ACLU Strikes Again

[Churchmouse]

The American Civil Liberties Union has won a lawsuit against the Jackson, Ohio high school. For decades a picture of Jesus Christ has been hanging in the hallway. Noone had a problem with it until now. The school has been ordered to remove the picture from the grounds and pay the plaintiff over one hundred thousand dollars. The plaintiff is a mother that claims her daughter was harmed by having to pass that picture everyday.

Crazy is alive and thriving in America, with the courts approval.

[Dravin]

You know, I can kinda see making them remove the picture but paying damages is kinda insane.

[Swiper]

You know, I can kinda see making them remove the picture but paying damages is kinda insane.

The paying damages portion appears to be related to the school's failure to adhere to a previous court agreement. Most courts takes a very dim view on contempt of court.

Anyhow, I suspect that many who think that the school was right to have a picture of Jesus hanging in the "Hall of Honor" would also be the ones peeing their pants and having a raving fit if it was a picture of Mohammad, Buddha, Krishna, Xenu, or another non-Christian religious entity hanging there instead.

[Just_A_Guy]

I gotta agree with Swiper here.

I think it's insane the way we've driven God out of schools. That being said--this is hardly a "gray" area of law. If you wanna call the school's continued obstinacy an exercise in civil disobedience, that's fine--but the reason that civil disobedience is so powerful is that the participant knows what the penalty is, and is willing to suffer it.

[Backroads]

I may have mixed feelings about God in schools, but I agree a picture of Christ (without historic/culture excuse for such and without the presence of other religious/cultural artifacts) is inappropriate in a public school.

I suppose I don't understand the high cost of the pay-out.

[SanctitasDeo]

The American Civil Liberties Union has won a lawsuit against the Jackson, Ohio high school. For decades a picture of Jesus Christ has been hanging in the hallway. Noone had a problem with it until now. The school has been ordered to remove the picture from the grounds and pay the plaintiff over one hundred thousand dollars. The plaintiff is a mother that claims her daughter was harmed by having to pass that picture everyday.

Crazy is alive and thriving in America, with the courts approval.

Yeah, this ruling is correct, and in harmony, I believe, with what Joseph Smith taught about religious freedom.

If the monetary damages were from a previous court ruling, then it seems that someone evidently did have a problem with it before.

Anyhow, I suspect that many who think that the school was right to have a picture of Jesus hanging in the "Hall of Honor" would also be the ones peeing their pants and having a raving fit if it was a picture of Mohammad, Buddha, Krishna, Xenu, or another non-Christian religious entity hanging there instead.

This is so true. I grew up in the South, and it would have been unthinkable to allow any other kind of picture. My acute consciousness of the fact that, as a Mormon, I was not one of these people is partly what fuels my belief in religious liberty today. Would that everyone could have had that experience.

[Dravin]

The paying damages portion appears to be related to the school's failure to adhere to a previous court agreement. Most courts takes a very dim view on contempt of court.

I was working off what Churchmouse had shared, if the situation is better rendered as, "The school was fined $100,000 for failure to follow a previous court order concerning pictures of Jesus." Then yes, that certainly isn't insane. I understand that one of the sticks the court has in situations like this is the money stick. My comment was directed at the idea of damages being paid because the daughter was psychologically damaged by the picture.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Dravin

[prisonchaplain]

I suppose I don't understand the high cost of the pay-out.

Law is expensive. Creating it, lobbying for it, getting it enacted, enforcing it, judging it, mediating it...finally deciding if it is contradicting higher laws...all of this is expensive. Ironically, even those with libertarian leanings would agree that this is one thing government must do.

[bytebear]

I find the history of religion at the state and local levels interesting. Prior to 1850, most states (colonies) had an official religion, which affected your taxes, voting rights, etc. No wonder the Mormons were so disliked. I think a picture is a minor quibble, but it's the same fight Mormons once had.

Religion in the Original 13 Colonies - Under God in the Pledge - ProCon.org

[LittleWyvern]

I find the history of religion at the state and local levels interesting. Prior to 1850, most states (colonies) had an official religion, which affected your taxes, voting rights, etc. No wonder the Mormons were so disliked. I think a picture is a minor quibble, but it's the same fight Mormons once had.

That's correct, but only because the Bill of Rights (which includes the Establishment Clause which prohibits religious figures in schools) did not apply to state governments until the the ratification of the 14th Amendment, which went into effect nearly 77 years after the 1st Amendment was ratified.

[Churchmouse]

What Churchmouse posted here was the information Churchmouse got from the newscast:). No mention of a previous court order. Just a mother complaining about the harm to her daughter by the picture hanging there. Another example of the news media telling you just what they want you to know.:)

BTW, I agree the picture shouldn't be there. It was the money award that bothered me.

[Gretchen]

Dang it, if a picture of Jesus is so psychologically damaging that the school has to pay compensation, then why did they not pay me for damage caused by the stress of homework, and essays, and finals? I still have nightmares about middle school and high school. A million dollars sounds fair, right?

Edited October 6, 2013 by Gretchen
before anyone flames me, this was purely a joke.

[Churchmouse]

Here's the breakdown on the $95,000 dollar award. Each of five plaintiff's received three thousand each. The ACLU and a group called Freedom From Religion divided the other eighty thousand. Nice thing they've got going there.

There's a school near us that call themselves the Blue Devils. I wonder if I could get something out of that:lol:?

[Quin]

The paying damages portion appears to be related to the school's failure to adhere to a previous court agreement. Most courts takes a very dim view on contempt of court.

Anyhow, I suspect that many who think that the school was right to have a picture of Jesus hanging in the "Hall of Honor" would also be the ones peeing their pants and having a raving fit if it was a picture of Mohammad, Buddha, Krishna, Xenu, or another non-Christian religious entity hanging there instead.

My AP English teacher, many many moons ago got in trouble with parents every year. Invariably.

1) That we were reading the OT in class. Her response was "find me something as old, and we'll read that, too." (We read Egyptian fairy tales, the OT, Beowulf, Hindu & Buddhist sacred texts, Greek philosophers, Roman Generals, the Qur'an, ...pretty much anything written before 1000 AD that she could get her hands on).

2) Pictures of religious leaders. NO ONE minded when it was Christianity based... But the sparks flew whenever we'd move subject matter and it was Jewish, Islamic, et cetera.

The parents, strangely enough , never seemed to be OUR parents... But instead were parents of students NOT in the class, & random busy body church groups up in arms who didn't even HAVE students at the school.

So. Annoying.

Q