Hello All,
It appears Mercer County, West Virginia either has a hole in its head or its head in a hole.
"Update Appended The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has overturned a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit filed against a West Virginia county for offering Bible classes in its middle and elementary schools. On Monday, the Fourth Circuit sided with parent Elizabeth Deal, who sued on behalf of her daughter to stop the county from allowing the “Bible in Schools” program to be taught in Mercer County, a program that had been in county schools for nearly 80 years before it was suspended last year. The elective program provided 30 minutes of weekly Bible instruction for elementary school students and 45 minutes for middle school students “as a part of the regular school day,” according to the court’s ruling. The county itself had administered the BITS program and designed its curriculum for “specially employed BITS teachers” since 1986" (Smith, 2018).
Since about 1938 the BITS has been running in the schools of Mercer County, starting in 1986, the county itself began administering and preparing specific lessons for BITS teachers. The program is "voluntary" I put that in air quotes because, "The appeals court noted that while the program was 'ostensibly voluntary,' because parents were required to return a permission slip to allow their child to attend, nearly every student participated. As for Deal, she is agnostic and wouldn’t allow her daughter, Jessica, to participate in the class because she wanted her daughter to learn about multiple religions and make her own religious decisions. According to the court ruling, Jessica was made to sit in the 'coatroom area' in the back of the classroom during the BITS teaching. After the mother complained, Jessica was then sent to another classroom, the school library or the computer lab during the BITS teachings. Meanwhile, the “county never offered any alternative instruction to Jessica during the BITS program.” In addition, Deal claims her daughter faced harassment from other students because she did not participate in the program" (Smith,2018). Not only does this not seem voluntary, as the large majority participated, creating a de facto requirement that students participate or risk ostracization. This is the grounds that Elizabeth Deal is filing a lawsuit in conjunction with the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) on behalf of her daughter. Per an article from Friendly Atheist, the course was, "and the course content itself treated Christianity as true rather than looking at it objectively" (Mehta, 2018). As a result that would make the course a violation of Church-State Separation, the second nail in the coffin is that only a Bible study and that no other religious or secular study group is held simultaneously for those who wish to participate. In conclusion, this is a striking example of why Church and State are separated in the Constitution.
Yours in Reality,
D
- Moderate Liberal
- Independent
- Agnostic anti-theist atheist
- LGBT+ ally
- Runner
It appears Mercer County, West Virginia either has a hole in its head or its head in a hole.
"Update Appended The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has overturned a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit filed against a West Virginia county for offering Bible classes in its middle and elementary schools. On Monday, the Fourth Circuit sided with parent Elizabeth Deal, who sued on behalf of her daughter to stop the county from allowing the “Bible in Schools” program to be taught in Mercer County, a program that had been in county schools for nearly 80 years before it was suspended last year. The elective program provided 30 minutes of weekly Bible instruction for elementary school students and 45 minutes for middle school students “as a part of the regular school day,” according to the court’s ruling. The county itself had administered the BITS program and designed its curriculum for “specially employed BITS teachers” since 1986" (Smith, 2018).
Since about 1938 the BITS has been running in the schools of Mercer County, starting in 1986, the county itself began administering and preparing specific lessons for BITS teachers. The program is "voluntary" I put that in air quotes because, "The appeals court noted that while the program was 'ostensibly voluntary,' because parents were required to return a permission slip to allow their child to attend, nearly every student participated. As for Deal, she is agnostic and wouldn’t allow her daughter, Jessica, to participate in the class because she wanted her daughter to learn about multiple religions and make her own religious decisions. According to the court ruling, Jessica was made to sit in the 'coatroom area' in the back of the classroom during the BITS teaching. After the mother complained, Jessica was then sent to another classroom, the school library or the computer lab during the BITS teachings. Meanwhile, the “county never offered any alternative instruction to Jessica during the BITS program.” In addition, Deal claims her daughter faced harassment from other students because she did not participate in the program" (Smith,2018). Not only does this not seem voluntary, as the large majority participated, creating a de facto requirement that students participate or risk ostracization. This is the grounds that Elizabeth Deal is filing a lawsuit in conjunction with the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) on behalf of her daughter. Per an article from Friendly Atheist, the course was, "and the course content itself treated Christianity as true rather than looking at it objectively" (Mehta, 2018). As a result that would make the course a violation of Church-State Separation, the second nail in the coffin is that only a Bible study and that no other religious or secular study group is held simultaneously for those who wish to participate. In conclusion, this is a striking example of why Church and State are separated in the Constitution.
Yours in Reality,
D
- Moderate Liberal
- Independent
- Agnostic anti-theist atheist
- LGBT+ ally
- Runner
Quote of the post:
"Man created God in his own image: intolerant, sexist, homophobic, and violent"
- Unknown
Source 1: https://www.christianpost.com/news/atheist-group-lawsuit-over-west-virginia-school-bible-classes-should-move-ahead-4th-circuit.html
Source 2: https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2018/12/23/a-wv-family-faces-bullying-from-christians-after-suing-over-a-school-bible-class/
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