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Cheerleaders in a Texas town will be allowed to include Bible and religious messages on signs at sporting events after receiving a temporary restraining order against a high school’s ban.
The Kountze Independent School District banned the messages this month after the Freedom From Religion Foundation accused it of violating the Constitution.
It seems those fighting for the ban say the right words but are incapable of understanding what they mean.
“School as a form of government must be neutral and include all viewpoints and not offend any viewpoints at that school,” he added.
Just because all viewpoints must be allowed all viewpoints do not have to be presented at one time. There would be a problem here if someone wanted to include a different religious quote and were not allowed. Based upon the article we can not say that is happening.
Nowhere did the courts say that there is a right to not be offended though. There are PETA members who are offended at signs that read "Go Hilltoppers Beat the Wildcats".
Does anyone have a direct response to the following?
Dan Barker, a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, disagreed.
“There’s a difference between free speech and government speech,” he said. “When those cheerleaders are wearing the uniform, when they’re at an official public high school event, they are not speaking for themselves -- they are representing the school, which has a diversity of viewpoints.”
“School as a form of government must be neutral and include all viewpoints and not offend any viewpoints at that school,” he added.
Just because all viewpoints must be allowed all viewpoints do not have to be presented at one time. There would be a problem here if someone wanted to include a different religious quote and were not allowed. Based upon the article we can not say that is happening.
It'd take a lot of guts to put something from another religion on a banner. For fear of both blatant and hidden retaliation from what is obviously a Christian majority.
It'd take a lot of guts to put something from another religion on a banner. For fear of both blatant and hidden retaliation from what is obviously a Christian majority.
Yes, they would all likely riot and burn the school down.
It'd take a lot of guts to put something from another religion on a banner. For fear of both blatant and hidden retaliation from what is obviously a Christian majority.
There is no constitutional guarantee for your free speech to be free from consequences. You have the right to disagree with the majority and they have the right to disagree with you. Probably louder as there is more of them than you.
Yes, they would all likely riot and burn the school down.
But anything less dramatic than that would be okay, yes?
No, I don't think religion should be promoted at a high school football game. I agree with Dan Barker that the cheerleaders are representing the school and therefore should leave personal beliefs that do not speak for all students out of it. What I was really looking for was an answer to the argument that these cheerleaders are not speaking for themselves while wearing the uniform at a high school game; they're speaking for the school. The banner is all about what the school supposedly believes. It's quite a misrepresentation, on many counts.
ETA: I actually was one of the defenders of a student's right to bring their bible to and pray at school, BTW. This is quite different, as previously explained.
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