On School Prayer: What Would an 18th Century Protestant Zealot Do?

Andy Spears has an interesting response to SCOTUS's lying majority decision this week to back the lying football coach:

Here’s the super short version: The Supreme Court basically ruled that public school employees may lead or participate in prayer with students, presuming of course said prayer is of a Christian variety.

Peter Greene explains more, including noting this particular clause of the decision in the Kennedy case:

In place of Lemon and the endorsement test, this Court has instructed that the Establishment Clause must be interpreted by “‘reference to historical practices and understandings.“‘[T]he line’” that courts and governments “must draw between the permissible and the impermissible” has to “‘accor[d] with history and faithfully reflec[t] the understanding of the Founding Fathers.’” 

Jesus, Mary, Mother of God. As with previous uses, this "test" can be used to roll everything back! Brown v. Board, here we come!

Read the rest here.

Maine Neutralizes Theocratic SCOTUS Decision on Schools

When the six-member American Taliban majority on the U. S. Supreme Court decided that Maine's state assistance to private schools (due to many students not having public schools available in rural areas) must include aid to religious private schools as well, many defenders of the separation of church and state were alarmed.  

As alarming as the 6-3 decision was, Maine anticipated a path around the ruling by preemptively passing a law that denies state assistance to any private school that discriminates against LGBTQ students--which, in essence, eliminate the hateful Christian madrassas that would otherwise use taxpayer funds to instill the same hate into children. Genius. 

Details from the NY Times:

. . . . Anticipating this week’s decision, Maine lawmakers enacted a crucial amendment to the state’s anti-discrimination law last year in order to counteract the expected ruling. The revised law forbids discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, and it applies to every private school that chooses to accept public funds, without regard to religious affiliation.

The impact was immediate: The two religious schools at issue in the Carson case, Bangor Christian Schools and Temple Academy, said that they would decline state funds if, as Maine’s new law requires, accepting such funds would require them to change how they operate or alter their “admissions standards” to admit L.G.B.T.Q. students.

The legislative fix crafted by Maine lawmakers offers a model for lawmakers elsewhere who are alarmed by the court’s aggressive swing to the right. Maine’s example shows that those on the losing end of a case can often outmaneuver the court and avoid the consequences of a ruling. . . .

Change in strategy

 It is obvious to me, from my experiences and from what others are saying, that the heavy phonics group is preventing any criticism of phonics. As you know I submit about one letter a day. In the last two weeks, none of my letters have been accepted, not even those to local papers. This has never happene to me before.

New Policy:

Previously I only shared letters accepted for publication. Now I will share them all. 

I will put them on this blogspot.

I will keep them short. 

The shutdown of publishing opposing views might be a sign that we are making progress.

We need to keep sharing our reactions, analyses.