Comment by Louis Davout on November 14, 2009 at 9:42pm

Thanks for posting! I'm going to post a link to this in the Indiana group.

Comment by Turtle Poser on November 15, 2009 at 12:34am

Thanks for posting this. This is so ridiculous.

Comment by Frank J. Ranelli on February 19, 2010 at 12:37am

Clearly, the Indianapolis school board, in addition to its seething xenophobia, prejudice, bigotry, and glaring duplicity, fails miserable by not adhering to the Establishment Clause—and the litany of stare decisis cases adjudicated by the U.S. Supreme Court, which includes the 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman, otherwise known as, “The Lemon Test.”

The “three prong” Lemon Test states,

1. The government's action must have a secular legislative purpose;

2. The government's action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion;

3. The government's action must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religion.

If any of these “prongs” are violates, then the action by the government—in this case, the Indianapolis school board’s draconian rules governing students web browsing, is therefore unconstitutional.

Any first year law student could successfully argue this case; however, sadly, from the Scopes trial to the Dover trial, it seems hard-line faith practitioners and nefarious apologists for Abrahamic based religions keep finding their way onto school boards.

In a word…sue!

Comment by IAmTheBlog on February 21, 2010 at 10:17am

Thanks Frank for your comments. I'm not sure what you or others think, but I'm beginning to think more and more that many, if not most, school officials who enact policies such as these know what they're doing is illegal, but they choose to do so anyway.

They may not know the Lemon Test specifically (which they ought to), but they know this isn't legal. They also know that most parents would support the policy, especially since to many it probably seems open-minded by not specifically being pro-Christian (as if to say, see, we're not being discriminatory, because even Muslims are okay!).

I haven't heard any news about any progress or news on this issue in Indianapolis, but I'll see if I can find any and post back if I do.

Comment by Nathaniel Theising on July 14, 2010 at 1:38pm

Geez! We need to call Eric (the student who recently successfully sued his local high school for adding prayer to the graduation ceremony). But seriously, I will bring this to the attention of our local CFI movers and shakers and see if anyone with kids in these schools is willing to sue.

Comment by §kürrý on July 14, 2010 at 1:53pm

I got kicked out of the library in high school for looking at a site about Anton Levey, I assure you purely out of curiosity and research purposes. I thought this was absurd because they shouldn't be able choose which religion's are okay, and which are wrong/evil/etc.

Comment by Nathaniel Theising on July 14, 2010 at 2:49pm

Good news. The local CFI fought this last year and when we last checked, this ban had been lifted and was no longer in effect. Once school starts again, we will have a member who is a teacher check and see if the ban has been reinstated.

Comment by skepticmom on July 15, 2010 at 8:23am

I don't know why it never ceases to amaze me that educators can be so ill informed and bigoted.

Comment by Rich Lane on July 15, 2010 at 8:42am

Skepticmom: "I don't know why it never ceases to amaze me that educators can be so ill informed and bigoted. "

Don't blame the educators. These types of edicts are usually handed down by school boards, and in some districts educators who work in the district aren't even allowed by charter to serve on the board.

Comment by mcajq on November 20, 2010 at 9:52am

This does not surprise me in the least. I unfortunately live here. They also block non-theist websites in my workplace.

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