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Missouri Right to Pray Amendment

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/04/missouri-prayer-amendment-...

the bill that will be voted on tomorrow, August 7th, will add an amendment to Missouri's state constitution that would protect resident's right to pray in public.

i'm not sure you'll ever find a better example of Christian Persecution Syndrome than this right here. some ridiculous quotes in the article include:

'the bill will "level the playing field" (for Christians)'
"there's a hostility towards Christians"

the elephant in the room is that these rights are already protected under the 1st Amendment. as one Democratic representative said, this is a "job bill for lawyers". which is precisely what it will be. Christians who choose to feel emboldened by this newfound "religious freedom" (which already exists) might start to abuse their privilege in unconstitutional ways.

one opponent of the bill put it quite succinctly:

""That the majority is claiming to be persecuted is simply absurd. It boggles the mind that they say they are under attack."

indeed. and of course, much of this is designed to further the religious objection to what's being taught to our children. from the bill:

"no student shall be compelled to perform or participate in academic assignments or educational presentations that violate his or her religious beliefs."

just one more way that a state can remove Evolution, etc. from public schools. one wonders whether or not this is the primary objective to this bill, with the other stuff thrown in to drum up public support. and public support it has, as it's polling at over 80%! of course it is, i mean, who doesn't support the 1st amendment? who doesn't support religious freedom? communists, leftists, marxists, and atheists. God forbid they side with the communists!

the article ends on a positive note, indicating that this will likely go to a higher court if voted as law. i'll be keeping tabs on this one.

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Permalink Reply by Loren Miller on August 6, 2012 at 9:21am

Bloody hell. A first year law student would see that this amendment is about as necessary as tits on a bull! Do please keep an eye on it. I hope it gets the shit challenged out of it!

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Permalink Reply by matthew greenberg on August 6, 2012 at 9:24am

good thing they're so focused on jobs and the economy. they must have run out of abortion bills to introduce.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on August 6, 2012 at 9:31am

Actually, this could blow up in their face if passed. An atheist family could sue over having their child being forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance with the words "under god" as part of an "educational presentation." And, to challenge any curriculum that would include ID (see Dover v. Kitzmiller). The imbeciles that support this bill forget one tiny little thing. As good fiscal conservatives, they're promoting a massive waste of taxpayer dollars on the legal challenges that will be sure to follow.

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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Chang on August 6, 2012 at 12:25pm

I thought it was already illegal to use the pledge of allegiance as part of an educational curriculum.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on August 6, 2012 at 2:56pm

So is putting up signs invoking the the Lord's blessing, starting a high school football game with a prayer, or having a benediction at a graduation ceremony. There are several public schools throughout the US where this is still going on. Either every family who has a child in attendance agrees with this practice, doesn't care, or would rather remain silent and not have them and their children harassed and threatened by all the "good Christians" in the community. Look what happened to Jessica Ahlquist.

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Permalink Reply by matthew greenberg on August 9, 2012 at 8:06am

UPDATE: no surprise, the bill passed.

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Permalink Reply by Richard K. Emms on August 9, 2012 at 8:51pm

It figures. I'd like to think that secularism and tolerance are on the rise, then something like this happens. How depressing!!!

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Permalink Reply by Lillie on August 9, 2012 at 9:12pm

Sometimes they do things like this when they know it will not stand up, just to get fundie votes.

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Permalink Reply by Andy Reid on August 9, 2012 at 10:23pm

I love when they say THEY are persecuted. I look at all the absolute shit we deal with and all of a sudden we have a double standard? I don't see anybody complaining about violating our rights as secularists and atheists (Although it happens every single day). Lewis Black said it best: " Idiots in our country are like the game of whack-a-mole. You knock one down, three others pop up!"