Posted by Baron Greenback [12.253.230.83 - 12-253-230-83.client.attbi.com] on 21 July 2002 at 03.44.33 ZuluTime:
In Reply to: school problems posted by Andy on 19 July 2002 at 20.45.29 ZuluTime:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. are the first clauses of our first and fourteenth ammendments. "Seperation of church and state" is a buzzphrase, although one which has real meaning. The actual important clause, though, is "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". That's why there not being an official state religion is important; it's what's actually prohibited in the constitution. The supreme court exists based on one very simple principle: if you start ignoring one part of the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, you can ignore any of them. This is nasty, because the bill of rights has neat little clauses such as The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized in it. The reason schools are important is simple: Schools are a federally funded institution. Your tax dollars at work, your kids are forced to attend them. Establishing a religion in a school would literally be establishing an official state religion. In addition, indoctrinating people into a religion in their formative years is an extremely powerful propagana tool, which could easily be abused. Finally, I would like you to consider the other implications of what you're saying. Native Americans in this country, thanks to religous freedom, are allowed to consume peote provided they are on their own respective reservations. Were the plan you would like to see enacted, it would necessetate the allowing of peote in schools amongst native americans. It would also allow the use of marijuana by Rastafarians, and cocaine among South American immigrants. These activities would have no restraints on them, as people would be allowed to perform their religous ceremonies in classrooms while christians performed their religous ceremony of praying. This is just one example, and not really an extreme one, of how our current system of government, set up with certain, basic assumptions of seperation of church and state, is not designed to implement conditions such as the ones you would have set forth.
and
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.