'), refers to the religious freedom of one Muslim
student from an Islamic country in the midst of 3000 Christians in
Kentucky, USA. Haynes admonishes the majority to be tolerant
of--and silent in the presence of--the minority. The writer, a
"senior scholar" at the First Amendment Center, erroneously states that
the judges' order was proper, which it wasn't as pointed out clearly by
this
Update 2 June 2006.
And here is the same article by Haynes
with a different title appearing on a different web site (interesting
way of getting extra mileage out of one piece of writing):
Prayer protest at graduation: Fighting over God and country
by Charles
C. Haynes, "Kentucky students imposed Christian prayer on public
ceremony — even though there are legal, fair ways to acknowledge God at
graduation." (05.28.06) Notice the use of the term
"imposed" and the insinuation that what the students did was not legal
and not fair. Those reading the facts of the incident will readily
see that the events were legal, fair, and not imposed on anyone.
The "legal and fair ways" Haynes suggests are a moment of silent prayer
(a secularist tactic to silence free speech--silence is not speech)
and/or holding the graduation away from school and organized by parents,
disregarding other permissible ways as pointed out in
Update 2 June 2006.
Such "reporting" makes one curious about the title "senior scholar" (of
what?) and use of the name "First Amendment Center" for a web site with
so little knowledge of the First Amendment and Supreme Court and federal
court rulings related to it. He merely cites a school board policy
but does not refer at all to any legal documents.
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