Human rights, civil rights, legal rights, & the rights of various groups are statist ideas to one degree or another that enemies of America try to blur with the libertarian concept of individual rights that are established as the bedrock principle defined in our Constitution.
The people who participate in the Oneida, Tennessee high school football program experienced the above point the second game of their season after the ACLU instigated a ban on prayer prior to the school's games. Although such prayer had been a school tradition since 1930, without any objection or complaint, the ACLU, with no relationship or connection with the school or the football team, took it upon themselves to protest by putting the school on notice citing a 2000 Supreme Court decision that found such practice was unconstitutional in that school initiated-prayer in the public school system violates the First Amendment. In brief it was a pure ideological play by the ACLU, who had no personal grievance themselves, but rather based their position on a legal precedent in trying to interfere with the participants of the school's football program – players, coaches, fans, & most important in this case the cheerleaders.
The school did not just capitulate but held a moment of silence instead of the prayer which had previously been said over the announcer's loudspeaker.
Click here to see how the school's cheerleaders spontaneously moved everyone in the stadium to join in a demonstration of the primacy of individual liberty that was even better than the decades old tradition the ACLU tried to banish.
So far the story has a happy ending. But there are two questions going forward: 1) Will the ACLU keep looking for trouble trying to interfere with people who all seem happy with the school's football program as is? 2) What will the Tennesseans do if the ACLU persists?
In the meantime the young cheerleaders have offered an example that America can use just when it looks like we have lost the will to fight for or against anything.
This is what must be done, ignore the ACLU (who are they funded by?). An Atheist is like a can of dehydrated water. I recommend religion give up their tax status and come out swinging.
ReplyDeleteWhat escapes me is how we let the ACLU get away with it. We should sue them out of existence. Take the offensive, sue them on infringing on our rights and how their bias and intolerance of others is oppressive.
ReplyDeleteWith no letup until they surrender, are bankrupt or are irrelevant.
And also mount a vigorous campaign asking why certain "legitimate civil rights cases" they do not take.
Walter Williams in a column a few weeks back made note of NYC public school policy that allows Muslim religious symbols and Jewish menorahs but will not allow Nativity scenes on school grounds.
Why is this discrimination allowed?
The last line of the post answers all of your questions.
DeleteI think there are too many people today that have too much time to get into everyone's business. This country never had this many laws that told you how to live your life. And now they are trying to take God out of our lives. What's next?
ReplyDeleteI often wonder what all the families up and down a street think about issues like being able to pray in a venue where it has always been done and then suddenly taken away because of political correctness. If all of us would get off the chair and speak against the taking away of our rights I wonder if we would be in this position - of a few controlling all of us. I agree with DC - take the offensive.
ReplyDeleteJust watched the video on the last post. Those cheerleaders were perfectly within the law. The law states that school principals, administrators or teachers cannot lead prayers, however , any student may pray on his or her own or start a prayer circle so long as it does not infringe on others. In this case, the fact that others joined them does not matter. The ACLU doesn't have a leg to stand on.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, the Justices who passed this law were remiss in not making this clear when it was implemented. It's time
that people found out the truth.