Tea Party Supports Teachers Accused of Sprinkling Atheist

[ZombieHorde]

By JEFF BURNSIDE

The two South Florida high school teachers accused of sprinkling holy water on a fellow teacher for not believing in God are getting support from religious leaders and even the local Tea Party.

Leslie Rainer and Djuna Robinson, both 20-year veterans at their alma mater Blanche Ely in Pompano Beach, have been reassigned as the school district investigates the incident as a religious bullying.

-snip-

Aside from the religious leaders voicing support was Danita Kilcullen, the founder and organizer of the Tea Party in Fort Lauderdale. She vows to get the Tea Party behind the suspended teachers.

"Because it's a breach of the First Amendment and because we so strongly believe in the Constitution in the United States of America," Kilcullen said.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Holy-water-Two-teachers-tossed-for-allegedly-tossing-holy-water-on-atheist-94795819.html

[BR_Parkway]

1. Oh for cripes sake - they'll jump on any "Christianist" cause - just

charge the 2 teachers with assault and be done with it.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Religious bullying is a First Amendment right? Who knew?

[Angry Dragon]

3. Then they better stop whinning about

being persecuted by atheists that there is no god. That is also free speech. These people can only whine when they feel the sting.

[TZ]

4. They also want the Atheist teacher removed

At least according to another version of this story I saw. Whats an evil atheist doing teaching our children. That's horrible!! :sarcasm:

[BurtWorm]

5. A self-identified teacher at the school posted a comment on the original story

http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4489&Itemid=1


I also work at the the school and Christianity is pushed before meals and during professional study days. It does surprise me that this took place. Prayers are said before every buffet that is offered and even though I am Catholic and don't mind the prayer, I can imagine how offended some of the other teachers feel who are of different religions. These actions don't surprise me. The community pushes God whenever they can. I know of some teachers to even read from the Bible in class. The truth will get out and maybe some control can occur.

[Goblinmonger]

6. Oh, she's an uppity atheist, though

See, she actually talked about her atheism and these people were just standing up to that and reminding this person to be a good house atheist and keep her mouth shut:

Religious leaders turned the tables and lashed out at the very notion that a teacher who is atheist would be talking to students about it. The two disciplined teachers “stood up to this type of teaching," said Pastor Alonzo Neal, Greater Antioch Mission Baptist Church of Pompano Beach.

Now if this discussion came out of the blue, I agree it was out of line, but I doubt that is the case.

Though my irony meter blew to bits when the good pastor continued with:

“I think it’s very, very wrong to expose the students, impressionable minds to things that could lead them into a negative mindset against what we believe and who we believe in which is the truth: A Living God.”

[beam me up scottie]

8. Exactly. Uppity atheists don't deserve to have their rights defended.

I was lucky enough to have a few honest teachers in high school. When a controversial subject came up, my favourite, Mr. Lucas, would stop teaching, perch himself on the edge of his desk and help the class hash it out.

Growing up in New England was awesome, he was my anthropology teacher and even though I think I was the only non-catholic in the class and it was an elective, it was packed.

You were a great influence, Mr. Mike Lucas, if you're reading this! :hi:

[DeSwiss]

7. K&R

"Evangelizing to others is like exposing yourself in public. Whatever happened to good manners?" ~ Pat Condell

[struggle4progress]

9. ... Rainer's and Robinson's attorney, Johnny McCray, said ... no liquid of any kind was ever poured

on Rodriguez. No criminal charges have been filed ...
Teacher Accuses Coworkers of Sprinkling Her With 'Holy Water' Because She's an Atheist
Teachers Say There Was No Sprinkling, Incident Was All in 'Jest'
By EMILY FRIEDMAN
May 25, 2010
http://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-teachers-accused-sprinkling-holy-water-atheist-coworker/story?id=10739596

... Ely student Toni Calloway told wsvn.com that Schandra Rodriguez' class was having a discussion on religion during third period on March 11 when the two overheard Rodriguez tell the class she does not believe in God ... That's when, according to the teachers' attorney Johnny McCray, a student piped up and said, "We should sprinkle her with some holy water." Rodriguez reported that her fellow teachers did just that; McCray admits Rainer produced what he described as a bottle of perfume, but said her actions were "in jest." "There was no attempts to douse nor faking as though I am going to douse," he said. "Nothing whatsoever" ...
Teachers in Hot Holy Water After Alleged Sprinkling
Schandra Rodriguez says two fellow teachers tried to bully her into becoming a believer (that usually works, right?)
By JANIE CAMPBELL
Updated 5:04 PM EDT, Sat, May 22, 2010
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Teachers-in-Hot-Holy-Water-After-Alleged-Sprinkling-at-School-94655444.html

[skepticscott]

11. So the teabaggers and religious leaders

are supporting those teachers for doing nothing at all? Why in the world would they do that?

[darkstar3]

12. As the lyric goes...

'it's all about the he said she said bullshit!"

Somebody's lying. What are the chances people in this town will believe the dirty atheist over the Christians who were "jus' funnin'"?

[struggle4progress]

13. oh yeah! this sure is exciting! lessee:

a teacher sez she doesn't believe in god. a student jokes she needs to be sprinkled with holy water. other teachers brandish a perfume bottle at her or flip some water drops at her or something. first teacher complains. the other teachers are suspended. preacher husband of suspended teacher cries out atheists are taking over our schools! teabaggers make stupid noises. DU R/T makes more stupid noises

with luck, this will turn into a little civil war in florida, with thousands of people flipping boogers at each other, throwing toilet paper into trees, and putting thumbtacks in each others' chairs

[darkstar3]

14. Do you think the atheist teacher was out of line for complaining about such behavior?

You seem awfully dismissive about what the supposed "attackers" did, as if it doesn't really matter and the real source of the trouble is the complaint.

Is this how you see the situation? That the teacher's complaint is the source of the trouble?

[skepticscott]

15. Nice job of irrelevant hyperbole

but the deeper attitudes that underlie the wingnut reaction to this incident are the real issue, and they won't be changed even if the details in this case turned out to be groundless.

[Goblinmonger]

19. Yes, by all means, lets just believe their attorney at face value

But, hey, even if what you posted is 100% accurate, you don't have a problem with them doing that "in jest"? That's how atheists should be treated by believers?

[struggle4progress]

20. Two sides t'any story. Dunno what happened, so have no opinion on the events,

and expressed none. Unclear why you think it OK to attribute to me views I haven't expressed: that's rude, cheap shot behavior from you

But here's my tentative guess about what I'd finally think, if I ever had enough facts: it's stupid for any authority figure to discuss theological issues from any perspective in a public school classroom; it was stupid if anyone flicked water on the woman; it was stupid if she made a big deal of a few water drops or a brandished perfume dispenser; it's moronic for anyone to be portraying the events as an attack on Christians; and it's equally moronic for anyone to be portraying the events as an attack on atheists. The whole thing is a silly little story about juvenile behavior all around from adults who should know better, and I have no patience with any of the idiotic huff-n-puff around it. It's a petty tale, about petty easily-offended people, and it seems to be generating lots of petty remarks from other petty easily-offended people

[trotsky]

21. "lots of petty remarks from other petty easily-offended people"

Yourself included, obviously. :rofl:

[darkstar3]

24. As I suspected.

You feel that the actual events in question, the "sprinkling", are irrelevant and no big deal. You feel it was inappropriate under any circumstances for the victim to have discussed her religious viewpoint, let alone complain about that religious viewpoint being persecuted.

Once again religious bigotry disguised as evangelism gets a pass.

[JoeyT]

28. It's just a joke! You shouldn't be so thin skinned!

The same defense bigots drag out when someone is waving a noose or a swastika around.

Good job.

[laconicsax]

31. Really? Two sides to ANY story?

Timothy McVeigh may have committed a heinous act of terrorism, but the other side says that the Feds had it coming so maybe he was justified. There's really no way to know what really happened.

Dare I invoke Hitler? Since you're probably not interested in serious discussion of the issue anyway, why not?

Hitler may have been responsible for the murder of 6 million Jews, but he said that he was trying to preserve Germany for Germans so I guess it's all relative to point of view. After all, context matters, right?

Tell me how these two examples aren't exactly what you get when you insist that there are "two sides t'any story."

[TZ]

22. Wet or not wet what the fuck is the difference?

They were obviously BULLYING the atheist teacher. Want to tell me why you are taking the same side as the tea party is?

[struggle4progress]

10. Clergy meet today over school holy water incident

... "We need to know why one teacher is allowed to teach our children there is no God and nothing is done,” said the Rev. Willie J. Rainer ... an associate pastor of Hopewell Baptist Church in Pompano Beach ... Rainer is the husband of Leslie Rainer, one of the teachers accused in an alleged March 11 incident at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach ... http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4489&Itemid=144

[ZombieHorde]

16. We don't know what the teacher was teaching, the article only states

she was talking about her atheism.

[struggle4progress]

17. I found the noise less interesting than the source of the noise

[darkstar3]

18. Which inevitably leads to the question of why she was talking about that in class,

so here's a possible answer (since we don't know for sure) for those who would ask.

Student: So what church do you go to, Mrs. R?
Rodriguez: I don't normally go to church.
Student: Why's that? You're not some kind of atheist, are you?
Rodriguez: Why yes, in fact I am.

[TZ]

23. you are statting to sound

like the tea baggers. So, let me ask you..You think this is the atheists teachers fault don't you? Or else why are you spending so much effort defending the two obnoxious women who obviously are bigots?

[struggle4progress]

29. Do you realize that you are responding to a post, which consists entirely

of a newspaper article excerpt in which the preacher quoted is the husband of one of the suspended teachers?

I can't possibly be "starting to sound" like anything, simply by providing an additional fact about the pointless noise surrounding this story. Do you want reality-based judgments about events or not? If you do, collect facts first

Frankly, I really don't see how pointing out, that one of the preachers (asserting that atheists are taking over the schools) is the husband of a suspended teacher, would qualify as "defending the two .. women" -- it's just a fact about who is complaining locally, and it rather suggests a material motive for the complaint

[skepticscott]

30. And yet any teacher who taught their students

that the God of the Bible was the only real and true god and that all of the other gods that other religions believed in were false would have been praised to (literally) high heaven by these same people.

Explain the double standard, please.

[kenfrequed]

25. Uhm...

It is a breach of the first amendment to protect someone from the religious harassment of her colleagues?

Did she learn about the constitution from Glen Beck?

She could have learned more watching the Schoolhouse rock version of the preamble to the constitution.

[jberryhill]

26. The sick thing about this is..

Children aren't naturally born Christians. These people get jobs as teachers so that they can be around children in order to expose their lifestyle and recruit them.

[darkstar3]

27. Which is why they project that motive

onto everyone else who tries to become a teacher.

A gay/atheist/wiccan/muslim/etc. teacher? You must just want access to the kids!!