![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsOneNewsNow, the official press release arm of James Dobson's "Focus on the Family" Donald Wildmon's National Federation for Decency empire, has a tragically bad article entitled 'Church and state separation' myth exposed, about a student-led prayer group that wanted to distribute flyers and advertise events on school bulletin boards. The school district forbade the students from doing so, citing "separation of church and state" issues, while permitting the Boy Scouts and the YMCA (hey, aren't those both religious institutions, too?) to use school time and grounds for their own outreach advertising.
OneNewsNow is positively breathless that the school board was "forced" by the court to allow the distribution of those flyers. There's only one problem with OneNewsNow's ecstasy: the school board was flat out wrong about the law.
In July of 1995, President Bill Clinton tried to put a stake through the heart of the entire "church and state and schools" issue by sending out a pamphlet entitled "Memorandum on Religion in Schools," which clearly laid out guidelines for what is permitted or forbidden under Constitutional guidelines for all schools receiving federal funds. The Education Department printed up copies of the pamphlet and sent them to every school principal in America.
The second guideline reads:
It must really stick in the craw of every religious nutcase in the country that in the past 28 years, 20 of which were presided over by a Republican administration of one sort or another, the clearest, best, and most liberating policy on student religious expression, the one that most clearly highlighted that students were allowed their full right to religious expression, came out of the Clinton administration. While the right fights and fights for school prayer, religious liberty was most secured by a man they reviled for getting a blowjob in the Oval Office.
OneNewsNow is positively breathless that the school board was "forced" by the court to allow the distribution of those flyers. There's only one problem with OneNewsNow's ecstasy: the school board was flat out wrong about the law.
In July of 1995, President Bill Clinton tried to put a stake through the heart of the entire "church and state and schools" issue by sending out a pamphlet entitled "Memorandum on Religion in Schools," which clearly laid out guidelines for what is permitted or forbidden under Constitutional guidelines for all schools receiving federal funds. The Education Department printed up copies of the pamphlet and sent them to every school principal in America.
The second guideline reads:
- Where student groups that meet for nonreligious activities are permitted to advertise or announce their meetings–for example, by advertising in a student newspaper, making announcements on a student activities bulleting board or public address system, or handing out leaflets–school authorities may not discriminate against groups who meet to pray.
It must really stick in the craw of every religious nutcase in the country that in the past 28 years, 20 of which were presided over by a Republican administration of one sort or another, the clearest, best, and most liberating policy on student religious expression, the one that most clearly highlighted that students were allowed their full right to religious expression, came out of the Clinton administration. While the right fights and fights for school prayer, religious liberty was most secured by a man they reviled for getting a blowjob in the Oval Office.
