STORM2K

get your kids out of govt schools as quick as you possibly can:

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School
Wed Nov 24, 2004 04:12 PM ET


By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence.

Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian.

"It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men, and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political correctness is outrageous and shameful," said Williams' attorney, Terry Thompson.

"Williams wants to teach his students the true history of our country," he said. "There is nothing in the Establishment Clause (of the U.S. Constitution) that prohibits a teacher from showing students the Declaration of Independence."

Vidmar could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment.

Phyllis Vogel, assistant superintendent for Cupertino Unified School District, said the lawsuit had been forwarded to a staff attorney. She declined to comment further.

Williams asserts in the lawsuit that since May he has been required to submit all of his lesson plans and supplemental handouts to Vidmar for approval, and that the principal will not permit him to use any that contain references to God or Christianity.

Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists" and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania."

"He hands out a lot of material and perhaps 5 to 10 percent refers to God and Christianity because that's what the founders wrote," said Thompson, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom. "The principal seems to be systematically censoring material that refers to Christianity and it is pure discrimination."

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a California atheist who wanted the words "under God" struck from the Pledge of Allegiance as recited by school children. The appeals court in California had found that the phrase amounted to a violation of church and state separation.

That's outrageous!

What a pathetic principal...I feel sorry for the children in that school.

thats just plain WRONG.

like i said, get your kids out of govt indoctrination centers if you possibly can

That is just totally insane. That makes me too mad GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

That's just too wrong. Do they actually believe in terrorists or something. What a bunch of losers.

This...is going TOO far.

well, the liberal religion of secularism is spreading through govt indoctrination centers(schools)

rainstorm wrote:well, the liberal religion of secularism is spreading through govt indoctrination centers(schools)

I agree that this goes way too far, and the liberals I know would not want the Declaration of Independence thrown out of schools. I can't defend this decision -- this is ridiculous.

However, Rainstorm, it seems to me from your posts here and elsewhere that you'd like to see "all God, all the time" in the schools. Plays like a broken record. I'd <b>love</b> to hear what your Perfect America looks like.

The Big Dog wrote:

rainstorm wrote:well, the liberal religion of secularism is spreading through govt indoctrination centers(schools)

I agree that this goes way too far, and the liberals I know would not want the Declaration of Independence thrown out of schools. I can't defend this decision -- this is ridiculous.

However, Rainstorm, it seems to me from your posts here and elsewhere that you'd like to see "all God, all the time" in the schools. Plays like a broken record. I'd <b>love</b> to hear what your Perfect America looks like.

Could not agree with you more Bigdog

First off this should be in the PA

"Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists" and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania"


Post is misleading....What excerpt and in what context was it being used??

One would think that the context was ANY mention of "Diety" at all...PC at its worst.

yep

I'm reading between the lines here. I have a hunch that the teacher may have been going overboard with excerpts exclusively referring to God. Not that it's a bad thing, but if the teacher is cherry picking these references to make an extracurricular point, he needs to be corrected.

coriolis wrote:I'm reading between the lines here. I have a hunch that the teacher may have been going overboard with excerpts exclusively referring to God. Not that it's a bad thing, but if the teacher is cherry picking these references to make an extracurricular point, he needs to be corrected.

Coriolis...There could be alot of "reading between the lines"

But saying to get "get your kids out of govt schools as quick as you possibly can"

After a misleading post such as this is wrong...At least in this forum...

Stratosphere747 wrote:"Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists" and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania"

Post is misleading....What excerpt and in what context was it being used??

coriolis wrote:I'm reading between the lines here. I have a hunch that the teacher may have been going overboard with excerpts exclusively referring to God. Not that it's a bad thing, but if the teacher is cherry picking these references to make an extracurricular point, he needs to be corrected.

This is true -- context is everything. All we've heard so far is one side of the story. The school district won't comment until they have consulted with their own attorneys. I have a feeling the "cherry picking" theory might play out, but we'll see. If the Declaration of Independence had been banned in a whole school district, or even just one school, this would have certainly made the front page. But this is just one teacher in the school complaining.

The Big Dog wrote:
I agree that this goes way too far, and the liberals I know would not want the Declaration of Independence thrown out of schools. I can't defend this decision -- this is ridiculous.

However, Rainstorm, it seems to me from your posts here and elsewhere that you'd like to see "all God, all the time" in the schools. Plays like a broken record. I'd <b>love</b> to hear what your Perfect America looks like.

Excellent post, Big Dog.

This is definately a borderline PA subject and knowing rainstorm, just another excuse to bash.

I do agree it is absurd. Ed made a good point that perhaps the teacher does promote his own agenda, but regardless, the Declaration of Independence is a part of our history, as well as the Pledge of Allegiance. I think it's time to make people take responsibility for their own actions and likes and dislikes. If you're offended, don't recite it, don't read it, don't watch it, etc.

This is bogus. See:
http://www.storm2k.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=53118

This is not my idea, however, it's a "GREAT IDEA!"

To those who want the Declaration removed, the Ten Commandments removed, outlaw prayer at school, to those who want Gods' name removed from the Pledge, take His name off our currency.....I say, "Fine, we'll take YOUR payed holidays away, such as, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, make you have to WORK! We'll stop paying you until you come up with an idea for a new monitary system."

These ideas came from an email from Stephanie, Thanks Kiddo, made a LOT of sense to me!

Dennis

azsnowman wrote:This is not my idea, however, it's a "GREAT IDEA!"

To those who want the Declaration removed, the Ten Commandments removed, outlaw prayer at school, to those who want Gods' name removed from the Pledge, take His name off our currency.....I say, "Fine, we'll take YOUR payed holidays away, such as, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, make you have to WORK! We'll stop paying you until you come up with an idea for a new monitary system."

These ideas came from an email from Stephanie, Thanks Kiddo, made a LOT of sense to me!

Dennis

I LOVED IT myself!! I'm sure there's alot of "offended" people that are only too happy to take those holidays off with the masses. I'm offended myself - does that count for anything in the courts?

The U.S.A. is history.Too many brainwashed PC robots populate our society.