No to Religious Bullies in Schools

[Ian David]

No to Religious Bullies in Schools

The intent of a small set of religious fundamentalists in a wealthy town near Boston continues to backfire. Yesterday's loss was at the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit level in Parker et. al. v. Hurley et al.

Starting with their original complaint, two couples asserted personal religious based rights that do not exist in non-theocratic nations. They demanded:

* the Lexington School system either notify the parents whenever topics they specify would arise in class or remove their children when such topics arise, regardless of how that happens
* the schools permit the parents to attend and monitor classes at will
* "...that no teacher or adult expose their child to any materials or discussions featuring sexual orientation, same-sex unions, or homosexuality without notification..."

Then going to the U.S. District Court, they sued on the federal bases of violation of First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. They claimed their children were being indoctrinated and forced to approve same-sex marriage in opposition to the parents' beliefs. Thus, they also claimed that their right to practice their religion had been violated.

At both the District and appeals level, the judges denied the claim and hope to dramatically expand the rights of religious zealots. In the first trial, Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf provided detailed bases for his rejection. Similarly, yesterday the appeal panel stood up for the Constitution, case law and common sense in clarifying the limits of such religious-based claims.

As an aside, the complaints as well as lead plaintiff David Parker refer to the parents as Judeo-Christians. That phrase is becoming oddly common. However, used by religious fundamentalists, it seems to appear most commonly when what they mean is that they want to control public education and government in general to align them with their particular views.

More:
http://massmarrier.blogspot.com/2008/02/no-to-religious-bullys-in-schools.html


See also:

Court Upholds Dismissal of Mad Dad Parker's Lawsuit

A big hat tip to KeepRight who informed me about the court's decision (KeepRight's conversation with Brian Camenker is in the comment section of my past post and it's quite hilarious):

<snip>

What is MassResistance going to do now? This is what they wrote before:

The judges were very impressive, more so than at any other Parker court appearances.

It appeared that these judges had not only read the briefs carefully but had a better knowledge and understanding of the case law involved and some of the pertinent issues than the lawyers! They had also apparently researched the state core curriculum as it applies to this case.

So how will Brian/MassResistance trash these Judges, who were very impressive, now?

More:
http://massresistancewatch.blogspot.com/2008/01/court-upholds-dismissal-of-mad-dad.html



See prior thread:

Court upholds dismissal of suit over schools' same-sex teaching
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x13645

[polmaven]

1. Well, obviously those cagey judges...

were....um....er....LYING!!!....Yeah, that's it!!!! The judges were LYING before in order to lead those angelic folks at (M)AssResistance into a false sense of security!

That way, well, you know......the plaintiff attorney would relax, and wouldn't do his very best! Doncha see? It was all planned to justify activist Judgism.

Yeah....yeah.....that's it!!!!