Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School

[furie]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence.

(http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6911883)

this is an outrage


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[SatCam]

Jesus christ!

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50%[color=white]

[ChickenHawk]

C'mon, the least you could've done was come up with an original thread title...

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HORDE KING FOREVER!!! ORACLE NEVER!!!
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[torker]

coins and bills are soon to follow

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[ADF]

My guess is that the teacher is some kinda religious nutso and is doing this in order to make a point.

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[Yerdaddy]

Williams asserts in the lawsuit that since May he has been required to submit all of his lesson plans and supplemental handouts to Vidmar for approval, and that the principal will not permit him to use any that contain references to God or Christianity.

Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists" and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania."
Sounds to me like he's trying to drum into the kids the political point that "this is a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles, by Christians, etc." instead of teaching the rest of the story of American history as well.

And that article's title is fundamentally misleading. It needs to be followed by "...allegedly!"

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Fuck it from behind.

[alexc]

Sounds to me like he's trying to drum into the kids the political point that "this is a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles, by Christians, etc." instead of teaching the rest of the story of American history as well.

And that article's title is fundamentally misleading. It needs to be followed by "...allegedly!"



if the teacher actually believes that he is dangerously misinformed. Yes religion was part of the character, it wasn't the only thing that shaped their ideology. Many of their ideas came from writers / philospher's of the enlightenment. you can read it about it here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Enlightenment)

[furie]

C'mon, the least you could've done was come up with an original thread title...

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http://wwwi.reuters.com/comX/images/reuters.gif


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[wilee]

My Government, My Government, why has thou forsaken me?

Once again someone is claiming the Constitution states "separation of church and state" where no such language exists. The First Amendment states:


Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;


This is a teacher showing documents to his students in a certain context and discussing them with those students. This is not Congress issuing a declaration establishing an official religion. This teacher is not taking kids to a church or synagogue or mosque.

Showing kids unaltered, historical documents that provided the foundation of the U.S. that happen to mention "God" in them is not trying to brainwash or otherwise push religion onto them.

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The sun in your eyes made some of the lies worth believing

This message was edited by wilee on 11-26-04 @ 1:52 PM

[ADF]

I agree with you 100%, Wilee. My only question is if this teacher has ulterior motives.

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[furie]

My only question is if this teacher has ulterior motives.


yes. i hear he's planning a lesson on the Federalist Papers next semester.


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[Mike Teacher]

What happens during the Pledge?

I'm assuming the do the pledge, and what does this teacher do? Maybe the dude says the pledge real low but when it gets to 'Under God' he screams it at the top of his lungs as he falls to his knees, arms outstrecthed like in Platoon.

OK, maybe not...

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[Yerdaddy]

According to the <a href="" target="_blank">religious legal organization</a> that filed the suit on the behalf of the teacher:
The California Education Code allows "references to religion or references to or the use of religious literature.when such references or uses do not constitute instruction in religious principles.and when such references or uses are incidental to or illustrative of matters properly included in the course of study."

It isn't the content of the materials that matters, it's the context in which he used them. If he was focussing on the religious aspects of history to make a religious point out of reasonal proportion for a history lesson plan then the administration was right to supervise his lesson plans and instruction methods. But HOW he was using the religious content of these documents and how much he focussed on religion in the classroom is what has not been discussed in the media as of yet. .

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Fuck it from behind.

[Mike Teacher]

Otherwise put: You can teach them about religions, but not proselytize.

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