You can't make this kind of stuff up....

[chefdennis]

This is just soo much B/S....

Ga. Seniors Told They Can't Pray Before Meals

Posted: 1:55 pm EDT May 8, 2010
Ga. Seniors Told They Can't Pray Before Meals - News Story - WSB Atlanta

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. -- Preston Blackwelder proudly showed off a painting of his grandmother that had hung next to the front door of his Port Wentworth home.

She was the woman who led him to God, Blackwelder said Friday.

And with that firm religious footing, Blackwelder said it would be preposterous to stop praying before meals at Port Wentworth's Ed Young Senior Citizens Center near Savannah because of a federal guideline.

"She would say pray anyway," Blackwelder said of his grandmother. "She'd say don't listen."

But Senior Citizens Inc. officials said Friday the meals they are contracted by the city to provide to Ed Young visitors are mostly covered with federal money, which ushers in the burden of separating church and state.

On Thursday, the usual open prayer before meals at the center was traded in for a moment of silence.

The dilemma is being hashed out by the Port Wentworth city attorney, said Mayor Glenn "Pig" Jones.

Tim Rutherford, Senior Citizens Inc. vice president, said some of his staff recently visited the center and noticed people praying shortly before lunch was served. Rutherford said his company provides meals like baked chicken, steak tips and rice and salads at a cost of about $6 a plate. Seniors taking the meals pay 55 cents and federal money foots the rest of the bill, Rutherford said.

"We can't scoff at their rules," he said of federal authorities. "It's a part of the operational guidelines."

Rutherford said the moment of silence was introduced to protect that funding. He said although the change may have been misinterpreted, perhaps his company could have done a better job selling it.

"It's interpreted that we're telling people that they can't pray, but we aren't saying that," he said. "We're asking them to pray to themselves. Have that moment of silence."

Mayor Jones said he was outraged by the change and has promised to find a solution.

"It was one of the hardest things I ever did as mayor is to look those people in the eyes and ask them to be patient with me and honor their God in a moment of silence until I can have a resolution to this," Jones said. "For me to look at their eyes and tell them they can't thank God for their food, it's unheard of - I can't take it."

Jones said he flirted with the idea of ending a contract the city has with Senior Citizens Inc.

"Like one lady said, 'You can stop me from speaking, but you can't stop me from praying what's in my heart,"' he said. "But the best answer right now is that we're trying to get the best information possible and legal council is looking at what would happen if we continued to pray."

Blackwelder said the center's already fragile visitors have been rattled.

"This is, in my view, an unnecessary intrusion into the private lives of individuals. It's a bad place to draw a line in the sand."

 

[Poorboy]

Hmmmmm Where's the Pork?

 

[LDB]

What a load of bull feces. If any/all of the seniors choose to pray once they have their food that has nothing to do with the provider. First, they don't know the meaning of the separation clause and second they don't know jack. Now, if the food provider was requiring a specific prayer at a specific time delivered a specific way by a specific individual there would be a potential problem. One of the seniors praying is no problem at all unless there's an agenda and there most certainly is.

 

[AMonger]

It's worse than you think.

Here's an excerpt from a message I got today. The first one is a little off topic, religion-wise, but still ridiculous and infuriating.

All errors and furren spelling in original.

===========
Here is a quote from a Canadian magazine: A couple of years back, 14 year old Codie Stott asked her teacher at Harrop Fold High School if she could sit with another group to do her science project as in hers the other five girls all spoke Urdu and she didn't understand what they were saying. The teacher called the police, who took her to the station, photographed her, fingerprinted her, took DNA samples, removed her jewellery and shoelaces, put her in a cell for 3 and 1/2 hours, and questioned her on suspicion of committing a Section Five "racial public order offence". "An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark," declared the headmaster Antony Edkins. The school would "not stand for racism in any form." [Maclean's Mag. Apr. 26th, 2010, page 66&67]


Criminalization of Christianity, Janet L. Folger

Pg. 85

Five-year-old Antonio Peck was told to make a poster on how to "save the world." So little Antonio drew a picture of Jesus and printed the words: "the only way to save our world." When he showed his picture to the teacher, he was told that it was "unacceptable." It was supposed to be about the environment. So he drew another poster of people taking out trash and put Jesus on the side, praying. When Antonio's picture was displayed on the bulletin board, the teacher folded over that part. After all, Jesus is not someone you are allowed to see in school. He must be censored. -- Janet L. Folger, True to Life: The Incredible Story of a Young Woman Who Spoke up for the Unborn and Found Herself in the National Spotlight (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2000), 205.

Pg. 90

Michelle Shocks of Seattle was riding home on a bus one day when another passenger boarded saying, "Praise the Lord!" He was happy to be out of the pouring rain. Michelle asked the passenger where he went to church, and they started to privately discuss religion across the aisle. But then the driver ordered them to refrain from their discussion because it might "offend" the other passengers. Michelle moved to a seat next to the other passenger, and they continued their discussion in hushed tones so as not to offend anyone. The driver pulled to the side of the road and demanded that both passengers leave the bus. Michelle, who was twenty-five years old and five months pregnant, was forced to walk her last mile home - in the rain! -- Diane Brooks, "Religious Talk Is a Bus-Stopper, Woman Says," Seattle Times, 7 April 1999.

Pg. 101

No Prayer

Verbal prayer offered in a school is unconstitutional, even if that prayer is both voluntary and denominationally neutral. (Engel v. Vitale, 1962: Abington v. Schempp, 1963; Commissioner of Education v. School Committee of Leyden, 1971)

If a student prays over his lunch, it is unconstitutional for him to pray out loud. (Reed v. Van Hoven, 1965)

When a student addresses an assembly of his peers, he effectively becomes a government representative; it is therefore unconstitutional for that student to engage in prayer. (Harris v. Joint School District, 1994)

All the above from: David Barton, Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion ( Aledo, TX: Wallbuilder Press, 1997), 14.



Pg. 102

No Jesus

A city council meeting can pray, as long as they don't say the name of Jesus. --( Rubin v. City of Burbank, 1999) Marshall Allen, "Watch That Invocation: Prayer in Jesus' Name forbidden in California Legislative Meetings," Christianity Today, 8 July 2003.

The ACLU of San Diego and Imperial counties sent a letter to the mayor of La Mesa and city council officials demanding that they end the practice of opening council meetings with " sectarian prayers that make specific references to Christianity." They are threatening to take them to court if they continue to allow prayer to the Christian God.-- "ACLU of San Diego Challenges Sectarian Prayers at City Council Meetings on Behalf of Resident," American Civil Liberties Union, 5 May 2004. http://www.aclu.org/ReligiousLiberty?ReligiousLiberty.cfm?ID=15666&c=29



No Bible

In Omaha, Nebraska, a student was prohibited from reading his Bible silently during his free time, or even to open his Bible at school. (Gierke v. Blotzer, 1989) -- Barton, Original Intent, 17.

It is unconstitutional for a classroom library to contain books that deal with Christianity, or for a teacher to be seen with a personal copy of the Bible at school. (Roberts v. Madigan, 1990) - Barton, Original Intent, 15.

No Christmas

A Frederick County, Maryland, school employee was prohibited from handing our Christmas cards on a public-school campus.-Bill O'Reilly, "Santa is Appalled," WorldNetDaily, 2001.

Red poinsettias were banned from the Ramsey Court House in St. Paul, Minnesota, because they offended one person who believes the flowers to be a symbol of Christianity. -- Bill O'Reilly, "Santa is Appalled," WorldNetDaily, 2001.

In Worthington, Ohio, students were prohibited from bringing in Christmas cookies with the colors red and green or in the shapes of stars or bells. - "On Festive Holiday, Do Only Bigots Dare Mention the C-Word?" Columbus Dispatch, 8 A, 24 December 1996.

Pg. 102-13

No Crosses

It is unconstitutional for a war memorial to be erected in the shape of a cross. (Lowe v. City of Eugene, 1969) - Barton, Original Intent, 14.

It is unconstitutional for a public cemetery to have a planter in the shape of a cross, for if someone were to view that cross, it could cause " emotional distress" and thus constitute an "injury in0fact." ( warsaw v. Tehachapi, 1990) -Barton, Original Intent, 14.

In June 2004, the Los Angeles county supervisors voted three to two to remove a tiny cross from the official county seal rather than face a potential lawsuit from the ACLU. The cross had been there for forty-seven years. - "LA County to Remove Cross from county Seal after ACLU Challenge," ABC7.com, 2 June 2004, http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/060204ap_nw_county_seal.html; Bill O'Reilly, "another Victory fro the ACLU and Its War on Christianity," FoxNews.com, 28 June 2004. FOXNews.com - Another Victory for the ACLU and its War on Christianity - Bill OReilly | The OReilly Factor.

Pg. 103

A receptionist for Florida Governor Jeb Bush's office came under fire for posting at her desk a greeting card showing a flag with a cross on it. A law-suit was filed, and though the purpose of the card was to honor those who lost their lives on September 11, state senator Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Weston) declared, "To me, it's offensive and hurtful." - "Capital Flag under Fire over Cross," Palm Beach Post, 23 July 2004.

Pg. 104-105

.the 1962 Supreme Court ruling that took prayer out of the school. Kids can still pry on their own, right ? Not according to U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent. He actually ordered that a "monitor" roam the halls of high schools to listen in on conversations to make sure no on e is praying.

On October 30, 1997, Judge DeMent issued a ruling you're not going to believe:

The Defendants . are permanently enjoined from .. Permitting. including, but not limited to: vocal prayer, Bible and religious devotional scriptural readings; distribution of religious materials, texts, or announcements; and discussions of a devotional/inspirational nature, regardless of whether the activity is initiated, led by, or engaged in by students. (Section 6 [a})

Here's what the injunction was intended to do:

Prohibit praying during a crisis: "No exception to this provision shall be permitted during times of perceived crisis or exigent circumstances." (section 6 [c])

Discipline violators: "When the enjoined activity by students occurs . school officials. are herby ordered to take appropriate disciplinary action as they would for any violation of schools disciplinary rules." (section 6 [c]) - "Michael Chandler, et al., v. Fob James, et al.," United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division, October 29, 1997, National Legal foundation. http://www.nlf.net/dmtordr,html.

Secular Sabotage, Bill Donohue

Pg. 11

Secularists get angry when they hear someone say that "this is a Christian nation." .today, two-thirds of Americans say the U.S. is a Christian nation, and most still look to religion as a remedy to personal and social problems. - Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 143 U.S. 457, 471 (1892). -"many Americans Uneasy with Mix of Religion and Politics," Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, August 24, 2006, p.4.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the founder of Toward Tradition, a Jewish group that espouses traditional values, says the question should not be "Is America a Christian nation?" but "Should America be a Christian nation?" To which he says, "As a non-Christian myself, I still insist the answer must be yes." That's because he sees, as do many other Jews, that "the choice is between a benign Christian culture and a sinister secular one." - Rabbi Daniel Lapin, America's Real War ( Sisters, Oregon: Mulnomah, 1999), p. 14.

Pg. 13

. Diane Ravitch . The prolific author, who has taught at Columbia and New York University and served as Assistant Secretary of Education in the first Bush administration, investigated assigned textbooks used at all levels of education. What she found was a disturbing agenda. "The textbooks sugarcoat practices in non-Western cultures that they would condemn if done by Europeans or Americans," she writes. As she puts it, "textbook after textbook tells the story of the 'spread' of Islam. Christian Europe invades; Islam spreads." Unlike Christianity, which is subjected to microscopic criticism, "the treatment of Islam, for example, lacks any critical analysis." - Diane Ravitch, The Language Police (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003), pp.142-146.

Pg. 14

"On America's elite campuses, today," writes Yale law professor Stephen Carter, "it is perfectly acceptable for professors to use their classrooms to attack religion, to mock it, to trivialize it, and to refer to those to whom faith truly matters as dupes, and dangerous on top of it." Carter rightly concludes that if similar things were said about other groups in society, it would be called " bigotry." - Stephen L. Carter, God's Name in Vain: The Wrongs and Rights of Religion in Politics ( New York: Basic Books, 2000), p. 187.

Pg. 15

At the College of Alameda, Kandy Kyriacou was caught praying on campus. When the student found out that her professor was ill at Christmastime, she prayed for her. Though her professor had no problem with the prayer, another professor, Derek Piazza, did. He reported the student to the administration, which quickly sent her a retroactive "intent to suspend" letter accusing her of "disruptive or insulting behaviour" and "persistent abuse of" college employees. If she persisted with praying on campus, she was told she could be expelled. - Jason Mattera, "PC Campus: Academia's Top 10 Abuses of 2008" yaf.org, December 2008.

 

[LDB]

I made it through about half of them before having to throw in the towel. It's absolutely ridiculous. It's too bad the founding father's couldn't have known what MORONS would be coming along 200 years later and spelled things out for the mentally handicapped ACLU and others who have so perverted original intent. I'm short on patience and tolerance and I admit it. Some of those, like the one person who objected to poinsettias, I'd just tell to shut the hell up and get the hell out and don't bother packing your junk will be sent. Either that or just shut up. I'm sick of all these people and have no use for them anymore and no patience for their existence anymore. Later I may take the time to say what I really think.