A Republican legislator, in Arizona, introduced a bill that would require high school students to take a loyalty oath before being allowed to graduate. The oath includes the usual invoking of God clap trap we see in the Pledge of Allegiance. The requirement is stupid, doesn’t help educate kids, and could be used to discriminate against people who either don’t believe in such oaths, like Jehovah Witnesses, or who don’t believe in the God part like Atheists.
Here is the text of the proposed high school graduation loyalty oath introduced by Rep. Bob Thorpe:
Secular Left Posts
It should be no surprise that the Catholic Church has been working hard to stop abortions in the US by supporting laws that would prevent women’s reproductive choice. The church seems to care about the fetus more than the mother. That’s except when the issue of money comes up. As defendants in a malpractice lawsuit in Colorado the church is trying to hide behind a state law that says a fetus is not a person which is the opposite of its general view point on abortion.
Lori Stodghill was seven months pregnant and weighed close to 400 lbs, on New Years Day 2006, when she didn’t feel well. It was a holiday and her obstetrician told her to go to the emergency room at nearby Catholic run St. Thomas More Hospital in Cañon City. By the time her husband, Jeremy, had parked the car and returned to the ER, his wife was struggling for life due to cardiac arrest and a pulmonary embolism. Later, Lori and her unborn twins were pronounced dead. A couple years later Jeremy sued the hospital and doctors.
Woman who spoke out against the Jesus Portrait was booed by crowdTuesday evening almost 300 people witnessed the Jackson Ohio school board agree to be sued over an unconstitutional portrait of Jesus hanging in a lobby of the middle school. The story had more typical Christian privilege talking points and actions including booing a person who publicly voiced opposition to the portrait. Stay classy Jackson.
WBNS 10TV in Columbus had the story during their 11 PM newscast. The school board meeting was where the Jesus portrait issue was discussed. They had received a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation informing them that the portrait, that has hung in the middle school for 65 years, had to be removed or the school district could be sued. This story continued to highlight the typical Christian privilege talking points and actions we see in these church and state battles.
Jesus Portrait in Jackson Ohio Middle SchoolA story, at the top of the 6 PM newscast on WBNS 10TV in Columbus, about a complaint over a Jesus portrait hanging in an Ohio middle school hit all the false talking points over religious symbols in a public school. The report missed or ignored an opportunity to give accurate information on the 1st amendment and instead spent a majority of time trying to defend an obvious illegal act.
WBNS 10TV is the top ranked news station in Columbus Ohio. It’s owned by the company that also owns the only print newspaper in town, The Columbus Dispatch. 10TV gave 3 minutes at the top of their premiere 6 PM newscast, on Monday 01/07, about a complaint lodged against a portrait of Jesus hanging in the public area of the middle school in Jackson Ohio. Chuck Strickler, who is also an anchor at the station was the reporter on the story. The fact they gave the story 3 minutes of time on the primary newscast and had one of their veteran anchor/reporters doing the story shows how important 10TV believed the story to be.
The new year begins much like the old year ended with unnecessary calls for “returning” religious prayer to the public schools. Indiana State Senator Dennis Kruse (R) introduced a bill, on the first day of a new legislative session, to force children in public schools to pray at the start of each day. Not only would such a law violate the 1st amendment, it simply isn’t needed. Prayer wasn’t removed from schools, only forced recitation is prohibited.
Citizens United was a US Supreme Court decision in 2010 that said corporations had free speech rights like individuals. On Friday, 12/28, judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that corporations, citing Citizens United, could have religious freedom rights like an individual. If the ruling stands or in the future the US Supreme Court agrees, then a Pandora’s box will be opened where businesses could be allowed to discriminate based on religious beliefs.