http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46160046/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times/#.TyM6T8U7XEO

Quote :

Atheist teen forces school to remove prayer from wall after 49 years
State representative calls girl, who has been escorted by police to school, 'an evil little thing'

By ABBY GOODNOUGH
updated 1/27/2012 7:34:41 AM ET



Jessica Ahlquist, 16, an atheist student at Cranston High School West in Cranston, R.I., on Jan. 24.


CRANSTON, R.I. — She is 16, the daughter of a firefighter and a nurse, a self-proclaimed nerd who loves Harry Potter and Facebook. But Jessica Ahlquist is also an outspoken atheist who has incensed this heavily Roman Catholic city with a successful lawsuit to get a prayer removed from the wall of her high school auditorium, where it has hung for 49 years.

A federal judge ruled this month that the prayer’s presence at Cranston High School West was unconstitutional, concluding that it violated the principle of government neutrality in religion.

In the weeks since, residents have crowded school board meetings to demand an appeal, Jessica has received online threats and the police have escorted her at school, and Cranston, a dense city of 80,000 just south of Providence, has throbbed with raw emotion.

State Representative Peter G. Palumbo, a Democrat from Cranston, called Jessica “an evil little thing” on a popular talk radio show. Three separate florists refused to deliver her roses sent from a national atheist group. The group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, has filed a complaint with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights.

“I was amazed,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation, which is based in Wisconsin and has given Jessica $13,000 from support and scholarship funds. “We haven’t seen a case like this in a long time, with this level of revilement and ostracism and stigmatizing.”

Written by seventh grader
The prayer, eight feet tall, is papered onto the wall in the Cranston West auditorium, near the stage. It has hung there since 1963, when a seventh grader wrote it as a sort of moral guide and that year’s graduating class presented it as a gift. It was a year after a landmark Supreme Court ruling barring organized prayer in public schools.

“Our Heavenly Father,” the prayer begins, “grant us each day the desire to do our best, to grow mentally and morally as well as physically, to be kind and helpful.” It goes on for a few more lines before concluding with “Amen.”

For Jessica, who was baptized in the Catholic Church but said she stopped believing in God at age 10, the prayer was an affront. “It seemed like it was saying, every time I saw it, ‘You don’t belong here,’ ” she said the other night during an interview at a Starbucks here.

Since the ruling, the prayer has been covered with a tarp. The school board has indicated it will announce a decision on an appeal next month.

A friend brought the prayer to Jessica’s attention in 2010, when she was a high school freshman. She said nothing at first, but before long someone else — a parent who remained anonymous — filed a complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union.

That led the Cranston school board to hold hearings on whether to remove the prayer, and Jessica spoke at all of them. She also started a Facebook page calling for the prayer’s removal (it now has almost 4,000 members) and began researching Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious freedom.

'Religious revival'
Last March, at a rancorous meeting that Judge Ronald R. Lagueux of United States District Court in Providence described in his ruling as resembling “a religious revival,” the school board voted 4-3 to keep the prayer. Some members said it was an important piece of the school’s history; others said it reflected secular values they held dear.

The Rhode Island chapter of the A.C.L.U. then asked Jessica if she would serve as a plaintiff in a lawsuit; it was filed the next month.

New England is not the sort of place where battles over the division of church and state tend to crop up. It is the least religious region of the country, according to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. But Rhode Island is an exception: it is the nation’s most Catholic state, and dust-ups over religion are not infrequent.

Just last month, several hundred people protested at the Statehouse after Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent, lighted what he called a “holiday tree.”

In Cranston, the police said they would investigate some of the threatening comments posted on Twitter against Jessica, some of which came from students at the high school. Pat McAssey, a senior who is president of the student council, said the threats were “completely inexcusable” but added that Jessica had upset some of her classmates by mocking religion online.

“Their frustration kind of came from that,” he said.

Many alumni this week said they did not remember the prayer from their high school days but felt an attachment to it nonetheless.

“I am more of a constitutionalist but find myself strangely on the other side of this,” said Donald Fox, a 1985 graduate of Cranston West. “The prayer banner espouses nothing more than those values which we all hope for our children, no matter what school they attend or which religious background they hail from.”

“If you don’t believe in that,” she said, “take all the money out of your pocket, because every dollar bill says, ‘In God We Trust.’”

Raymond Santilli, whose family owns one of the flower shops that refused to deliver to Jessica, said he declined for safety reasons, knowing the controversy around the case. People from around the world have called to support or attack his decision, which he said he stood by. But of Jessica, he said, “I’ve got a daughter, and I hope my daughter is as strong as she is, O.K.?”

Jessica said she had stopped believing in God when she was in elementary school and her mother fell ill for a time.

“I had always been told that if you pray, God will always be there when you need him,” she said. “And it didn’t happen for me, and I doubted it had happened for anybody else. So yeah, I think that was just like the last step, and after that I just really didn’t believe any of it.”

Does she empathize in any way with members of her community who want the prayer to stay?

“I’ve never been asked this before,” she said. A pause, and then: “It’s almost like making a child get a shot even though they don’t want to. It’s for their own good. I feel like they might see it as a very negative thing right now, but I’m defending their Constitution, too.”

I think this girl is really brave & find the antics of the pro-god crowd interesting. These prayer & god loving people have threatened this girl's life. Nice. She's right. If this were a private religious school they would have every right to put this stuff up. But religious things have no place in the public school system. That actually benefits everyone.

Totally agree with her.

This girl isn't brave. She's a bigot. She's the definition of a bigot. SHE doesn't like something in a school, so she wants it down. She's a bigot.

The prayer did NOT violate government neutrality in religion, the grossest misunderstood term ever. That was supposed to protect religion from government, not the other way around. (We got it backwards these days.)

This girl is wrong, 100% wrong. She's selfish and immature for this and the court's are wrong for coddling her bigotry. It is wrong to threaten her but she's also not some helpless victim. She's a selfish young woman trying to shove HER mentality down everyone else's throats. If a prayer makes you feel unwanted, then you got self-esteem issues that taking down the prayer isn't going to fix. This isn't about feeling like you "belong." It is about this girl imposing her view on her school. She's the bigot, by definition.

Forgiveness Man wrote:

This girl isn't brave. She's a bigot. She's the definition of a bigot. SHE doesn't like something in a school, so she wants it down. She's a bigot.

The prayer did NOT violate government neutrality in religion, the grossest misunderstood term ever. That was supposed to protect religion from government, not the other way around. (We got it backwards these days.)

This girl is wrong, 100% wrong. She's selfish and immature for this and the court's are wrong for coddling her bigotry. It is wrong to threaten her but she's also not some helpless victim. She's a selfish young woman trying to shove HER mentality down everyone else's throats. If a prayer makes you feel unwanted, then you got self-esteem issues that taking down the prayer isn't going to fix. This isn't about feeling like you "belong." It is about this girl imposing her view on her school. She's the bigot, by definition.

Agreed. And I think she should, at her age, be focusing on her schoolwork and getting good grades, than worrying about what's posted for all to see--there's much more offensive stuff written on bathroom stall walls, than a simple pep-talk prayer to start the day, on the school wall. Also, too, she should be doing some introspection to see what it is in her life that caused her to stop believing at such a young age of 10 years old---serious hush-hush problems at home that no one knows about, that are the stuff of TV movies, perhaps?? Who knows, but something caused her to become an aetheist, and the way she went about getting this quote removed, makes me think there's something more, and hidden, to this--like she's lashing out in response to being hurt somehow in the past, that led her to her unbelief.

First - the kid can't even vote, so why are these politicians catering to her

Second - the thing has been there almost half a century, it is a part of the history of the school--- after a certain amount of time passes, things should be able to remain as it (oh wait, wasn't it the republicans who wanted to rewrite history? so when liberals do it, it is ok and constitutional?) My sister was not permitted to move a fence that was cutting across her property line because it had been there for 20 yrs and had some kind of grandfather clause--- and she freakin OWNED it!

Third - No one FORCED her to look at it. The whole "it made me feel like i didn't belong" is a load of crap. If they listed the kids who made honor roll and she wasn't on it, she would still feel as though she did not belong! - no one was forcing her to recite it!

Fourth - Forgiveness man is right about religion is supposed to be free from persecution-- not the other way around. I do not think the forefathers could comprehend that someone would NOT believe in god/a god at all. They were protecting one's right to worship any way they wanted, not the lack of worship.

Fifth - the same people who go around touting about how religion should play no part in our govt/society as a whole are the same ones who were singing "God Bless America" at the top of their lungs after the World Trade Center fell. When we need God, then we want him, but when we don't need him, it's rip the prayers out of school.

Sixth - Many school have a baccalaureate inter-faith service before graduation--- and yes they pray for the future of the graduates... it is a voluntary service, but the majority of my class attended mine--- what's the harm?

Seven - I defend this girl's right to believe whatever the heck she wants to believe. She can go on the news and make a point out of it, but i do not believe that the school/courts should cater to her. It is really getting ridiculous the way we all have to be so politically correct today. I was not allowed to hang a "Merry Christmas" sign at work... I was told that i would have to put Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakah, happy kwanza, and seasons greetings-- if i put anything at all, i had to put them all! What bull! If those offended don't like it, they should put their own damn sign. Just like this prayer... why doesn't this girl get creative and put some kind of secular inspiration on the other wall???

I could go on and on... but I just don't think it is right. Listen to her, yes, be proud that she can assert a voice, absolutely. But the hell with her opinion, she's only in the school for 4 yrs anyway... it has been up for 49!

Forgiveness Man wrote:

This girl isn't brave. She's a bigot. She's the definition of a bigot. SHE doesn't like something in a school, so she wants it down. She's a bigot.

The prayer did NOT violate government neutrality in religion, the grossest misunderstood term ever. That was supposed to protect religion from government, not the other way around. (We got it backwards these days.)

This girl is wrong, 100% wrong. She's selfish and immature for this and the court's are wrong for coddling her bigotry. It is wrong to threaten her but she's also not some helpless victim. She's a selfish young woman trying to shove HER mentality down everyone else's throats. If a prayer makes you feel unwanted, then you got self-esteem issues that taking down the prayer isn't going to fix. This isn't about feeling like you "belong." It is about this girl imposing her view on her school. She's the bigot, by definition.

I actually agree.

wants2laugh wrote:

First - the kid can't even vote, so why are these politicians catering to her

Second - the thing has been there almost half a century, it is a part of the history of the school--- after a certain amount of time passes, things should be able to remain as it (oh wait, wasn't it the republicans who wanted to rewrite history? so when liberals do it, it is ok and constitutional?) My sister was not permitted to move a fence that was cutting across her property line because it had been there for 20 yrs and had some kind of grandfather clause--- and she freakin OWNED it!

Third - No one FORCED her to look at it. The whole "it made me feel like i didn't belong" is a load of crap. If they listed the kids who made honor roll and she wasn't on it, she would still feel as though she did not belong! - no one was forcing her to recite it!

Fourth - Forgiveness man is right about religion is supposed to be free from persecution-- not the other way around. I do not think the forefathers could comprehend that someone would NOT believe in god/a god at all. They were protecting one's right to worship any way they wanted, not the lack of worship.

Fifth - the same people who go around touting about how religion should play no part in our govt/society as a whole are the same ones who were singing "God Bless America" at the top of their lungs after the World Trade Center fell. When we need God, then we want him, but when we don't need him, it's rip the prayers out of school.

Sixth - Many school have a baccalaureate inter-faith service before graduation--- and yes they pray for the future of the graduates... it is a voluntary service, but the majority of my class attended mine--- what's the harm?

Seven - I defend this girl's right to believe whatever the heck she wants to believe. She can go on the news and make a point out of it, but i do not believe that the school/courts should cater to her. It is really getting ridiculous the way we all have to be so politically correct today. I was not allowed to hang a "Merry Christmas" sign at work... I was told that i would have to put Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakah, happy kwanza, and seasons greetings-- if i put anything at all, i had to put them all! What bull! If those offended don't like it, they should put their own damn sign. Just like this prayer... why doesn't this girl get creative and put some kind of secular inspiration on the other wall???

I could go on and on... but I just don't think it is right. Listen to her, yes, be proud that she can assert a voice, absolutely. But the hell with her opinion, she's only in the school for 4 yrs anyway... it has been up for 49!

Forgiveness Man wrote:

This girl isn't brave. She's a bigot. She's the definition of a bigot. SHE doesn't like something in a school, so she wants it down. She's a bigot.

The prayer did NOT violate government neutrality in religion, the grossest misunderstood term ever. That was supposed to protect religion from government, not the other way around. (We got it backwards these days.)

This girl is wrong, 100% wrong. She's selfish and immature for this and the court's are wrong for coddling her bigotry. It is wrong to threaten her but she's also not some helpless victim. She's a selfish young woman trying to shove HER mentality down everyone else's throats. If a prayer makes you feel unwanted, then you got self-esteem issues that taking down the prayer isn't going to fix. This isn't about feeling like you "belong." It is about this girl imposing her view on her school. She's the bigot, by definition.

Wow! I agree with you 100%

@Hyacinth girl: Yeah, I think there's some underlying hurt at it too. If you really don't believe in something, you won't be offended by seeing a quote by it. The fact that the prayer made her so uncomfortable (and it was really just a pep talk for the kids) indicates something deeper than a lack iof belief.

wants2laugh wrote:

First - the kid can't even vote, so why are these politicians catering to her

Second - the thing has been there almost half a century, it is a part of the history of the school--- after a certain amount of time passes, things should be able to remain as it (oh wait, wasn't it the republicans who wanted to rewrite history? so when liberals do it, it is ok and constitutional?) My sister was not permitted to move a fence that was cutting across her property line because it had been there for 20 yrs and had some kind of grandfather clause--- and she freakin OWNED it!

Third - No one FORCED her to look at it. The whole "it made me feel like i didn't belong" is a load of crap. If they listed the kids who made honor roll and she wasn't on it, she would still feel as though she did not belong! - no one was forcing her to recite it!

Fourth - Forgiveness man is right about religion is supposed to be free from persecution-- not the other way around. I do not think the forefathers could comprehend that someone would NOT believe in god/a god at all. They were protecting one's right to worship any way they wanted, not the lack of worship.

Fifth - the same people who go around touting about how religion should play no part in our govt/society as a whole are the same ones who were singing "God Bless America" at the top of their lungs after the World Trade Center fell. When we need God, then we want him, but when we don't need him, it's rip the prayers out of school.

Sixth - Many school have a baccalaureate inter-faith service before graduation--- and yes they pray for the future of the graduates... it is a voluntary service, but the majority of my class attended mine--- what's the harm?

Seven - I defend this girl's right to believe whatever the heck she wants to believe. She can go on the news and make a point out of it, but i do not believe that the school/courts should cater to her. It is really getting ridiculous the way we all have to be so politically correct today. I was not allowed to hang a "Merry Christmas" sign at work... I was told that i would have to put Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakah, happy kwanza, and seasons greetings-- if i put anything at all, i had to put them all! What bull! If those offended don't like it, they should put their own damn sign. Just like this prayer... why doesn't this girl get creative and put some kind of secular inspiration on the other wall???

I could go on and on... but I just don't think it is right. Listen to her, yes, be proud that she can assert a voice, absolutely. But the hell with her opinion, she's only in the school for 4 yrs anyway... it has been up for 49!

Excellent points. I defend this girl's right to speak her mind too. But she isn't speaking her mind, she's trying to silence opposition and then play the victim. The quote was a part of the school's history and there was no reason to remove it. But alas, this is the society we live in, and it's only going to get worse.

It doesn't matter how long it's been up. "This is how it's been for years..." isn't an excuse. Slavery, denial of women's rights & racial injustice are all proof of things that were accepted for MANY years before being righted. If she were asking for a "There is no god" plaque or banner to be put up it would be different. The public school is not the place for religious anything. I think part of the problem is that these things were put up unchallenged for so many years that some groups feel they have an entitlement to it. Truthfully those things shouldn't have been put up in the first place. Put them up at church. Put them up on their wall at home. But not on the grounds of a public school or government property.

CeCe wrote:

I think this girl is really brave & find the antics of the pro-god crowd interesting. These prayer & god loving people have threatened this girl's life. Nice. She's right. If this were a private religious school they would have every right to put this stuff up. But religious things have no place in the public school system. That actually benefits everyone.

I professed Atheism in high school in the early '60s and didn't get much flak for it. My beliefs were even discussed by my sociology teacher - who convinced me that I was an anti-theist agnostic. Our community was mostly Christian, heavily Catholic but there were Jews as well - and us secularists. I really think my school was ahead of the nation considering the time and the things that I got away with (protesting the pledge of allegiance). I think they considered it a part of academia, bringing up dissident viewpoints.

I know what it is like tho to be threatened by so-called christians. When I was in the service I was threatened by someone because I told him I did not believe in god. He wanted to beat me up. So, do I take that as the 'christian' philosophy?

CeCe wrote:

It doesn't matter how long it's been up. "This is how it's been for years..." isn't an excuse. Slavery, denial of women's rights & racial injustice are all proof of things that were accepted for MANY years before being righted. If she were asking for a "There is no god" plaque or banner to be put up it would be different. The public school is not the place for religious anything. I think part of the problem is that these things were put up unchallenged for so many years that some groups feel they have an entitlement to it. Truthfully those things shouldn't have been put up in the first place. Put them up at church. Put them up on their wall at home. But not on the grounds of a public school or government property.

but if someone took down a plague which memorialized slaves or suffragettes, then everyone would be in an uproar. They went up unchallenged, because this country was founded on judeo-christian beliefs. In recent polls, 83% of American claim to be part of some sort of religion and 56% claim to pray daily. Even secular groups such as AA, NA, and other 12 step programs believe in a "higher power". With that being sad, the MAJORITY of Americans should have no problem with such items, and if put to a vote, as happens in a democracy, it appears the items would remain. Maybe that is what we should start doing in these instances--- put it to a public vote, utilizing the people who actually live there. Not the ones coming in to fight a cause.

CeCe has a point. How long it's been up is kinda irrelevant. The fact is that the community wanted it up and this one girl had no place in forcing it down. There's nothing wrong with religious displays on a school if the school wants it. So yes, it's not a matter of age. It's a matter of the fact that the girl is completely in the wrong and is being a bigot in shoving her views on the community. Even if the plaque had been up for 2 months, it'd still be wrong for her to have it down. By trying to squash religion, you're violating the separation of Church and state. By having this plaque taken down, she is violating the separation of Church and state. If you don't like the prayer, don't say it. If those words offend you, grow up. (They are encouraging students to do good. Seriously, she needs to grow the hell up.) It's time we stopped taking this distorted view of "separation of Church and state" as justification for anti-religious bigotry. If the community and school wanted it up, then it should've stayed up. Period. It wasn't hurting anybody. It wasn't violating any rights. There was zero cause to take it down. (And gosh, now that this girl got her way, I can only imagine the self-entitled woman she's going to grow into.)

Shale wrote:

I professed Atheism in high school in the early '60s and didn't get much flak for it. My beliefs were even discussed by my sociology teacher - who convinced me that I was an anti-theist agnostic. Our community was mostly Christian, heavily Catholic but there were Jews as well - and us secularists. I really think my school was ahead of the nation considering the time and the things that I got away with (protesting the pledge of allegiance). I think they considered it a part of academia, bringing up dissident viewpoints.

I know what it is like tho to be threatened by so-called christians. When I was in the service I was threatened by someone because I told him I did not believe in god. He wanted to beat me up. So, do I take that as the 'christian' philosophy?

If christianity were made up of people who actually follow the teachings of Jesus it would be a much smaller group.

wants2laugh wrote:

this country was founded on judeo-christian beliefs.

Common belief but actually no.

Quote :

Treaty of Tripoli
Article XI:

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,—and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

Most of the founding fathers were not christians but deists.

wants2laugh wrote:

Maybe that is what we should start doing in these instances--- put it to a public vote,

We should NEVER allow the rights of the people to be put to a popular vote. The way the population is growing those rights would just be constantly changing with the wind.

wants2laugh wrote:

Maybe that is what we should start doing in these instances--- put it to a public vote,

We should NEVER allow the rights of the people to be put to a popular vote. The way the population is growing those rights would just be constantly changing with the wind. [/quote]




you mean like taking something down that has been up for 50 years?

CeCe wrote:

It doesn't matter how long it's been up. "This is how it's been for years..." isn't an excuse. Slavery, denial of women's rights & racial injustice are all proof of things that were accepted for MANY years before being righted. If she were asking for a "There is no god" plaque or banner to be put up it would be different. The public school is not the place for religious anything. I think part of the problem is that these things were put up unchallenged for so many years that some groups feel they have an entitlement to it. Truthfully those things shouldn't have been put up in the first place. Put them up at church. Put them up on their wall at home. But not on the grounds of a public school or government property.

I'm not so sure I would've compared this situation to slavery and denial of rights, as falling into the category of "This Is How It's Been For Years"--there's a vast difference between posting a quote on a wall, that some may find offensive, and keeping a human being in a form of bondage that affects them mentally, emotionally and physically.

Although, some would argue that "religion" is a form of bondage, too, thereby attempting to validate the above arguement. I suppose that it can be, but only if you let it--God never intended for our relationship with Him to feel like a weight or a burden that keeps us captive; humanity let it get that way, thus giving a bad name to the whole concept. Look at all the killings and crimes that have been committed in the name of God over the ages--that was the basis for the Crusades right up to modern times where suicide bombers think they're doing it for Allah . Get your dirty work done, and tell 'em all that God said it was ok so He can take the blame--no wonder "religion" gets looked upon as a bad thing.

That's also true of the so-called "God" crowd you mentioned in another post that threatened this girl's life--same thing, they're using God as a crutch and religion as a weapon, giving this girl all the more ammunition, when they should be setting a better, more controlled, and God-like example to get their point across. Yes, they can disagree with her, but by giving God a bad name with their actions, they become no better than that whiny little brat who started the whole thing.

Hyacinth Girl wrote:

I'm not so sure I would've compared this situation to slavery and denial of rights, as falling into the category of "This Is How It's Been For Years"--there's a vast difference between posting a quote on a wall, that some may find offensive, and keeping a human being in a form of bondage that affects them mentally, emotionally and physically.

And I wasn't comparing the two. I was responding to a comment about how long it had been up.

wants2laugh wrote:

you mean like taking something down that has been up for 50 years?

They're voting on it?

You mean to tell me she couldn't have just not looked at the prayer? Nobody was forcing her to read or recite it. I'm all for personal freedoms and choice and the whole bit. If she wants to be a devout atheist then more power to her, but it sounds like she's as much of an extremist as religious fanatics. "I don't like this, so it needs to change".

Quote :

She's a bigot. She's the definition of a bigot. SHE doesn't like something in a school, so she wants it down. She's a bigot.

Quote :

Bigot : a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially: one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance.

I suppose in some convoluted way someone could try to use this inflammatory word to equate this girl’s actions with the above definition because she isn’t tolerating something that has been shown time and time again to be a violation of government neutrality regarding religion. “Our Heavenly Father,” the prayer begins…” That’s a representation of a monotheistic religion to the exclusion of such religions as Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shintoism.

Quote :

Also, too, she should be doing some introspection to see what it is in her life that caused her to stop believing at such a young age of 10 years old---serious hush-hush problems at home that no one knows about, that are the stuff of TV movies, perhaps?? Who knows, but something caused her to become an aetheist, and the way she went about getting this quote removed, makes me think there's something more, and hidden, to this--like she's lashing out in response to being hurt somehow in the past, that led her to her unbelief.

My goodness, doesn’t that sound sinister! Except she stated why she left the Catholic faith in particular and a belief in God in general.

Quote :

Jessica said she had stopped believing in God when she was in elementary school and her mother fell ill for a time.

“I had always been told that if you pray, God will always be there when you need him,” she said. “And it didn’t happen for me, and I doubted it had happened for anybody else. So yeah, I think that was just like the last step, and after that I just really didn’t believe any of it.”

I’m more interested in how her parents reacted to their 10 year old daughter’s decision. If she was a baptized Catholic, they probably had something to do with it. The story didn’t lead me to think they kicked her out of the house. And thank goodness because that would have been bigoted.

Quote :

Second - the thing has been there almost half a century, it is a part of the history of the school--- after a certain amount of time passes, things should be able to remain as it…

Like the Confederate flag that flew all over the south for 150 years?

Quote :

Fourth - Forgiveness man is right about religion is supposed to be free from persecution—

How the fuck is anyone but her being persecuted? Can everyone still attend services at the house of worship of their choice? Is she demanding the government abolish the tax exempt status of the religions? Can Christian churches still hold Christmas services?

Quote :

but if someone took down a plague which memorialized slaves or suffragettes, then everyone would be in an uproar.

And the complaining party would have no legal grounds to demand the removal of those memorials.

AtownPeep wrote:

You mean to tell me she couldn't have just not looked at the prayer? Nobody was forcing her to read or recite it. ...

Chris, can I post a pic of my 67-year-old cock going into a 30-something girls pussy?(Yes, I have such a pic)

OH, it is offensive?

But no one here would be forced to look at it.