Continuing the debate begun in Prayer in the Bush League....

Rob:
>> George W. Bush not only favors a nationwide law letting students lead public prayers in school. He'd also allow students to ask their fellow students to follow Jesus Christ. <<

Kerchee:
>> Ummm...I believe that hey can already do this. Ist amendment? <<

The First Amendment applies only partially to school settings. School newspapers can't print whatever they want, teachers can't say whatever they want, etc. One factor is that schools are government institutions. Another is that students are a captive audience. A third is that children don't have all the rights of adults.

>> Are you really that paranoid...or just that partisan. <<

Bush has said his favorite Supreme Court justices are Scalia and Thomas. Those two have made it clear how they'd roll back the Constitution. They've already ruled a couple of times against Indian religion, which means they've ruled for Christianity. Neither partisanship nor paranoia, but facts.

Rob:
>> Beware, America. The Bush leaguers are inching us toward a Christian theocracy. <<

Kerchee:
>> Yes, just like Texas is now right? <<

You tell me. In Santa Fe, Texas—the town whose bid to protect student-led prayer before football games was rejected by the Supreme Court—students threatened to hang the lone Jewish student. The town as a whole welcomed Ku Klux Klan rallies in the 1980s. Source: Los Angeles Times, 8/24/00.

>> I lived in Texas during the whole Bush administration....can remember one time having Christianity shoved down mine or my family's throat. Get a grip. <<

Christian hate-mongers generally don't harass other Christians. Perhaps more important, one doesn't have to shove religion down people's throats to make them uncomfortable. Often its very presence is unsettling. And since the Constitution bans any government practice "respecting an establishment" of religion, student-led prayer is clearly unconstitutional.

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