Arkansas Blog

The school is implying to the students that their public authority figure advocates one religion, Christianity, over all others, and over no religion.

Sounds like the school is implying that it supports one translation, KJV, over others.

We just keep having these end runs around our tradition of separation of church and state. Sounds like penalties need to be increased for these probing efforts to get religious teaching into schools.

Probably Gideons.

Well, of course it's the King James Version. Jesus spoke to us in English so we could understand his rants against homosexuality and abortion. If he spoke in his tongue (Aramaic) we would never have gotten the message.

From the article: Scriber, Mountain Home schools' superintendent . . .said no religious groups other than the Gideons have made a request to distribute literature at schools. If another request were made, Scriber said, it would be subject to the same district policy, adding that the district doesn't advocate a religion.
********
Sorry Spirit, sounds like the school is being pretty non-partisan(?) at this point. Before imputing your desired, predetermined vision of their motives into the situation, maybe you could recruit a Muslim, Buddhist, Mormon, Wiccan or MotherEarther to provide copies of their comparative texts to see how open the school policy is.

We ARE wanting our schools to educate and open the minds of our children to what is going on out there, aren't we? If the school performs as they say they will, they should be due some credit.

There are no rants in the Bible regarding abortion. A child was not considered a person until age 1 month (Leviticus 27:6)
If fact the Bible glorifies abortion:
"..their little ones will be dashed to the ground; their preganant women ripped open." (Hosea 13:16).
For Biblical instruction on how to magically induce an abortion see Numbers 5:17-31

"If the King's English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for the children of Texas." (Ma Ferguson, first woman governor of Texas, ca. 1925.)

Apparently, the same is true for the children of Arkansas.

The really disturbing thing is not the proselytizing, which never did lasting harm to us when we were kids, but that your children are being educated by citizens so tone deaf that they hear no problem with this blatant disrespect of the Constitution, the rule of law, and their fellow citizens.

Giving other religious groups the same opportunity as the Gideons does not make it legal. Check you Constitution. It clearly prohibits government establishment "of religion," not "of A religion." Any state funded institution (ie, a public school), which acts in such a way as to recognize religion is acting against the spirit of the Constitution.

I know the muslims say there is only one god but they are not worshiping the one and only true God. They worship a man who's bones are still in the tomb where he was put down. Christ rose from the dead 3 days after he was killed.
Don't ask if I know the bible because I know the one who inspired the writings of it. Saw Him and heard his voice talking to me as many others have done and heard.
God bless the Gideons!

Hey silverback I got some oceanfront property to sell you. YOU are crazy thinking the constitution has anything to say about churches being seperate from government. A bastard will be a fool saying idiotic things like that. School were first start by churches you dummy.

Hey silverback I got some oceanfront property to sell you. YOU are crazy thinking the constitution has anything to say about churches being seperate from government. A bastard will be a fool saying idiotic things like that. Schools were first started by churches you dummy.

Hey, I got one of those when I was in elementary school in the 1940's in Little Rock from the Gideons. I did not know they were still handing them out. Hey, its a free world out there. You either take one or you don't!

OK....here is a little whiff of the type of thinking that has created the world we live in today. Screw them Muslims! They think they're so hot and the bones of their profit lay moldering in a tomb.....stupid Muslims!

Anyone knows that to have ya a real God, you got to have NO proof of anything. See son, if you got something you're screwed, but if you got nothing you're a Christian. Get it? I say, I say, Get it?

And if Silverback66 will just read the Pat Robertson-Jerry Falwell US Constitution he can get free from Fox News, he'll see that Jesus, his very self, was in Philadelphia back in the 1770s leaning over Tom Jefferson's shoulder guiding his hand as he wrote the document that created this damn country!

In the real Fox News version of the US Constitution it says cram that religion down the kid's throats, bash them gays, bad mouth all Mexicans, send your kids to be butchered in Iraq if Bush says so and torch every abortion clinic you drive past. And you gotta believe it because unlike them Muslims, Christians have all the no proof on earth to back up what they say.

Be smarter Silverback, facts and truths hold ya down....you gotta have nothing if you expect to rule the world. And quit believing there is such a thing as oceanfront property......nuckelhead!

"Christ rose from the dead 3 days after he was killed."
-chasv

I'd like to invite you to the 21st century.

While I respect any and all faiths and beliefs, keep that crap out of the classroom and leave it at your church...

With your blinders on, chasv, I wouldn't be calling anyone a "dummy"...

"Don't ask if I know the bible because I know the one who inspired the writings of it. Saw Him and heard his voice talking to me as many others have done and heard."
--chasv

Them "Christocrats" are as predictable as the sunrise.

Let's try to keep this discussion on track. Nothing religious has happened in any classroom. An announcement was made that those who wanted one could get a Bible outside the cafeteria door.

Let's try to keep this discussion on track. Nothing religious has happened in any classroom. An announcement was made that those who wanted one could get a Bible outside the cafeteria door.

This is pulling at a dangerous thread. What if Playboy wants to hand out it's product? What if NAMBLA wants to drop some membership applications off? What if Walmart decides kids need their big Christmas sales circular?

Why not a free kitten for every kid! And hey.....I'd gladly buy 100 Korans to be passed out to the kids, just to watch the parents do back flips in their SUVs when they picked up little Buffy.

Handing a kid a Bible is no crime, it won't hurt them at all, but by Allah we're sending them to school to get an education, not be targets for a bunch of old men needing something to do because they don't have cable TV. This opens the door to every nutty cult or telemarketer on earth.

And since America is too dangerous to let kids have backpacks at school, adding one more book to the load they're juggling in their hands is just cruel.

Let the lazy churches bring back their crazy painted old buses and troll the neighborhoods for kids who want to hear about Jesus and have some punch and cookies like in the old days.

Let the parents meet the Gideon at the front door and decide what is handed out to their darlings........

DBI, this all falls under the umbrella of "helicopter parents". What are we protecting our kids from - - and do they need our protection?

Wow. Really? And no one seems to think this is a bad idea up there in the Mt. Home? Well, it is constitutionally prohibited as the school is endorsing the dispersal of a religious text, not as a teaching text, by a religious group, in a government institution. I don't know if anyone up there will sue them over this, I doubt it, but it's ridiculous it was approved.

I think Wal-mart will offer their gift gide to students as they leave through the other door...

passing out bibles in school is not violating the establishment clause.

The First Amendment to the constitution starts of like this liberals, " congress shall make no law...."

Dont like it? Move to California where they can teach the muslim religion even making kids take muslim names and recite muslim prayer and the ACLU did nothing.

http://thecitizensjournalblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/islam-ok-but-not-christianity.html

Somebody wake up Hoglawyer from the Turkey induced haze and get him to weigh in.

If kids can't pray at commencement ceremonies (after school hours) I don't think this would be found constitutional. It amounts to endorsement of religion even if its non-denominational--not even a silent prayer is allowed. It amounts to the government compelling a student to pray. Don't like it? Then pray to the God of your choice that the Pres puts someone new on SCOTUS, cause that's who said that is so.

For all you people yelling about freedom of religion, if you really want to protect Christianity, go up there and hand out some Qu'rans.

Freedom of religion means freedom of any religion. If our government endorses one over another, we're all fucked.

Citizens Journal....

It's sad when you live in a state where you're told that in order to have basic rights as a citizen you need to move somewhere else. I did move somewhere else, and it was refreshing to live somewhere where people don't ignore laws they don't agree with. I moved back hoping that things have changed a bit.... and they have. But it's sad for me to see that there are still so many backwards-ass people like yourself living here. There's a big reason I choose to live in Little Rock and not Mountain Home, and it's mainly because of folks like yourself.

It clearly prohibits government establishment "of religion," not "of A religion." Any state funded institution (ie, a public school), which acts in such a way as to recognize religion is acting against the spirit of the Constitution. - Posted by: RazorbackDem
********
OK, to quote our most sacred document:

Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . .

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any consensus as to what "respecting an establishment of religion" means. Does this mean we can't be compelled to belong to a specific denomination? Or does it mean we can practice any religion we want but no law of the state will be enacted to prefer or protect one religion over others? Or . . . how many vague interpretations of the King's English can we arrive at here?

Since religious concepts have been included in every facet of our society from the day we were founded, including every branch of government, even the Supreme Court, you have to be remiss in saying that a governmental agency cannot recognize religion.

Churches are entities recognized, regulated and acknowledged by the federal government and the state, even the foremost governmental agency, the IRS - apparently you believe recognizing these religious entities is unconstitutional?

You might also note that the closing paragraph of the Constitution states, "Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord . . ." Oh my gosh! Whose year? THE YEAR OF OUR LORD! Quick, hide the children, The Constitution recognizes religion! It refers to God! The Constitution is unconstitutional! Wail! Wail! Wail!

Do I fear my children being exposed to Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, atheism, new Ageism, Liberalism, Conservatism, or even Maxbrantleyism in our schools? No. Excluding these belief systems which all impact our world from being described educationally is ignoring the reality of their existence and our kids should have some awareness about each of these ways of life.

You choose to ignore the reality that even mainstream "religious people" are wary of religion being indoctrinated into their kids at school. Methodist parents don't want their kids taught Presbyterianism and the Presbyterians don't want their kids to be taught to become Catholics and the Catholics don't want. . . They have seen first hand the resulting perils when legalists and extremists try to control their flocks. So wake up folks, religious people are just as concerned and wary as you are and will object to indoctrination just as vociferously as you will.

Chill, folks. . .

I agree completely with Citizen Journal. No violation has occurred. I remember when these guys came to my school (within the last five years). We were simply told that the Gideons had Bibles to give us IF WE WANTED THEM. They did not come to us. We went to them.

And DBI - your comment is completely rediculous.

Gurdon, send me your kid's address and I'll load them up with the Koran, a Buddist prayer book and I'll throw in an extra copy of Mein Kampf I've got laying around. Will that groove your hoover?

"...the constitution has anything to say about churches being seperate [sic] from government."

Funny how modern people will claim to know more about these documents than the generation that created the Constitution. The term "a wall of separation between church and state" was coined by one of our Founding Fathers, President Jefferson, to explain the First Amendment in a letter to Baptists living in Connecticutt in 1802 because they requested the explanation.

The exact term "separation of church and state" does not appear in the Constitution but neither do "judicial review," "right to privacy," "interstate commerce," "separation of powers," and other well known phrases which I am sure Mr. Chasv recognizes as being constitutional principles.

I might mention ARTICLE VI, section 3, spells out requirements of federal, state and local officials and includes the provision, "but no religious test shall ever be required..." Sounds like separation of state and religion to me.

"A bastard will be a fool saying idiotic things like that."

Poor Jefferson, being called a bastard by a modern but he was called worse. Odd that Jefferson knew less about the Constitution in 1802 than some blogger in 2006.

"School were first start by churches you dummy."

And this means..........what? We still have schools run by churches and they are splendily free to hand out whatever they wish.

"The 'No Establishment Clause" of the First Amendment forbids government sponsorship, financial support, or active involvement with religion by whatever name called, by whomever conducted, and by whatever means propagated, and requires government to observe strict neutrality which neither advaces nor inhibits religion."

----Southern Baptist Convention Resolution (1976)

Well, at least DBI toned down the recruiting and didn't offer to send you one a NAMBLA applcation.

"Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any consensus as to what "respecting an establishment of religion" means."

Our "consensus" is, in all constitutional matters, in the hands of SCOTUS lest the Congress ratify an ammendent opposing their findings.

"The term "a wall of separation between church and state" was coined by one of our Founding Fathers, President Jefferson, to explain the First Amendment in a letter to Baptists living in Connecticut in 1802 because they requested the explanation."

Or put more simply, to prevent the USA from becoming another Iran or Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. Get it? The most dangerous countries on the planet are ruled by religious nuts who make all the laws. This is exactly what TJ was worrying about.

Ya don't like race mixing, but you love the idea of Bible thumping our government.....it's like talking to Sybil!

And so sorry Don, I'm fresh out of NAMBLA membership forms. I'm trying to suppress my urges for grown women, but it's not going so well.

DBI -
I'll pass on my kids getting your books. See, that's the point. If the kids want it, they have the choice to take it. If they don't want it, they don't have to. It's not like the school went out and bought a bunch of King James Versions and forced one on each student. Choice. I think that's something you liberals like, right?

"Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any consensus as to what "respecting an establishment of religion" means. Does this mean we can't be compelled to belong to a specific denomination? Or does it mean we can practice any religion we want but no law of the state will be enacted to prefer or protect one religion over others?"

Unfortunately you must not have ever heard of THE SUPREME COURT. By making children decide whether they want to take one of the bibles in front of there classmates and peers, they are, in effect, forcing the kids to make a statement about there religious beliefs. Pretty much the same bull shit as "if you don't believe in god, or don't want to pray before class, then you don't have to stand up or bow your head"

Hey, they should hand out Wiccan books, or maybe Hare Krishna books.

How about Native American books on their beliefs?

At least that would be something that actually could be considered AMERICAN. In fact, their beliefs were here before the Christian religion was, so it seems they should have first priority.

NOTHING should be handed out. There are lots of places to get Bibles. There are Christian book stores all over the place, and churches on almost every corner. If people want Bibles, you would think it would be easy to get them.

Unfortunately you must not have ever heard of THE SUPREME COURT. -Posted by: arkiepol
******
Who? Gee, I must have missed class that day. Oh yeah, the guys and gals in the royal robes that CAN'T SEEM TO AGREE ON ANYTHING! Since you don't see many unanimous decisions, does that mean there is usually one or more robed idiots that are clueless or could it mean that there could actually be different, conflicting but valid interpretations of the issues before them . . .and that what the Court believes today . . . could change tomorrow.

So maybe there isn't a clear consensus after all . . .eh?

It must be outpatient day at the mental health clinics. The psychos lost an election so they are again turning on the Constitution - something the right wing nuts do so well. It just doesn't work any longer boys.

Passing out any religious text on state property [public schools] is against the law. Kids are captive audiences and are protected from the manipulation of any and all religions. There is a proper place for religion -- it's in the curriculum as comparitive religious studies. Read the Torah, Christian Bible and Quran and compare how each treat the same stories. That is an intellectual exercise appropriate for a high school classroom.
But I bet the same crazies above who support the Gideon's would run in fear from what the Constitution through Supreme Court interpretations allow. Because this would allow an intellectual not emotional look at their text and by that look their faith would be challenged. [Although the literature is clear that it actually makes young people more knowledgeable and comfortable with their respective faiths]. But it's what it also promotes which they fear the most -- a tolerant, understanding, and respectful group of citizens who recognize the appropriate role of religion in a free Republic. But they can't accept that because it undercuts thier sense of Rightousness. Thank God that generation is dying off -- it seems its doing it more slowly in places like Mountain Home.
Maybe the State Education Department ought to de-certify schools and school personnel who can't quite understand the Constitution.

Hey Don,

i guess you did miss class that day, cause you would have heard your teacher explain that a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court is not required to interpret the Constitution. Go to Pulaski Tech and take "You and the Law 101" and MAYBE you can catch up.

Case closed! Let Judge Harris' decision apply across the board. Even in Mountain Home!

Hey Don,

i guess you did miss class that day, cause you would have heard your teacher explain that a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court is not required to interpret the Constitution. Go to Pulaski Tech and take "You and the Law 101" and MAYBE you can catch up.

I'm not sure, but I think even the Southern Baptists have moved on from the KJV.

Of all the things schools can do to kids, this isn't a major wrong.

Having them recite the pledge of allegiance, a vow of nationalism, of USA right or wrong, is worse in my opinion. Liberty and justice, my ass. But try protesting against that one.

Then there's the cult of football and cheerleader/athlete worship. This is perhaps the biggest problem in our state's education system.

Or the bias toward white guys in our history books. There's not too many pictures of dead indians or burned and hanged black people or dead civilians in those texts.

Not to mention just plain being mean to one another. My daughter is 10, and the girls are really starting to get into the popularity contests, and saying catty things about one another, and the other cruel things they do to one another.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that school is a culture onto itself, with good and bad dynamics, and one guy passing out Bibles isn't going to change anything.

Besides, if you raise your child right, you don't have to worry about them turning off their brains and blindly following some book.

We should focus our efforts on improving kid's minds, and the rest will all follow.

Oh Don...you right wingers make my head spin....pick a position and stick with it. First you use the Supreme Court to steal the 2000 election...oh yeah...loved them then.

Then you think it's cute when Axis Annie Coulter wants to off a couple of them and now you've reduced your whipping boys and girls to "robed idiots that are clueless". Psychos!

And Gurdon, you sidestepped in your answer, by not accepting my offer of books your kids get NO CHOICE, I was offering the books to them, not you. Pretend I'm 84 and a Gideon bypassing you and handing your kids some books. Don't like that idea do ya?

My point is that I do not want the school or kindly old strangers handing my kids propaganda materials of ANY kind. The kids are at school to learn approved curricula designed to make them smarter. They are not there to be targets of anyone's agenda, no matter how good heartedly or benign the propaganda may be. Period!

No Wal-Mart! No Buddhists! No Ford truck pamphlets! No Democratic cake recipes. Get it?

Hey Don, i guess you did miss class that day, cause you would have heard your teacher explain that a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court is not required to interpret the Constitution. -Posted by: arkiepol
******
AP: I suppose I should point out that I missed seeing you in class when Miss Brown explained critical thinking and analytical comprehension since my point was - that the constitutional text can be interpreted differently by the wisest minds in the land. I don't see where I said what you alluded to - a reference to any requirement of unanimity in Supreme Court decisions.

Let me repeat this for you slowly using small words so you will understand . . . Wise minds can interpret (sorry, big word) the law differently (oops, another large one).

See ya in class, little buddy.

Oh Don.......pick a position and stick with it. First you use the Supreme Court to steal the 2000 election...oh yeah...loved them then. . .and now you've reduced your whipping boys and girls to "robed idiots that are clueless"- Posted by: Deathbyinches
********
Jeez, louise - I love how you folks make it up as you go. Since you don't read analytically any better than AP, let me TiVo it back to you. I said: "does that mean there is usually one or more robed idiots that are clueless or could it mean that there could actually be different, conflicting but valid interpretations of the issues before them".

Other than butchering my grammar, which tends to gratefully go unnoticed, I provided two options - paraphrasing and speaking slowly now:
(1) They (the judges) are robed idiots; or
(2) There can be conflicting, valid interpretations of the law.

BBBbbrrriinnnggg!

Maybe we should all go back to class now.

Hey Don,

Thanks for the clarification douche bag. Wheww!!! I could have used a brainiac like you during my three years of law school. Look, ass whipe, i know there can be conflicting interpretations of the law. Da Da Da Donnnnn!!!!!!!! CAPTAIN OBVIOUS STRIKES AGAIN!!!!!!!!! But when several different Courts have interpreted the Constitution in the same way on a specific issue..... some people (or ones with half a brain) can call that a consensus among the most prominent jurist in our country, these are the same jurist that have interpreted the Constitution on several issues that i disagree with i.e., purchased compliance, but that doesn't mean that there is no consensus. Try reading a Constitutional Law Case Book before you ACT like you have any clue about what you are talking about.

Cato, bravo for pointing out that there was never a "seperation of church and state"

Its not in the Constitution anyware. Also I like how Liberals never finish the amendment , " or the free exersize thereof"
This is the partof the amendment that has been forgotten, at least by some.

These words were first seized by liberals to cut christianity from our society(read: not religion since schools are teaching islam in california) when justice Hugo Black used a portion of what Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury baptists Association. This was called the "Danbury letter"

His comment was used to reassure pious Baptist constituents that Jefferson was indeed a friend of religion ( he won a highly contested race for president where religion was a huge issue) telling them that he would take his job seriously and he even (shock) acknowledged the "common father" and the "Creator of man"

The Danbury Letter;

January 1, 1802

Gentlemen:

The affectionate sentiments of esteem and appreciation which you are so good to express toward me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association, give me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.

Believing with you that religion is a matter that lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and state. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the Nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man his natural rights, convinced that he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.

I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the Common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of high respect and esteem.

Thomas Jefferson

Ouch, hey Liberals did he violate his own sentiment with that closing line? Or maybe perhaps this seperation buisness has been taken in a direction that it wasnt intended to?!

Oh and Cato you might have also found these resolutions passed by the convention.

Resolution On The First Amendment And Religious Liberty
June 1986

Be it therefore RESOLVED, That we, the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, June 10-12, 1986, declare our support for the full and free exercise of religious liberty and voice our concern about the suppression of religious expression and Christian views in the United States; and

Be it further RESOLVED, That we decry interpretations of Supreme Court rulings which deny the right of voluntary prayer and Bible reading in the public schools, and we call upon state and local school boards, principals, teachers, and others in positions of authority to act as permitted by law and not to suppress or discourage the prayers and religious exercises of students; and

Be it further RESOLVED, That we strenuously object to the growing anti-Christian bias in network television programming and other media, and we urge advertisers to cancel their financial support for any activities that promote such bias; and

Be it further RESOLVED, That we encourage Southern Baptists to become active participants in the political life of this country--at the local, state and federal levels--in order to defend and promote the traditional Judeo-Christian values necessary if America is to survive as a nation founded upon those values; and

BE it finally RESOLVED, That we call upon Southern Baptists to pray for all those who are suffering persecution and ridicule for their commitment to the Lord.

I could have used a brainiac like you during my three years of law school. Posted by: arkiepol
********
Three years? You a slow learner or maybe just not industrious?

Thanks for the clarification douche bag. . . Look, ass whipe - Posted by: arkiepol
********
Three years in law school and they didn't teach you the difference between a douche bag and an ass whipe, er wipe? I sure hope you have a law clerk or paralegal that explains the finer points of law for you. . . and maybe occasionally helps you with the how-to's of a contumely rejoinder.

law school lasts three years.

I dont think handing out Bibles at the cafeteria door or anywhere else at school gives the kids much of a chance to turn down the offer. thats what i find most disreputable about this whole business. How many kids are going to say no thanks when everyone else is taking them?

Citizens Journal :". Also I like how Liberals never finish the amendment , " or the free exersize thereof"...

Where do you get the notion liberals never......? Keep in mind no civil right is absolute. One does not have absolute "free exercise of...." If we did, you could refuse to pay your taxes by exercising your religion, or you could drive 85 in a 55 mph zone while exercising your religion with no fears of consequences. I am afraid, friend, liberals may be more intent in keeping the government from overstepping into individual rights that most modern conservatives are.

Interesting you pointed out the 1986 resolution. You do know what happened to the SBC in the decade of '76 to '86, do you not? The SBC leadership became minons of Roberston, Falwell, Reed, W.A. Criswell, Dobson and others and used the Southern Baptists to abandoned their history and their fundamental beliefs and took up the causes of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition forces. You are aware that many, many Southern Baptist Churches have fled the SBC. It is true today the SBC could not pass a resolution similar to the one passed in 1976. That is how far the Southern Baptists have left their heritage to do the work of the Robertson/Falwell missions.

We dont really need to worry about this, do we? Won't the Baxter Bulletin tell us what's what pretty soon?

Be it resolved that the Baptists can see a witch hunt on every corner and they can boycott Disney and Dolly Parton if they want. Be as paranoid as you want to be....get after it!

But it's silly to think that people who don't think religion should be in every box of corn flakes or every episode of The Sopranos are waging war on God and religion. I like to smoke, but I understand there are places where I can't smoke. Fine!

Masturbation is fine too, but not in school or right outside the school's front door or in the school yard. There are times and places for masturbation. Because they don't allow masturbation at school, I don't believe there is a War on Sex going on.

Keep the church things at church, buy all the radio and TV time you want for church stuff. Throw up a cross big enough to make Ronnie Floyd faint, but do it on church property, not at the court house or in the school yard.

Why is this so hard for people who tell us all the time they're getting messages from God? Doesn't God ever tell you to stifle?

I want Christians to run for office, I want Buddhist to run for office, but it's pretty funny the one thing you'll never see is an atheist run for public office? Mark Foley has a brighter political future than any atheist in America. Big deal....who cares. I don't want someone handing out atheist tracks in school either. Let school be school.

Our kids are dumb as a bag of hammers as it is, last thing they need is another distraction by people who will not rest until they have forced their way of thinking onto every thing that moves. You're very tiresome.

There's no limit to what a delusional christian will do. Here an article that I found interesting in case you'all missed it.

POLISH EXCHANGE STUDENT IN US
My Half-Year of Hell With Christian Fundamentalists

When Polish student Michael Gromek, 19, went to America on a student exchange, he found himself trapped in a host family of Christian fundamentalists. What followed was a six-month hell of dawn church visits and sex education talks as his new family tried to banish the devil from his soul. Here's his story.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,448350,00.html

law school lasts three years.-Posted by: tina
********

If you choose to plod along with the crowd - three years is par.

For some it lasts six years.

If you are on the ball and ready to get out there and fight the good fight, you can attend year-round and finish in two and a half years.

And from which law school did you graduate, Don?

And from which law school did you graduate, Don? - Posted by: BlueRidge
********
I might be basing that comment on my experience . . . or my son's . . . or my spouse's . . . or it might be another family member, maybe my father . . .

Only the Shadow knows . . .