Should schools ban religious symbols?
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Answer:
The Supreme Court has made it overtly clear on this issue that school officials CANNOT interfere with students' religious rights and that so long as students are not forcing other students to participate AND students are not disrupting classes then that student has the right to wear a cross, pentacle, om, magen david, etc and the right to carry a Bible, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, Guru Granth Sahib, Torah, etc and read silently in class when they have finished their work. They have the right to pray silently at lunch or any other time when they are not listening to lectures of doing class projects. The Supreme Court has made this very clear. And while you might be surprised by this, we have the "religious right" to thank for the Supreme Court making these points very clear. When students were punished (as shocking as that may sound to some of us) their parents naturally got upset that they were being punished in school. They told their church and their church got them connected with the ACLU and the ACLJ. The two organizations worked together to ensure that students First Amendment rights were not being infringed by school administrators. Thus, unless the school has clearly stated in its dress code that "no jewelry may be worn", students are free to wear jewelry with religious symbols. While I very often do NOT agree with Pat Robertson, I'll admit that I heard him say once "I do not understand why schools seem to be so confused about what the Supreme Court has ruled and has stated very clearly on this issue." You can go to the Supreme Court's website and actually read the court's decision (and you can go to the ACLU and ACLJ's websites to find out the names of the cases). And if all of us can go to the websites and read what the Supreme Court said, so too can all school officials and administrators and teachers, etc (you think they'd just train them on this.I mean when I worked at a bank every three months I got trained, reminded, and retrained on all State and Federal banking regulations, laws, and court decisions. When I worked for a wireless company the same thing.)
Excellent question.
Peace be with you.
ONLY if they ban all symbols including crosses. I do not understand why they are doing that if you are not "preaching" to others about your beliefs. Maybe you should wear it tucked away where it is not visible if you feel strongly about wearing it. That is exactly what I do (depending on where I am)
Go to the board of Education
Yes. All visible symbols of any religion.
No they should not. Even if you are a SATANIST
That's unconstitutional. Freedom of religion!
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this is against the law (federal law in US).
you can actually sue them
btw. good for you. you did the right thing
no they shouldn't. if someone wants to wear a necklace or something with a symbol of their faith, who cares?
that said, they did this in my high school, but never to christians. it's biased.
The only way it would be fair is if ALL symbols are given the same regard. Why should you have to remove a Pentacle if someone else can wear a Cross? If the ban on symbols is across the board, then I believe it can be done in a public school. Still -- my hat's off to you for sticking to your beliefs!
no i dont see anything wrong with the Christian ones...the pentacle is satanic and not religious though yuck
they are seeing your actions as rebelliousness
They have absolutely no right to do that. That defies the First Amendment rights granted to ALL U.S. citizens. It says something to the effect of "Government shall not ban the free exercise of religion" (paraphrased). If they allow any kind of religious exercise, they have to allow all of it. Legally, they have to allow any of it (including prayer) because of the first amendment rights of speech and religion.
I don't. It's personal expression. If I am allowed to wear my St. Christopher medal, then if someone wants to wear a Star of David or a Pentacle or any other symbol necklace, then he/she should be able to.
I think it is ridiculous...I don't see any problem with wearing a symbol of any kind. If you are offended by symbols and they cause you harm you should not even be out in public. I understand the whole drugs, and weapons issue and agree with it...but things like symbols, attire, colors, simple things with kids, we are just feeding our fear and our intolerance.
Your rights are being infringed upon.
no, methinks that infringes on the right to free speech
They shouldn't ban any symbols. While there is a separation of church and state, there is also the guarantee that people should be allowed to express themselves religiously as long as no one else is harmed by it. This is one right that should even exist in schools, though I am fully aware that many rights are suspended on school grounds. And if these same schools are not forcing crosses to be removed as well, then civil rights, as well as the First Amendment, are being violated. The only other acceptable position, though I strongly disagree with this one, is to ban all religious symbols, not just some. Remember, in has been widely established that you do not have the same rights inside a public school as you do on the streets. In case you care, I'm an atheist.
The symbols - they are jewelery. I don't feel that schools should be able to ban any jewelery unless it is trashy or nasty.
This would have to depend upon current school policy (reviewed and approved by the school board) as well as First Amendment Rights. As long as it is not a safety issue (your symbol is an eight pound axe) and it is not profane or advocating something that is illegal, it should be covered under free speech.
I don't feel like personal symbols like that should be banned. I mean, I have a Jewish friend who's 24 who's been wearing the same Star of David necklace since her bat mitzva, she's never taken it off.
That being said, if one type of religious symbol is banned, all should be banned.
No, I do not think they should be allowed to ban religious symbols.
There is a huge difference between a tax-funded public school endorsing a religion (by posting The Ten Commandments, teaching creationism, etc.) and children being able to wear religious symbols of their particular faith.
I'd fight that one BIG time.
no, that is simply wrong.
an individual should be allowed to wear a religious symbol on his person.
That is not the same as a school sponsored religious function.
This is not France where they can do that. In America we have civil liberties.
No, as long as they don't use it to infringe on others' beliefs.
Clothing carries religious significance.
Sweetie, I think it was wrong to make you remove your Pentacle. I have no problem with the Star of David, the Cross, the Pentacle, or any other outward sign of someones spiritual beliefs. I have a problem with forcing our children to believe a certain way or pray if they don't want to.
A while back there was a case similar to yours going on around here.
A female student was told to remover her pentacle. She refused and maybe disciplined (Not sure about that) and ended up taking the school to court.. they ended up in a pretty high court I think but she too used the aruement that Christian students can wear their crosses no problem but they discriminated against her for being Wiccan, and asked her to take off her religious symbol..
Anyway she won.. I think she was in 17 magazine too..
Good for her. But anyway, just contact the ACLU if you run into that problem.. they drool over stuff like that :)
I don't think any school staffs have any right to tell anyone to remove any symbols that represent their religion other than christians... so my answer is no. I think it's ridiculous especially if it's in a public school. If they were to do that, then it should be done in a Christian school or something. I'm not too sure where exactly you are from but I'm a canadian citizen so we are less religious than americans.
There was one time where this one christian girl done her prayers on stage at our graduation convocation, and most people were furious (especially canadians) because most of us believe it should not be presented for a public school because there are tonns of others who aren't christian.
The Supreme Court has issued a ruling concerning the wearing of religious symbols by students and faculty. They decided that it is not illegal or a violation of the First Amendment for students to wear religious symbols on school grounds. This is like another lesser known part of the ruling whereby religion classes MAY be held ON SCHOOL GROUNDS during the school day so long as the courses are not required for advancement or graduation.
The problem has been that many public schools have chosen to take the ULTRA-LIBERAL approach and deny any religious symbol. There are plenty of cases where Christians are the targets and others are allowed, I agree it is very unfair. For more info, look up Christian Law Association. I know you are not Christian but the info you find will help regardless.
The sad thing, though, is that by removing religion from schools, people are actually promoting and forcing acceptance of atheism into the culture. That is why I am in favor of a voucher system for education.This would allow parents to get the type education they want for their kids.
Same has happened to me in the past. I was wearing a shirt I made with the anarchist symbol and they told me to flip it or cover it with a paper. I said no and they sent me to detention for the whole week. Next day I shatterd the school windows at night while no one was there and had my sweet revenge. You really need to fight that system no matter what it does to you. Keep on wearing that necklace/shirt, get some attention, and bring up the issue you mentioned right now. Staff doesent have the power to bring down the 1st amendment especially in a public school. For your own sake and other peoples you need to fight this and make it heard.
Oh yeah and on the other note, no... school shouldent ban religious symbols. Making a rule to take away someones freedom is wrong. Get the religious people to help fight for freedom of expression.
No, they shouldn't, as long as they aren't doing anything that's disruptive or openly insulting to other students. (Like wearing the Nazi swastika, or something like that.)
depends, in America: NO. Reason why? First Amendment, freedom of speech, a person can wear a religious symbol as long as he or she is not forcefully promoting it and therefore infringing on another person's rights. If they are wearing it silently then it's fine.
I don't see why they would or should. What's up with that.
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