Teaching Declaration of Indepence Against School Rules

barney-fife · #1 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 02:13 PM

A teacher has filed a lawsuit in CA because the school's principal censored him for reading and teaching historical US documents that contain any reference to "God." One of the documents censored from class discussion was the US Declaration of Independence.

Clearly, this jihad political correctness has gone TOO FAR! Having studied Western history, it is IMPOSSIBLE to study ANY accurate account of it null of any mention of God, religion and the Church. It is simply inescapable. You can't study one without the other! Except in this one school district in California, evidently.

I find it so ironic those who accuse the US of devolving into some sort of theocracy are the same ones who are absolutely blind to the religious foundation on which our democracy was first founded. Our freedoms do not come from government (if you believe our founding documents) but from God. That is the historical truth, whether you agree with the premise or not.

barney-fife · #2 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 02:15 PM

Merry Christmas, and the singing of Christmas carols in school!

SplendidSplinter · #3 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barney-fife";p=&quot

A teacher has filed a lawsuit in CA because the school's principal censored him for reading and teaching historical US documents that contain any reference to "God." One of the documents censored from class discussion was the US Declaration of Independence.

Clearly, this jihad political correctness has gone TOO FAR! Having studied Western history, it is IMPOSSIBLE to study ANY accurate account of it null of any mention of God, religion and the Church. It is simply inescapable. You can't study one without the other! Except in this one school district in California, evidently.

I find it so ironic those who accuse the US of devolving into some sort of theocracy are the same ones who are absolutely blind to the religious foundation on which our democracy was first founded. Our freedoms do not come from government (if you believe our founding documents) but from God. That is the historical truth, whether you agree with the premise or not.

Cite please?

barney-fife · #4 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 02:27 PM

what, you think I made it up? Do a google search on your own, or simply watch Hannity and Colmes tonight.

glowdog · #5 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 03:11 PM

I doubt Barney has a link. There is a Reuters story you can google-hunt down, but it's hardly front-page news. Barney is obviously just regurgitating the spin that's been spewing from right-wing radio morons the past couple of days.

Here's the link:
http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArti...toryID=6911883

Here's the story:

Quote:

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.

Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian.

"It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men, and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political correctness is outrageous and shameful," said Williams' attorney, Terry Thompson.

"Williams wants to teach his students the true history of our country," he said. "There is nothing in the Establishment Clause (of the U.S. Constitution) that prohibits a teacher from showing students the Declaration of Independence."

Vidmar could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment.

Phyllis Vogel, assistant superintendent for Cupertino Unified School District, said the lawsuit had been forwarded to a staff attorney. She declined to comment further.

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."

"He hands out a lot of material and perhaps 5 to 10 percent refers to God and Christianity because that's what the founders wrote," said Thompson, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom. "The principal seems to be systematically censoring material that refers to Christianity and it is pure discrimination."

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a California atheist who wanted the words "under God" struck from the Pledge of Allegiance as recited by school children. The appeals court in California had found that the phrase amounted to a violation of church and state separation.

I think the media-saavy among us will be laughing as hard as I was when I read this. Once you get past the wierdly inflammatory headline, it becomes obvious that there is a heck of a lot more to this story than we the public know yet.

But the wingnuts aren't exactly known for their attention to or respect for facts. Or for their level-headed reason before all the facts are known.

barney-fife · #6 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 04:33 PM

The wing nuts you reference represent all those red states you saw on election night, and the story you referenced is precisely the manner in which it was reported on the radio. Teacher is barred from citing the Declaration of Independence in class because it references God.

And some wonder why demos lose so many elections.

barney-fife · #7 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 04:35 PM

I've got your link....right h-e-r-e.

f100supersabr · #8 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 06:17 PM

Sorry BARNEY but Vannity and the Eunach Combs is not the place I go for
truth. That is like going to Pravda for the truth about Russia.

ps I don't doubt your story but a credible source would be good........just don't feel like Goooglizing today .......

barney-fife · #9 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 06:30 PM

was already posted. I guess this simply means you're reading impaired. Fact remains, a teacher was barred from using the US Declaration of Independence as a source for teaching US history, because the Declaration contains a reference to God.

Nice little set of circumstances you're defending there.

kaladrew · #10 (**permalink**) 11-30-2004, 07:44 PM

"this jihad political correctness"

like taking "Saving Private Ryan" off the air and crying about the Monday Night Football promo? Talk about your right wing wacko political correctness.

His story came from the Drudge "Report" where half of it is taken down because it's proven to be false. It's amazing how much that Sludge guy has to edit his own site - it has become a full-time job for him.

It wasn't THE declaration but the teacher's method of teaching RELIGION with the Declaration as a prop. Get it straight. As a libertarian you should be glad that a teacher has been stopped from teaching his own views instead of the facts.

The Declaration is a factual document in our history - the teaching of the teacher's religious views are not and have no place in public schools.

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