Students Face Discipline For Offering Bible Message

Boston Globe ^ | 1/1/03 | Michele Kurtz

[Hebrews 11:6]

But nothing rightly belongs to Caesar.

I, and the Lord, disagree most vehemently. Please see Romans 13:1-7.

[Hebrews 11:6]

You change the subject blithely. Suppose students wanted to pass out flyers urging other students to hunt down FreeRepublic posters like us--should the school permit that, too? Suppose it were more innocuous, such as permitting Democrats but not Republicans to hand out literature? Where, exactly, would you draw the line? Constitutionally, the only place any lines can be drawn are to ban all literature, as this district apparently has done, or to bar it on a case-by-case basis when it disrupts learning, which is far more subjective and permits idealogues to ban everything, such as Christian outreach materials, with which they disagree.

Or do you even care about thinking this through?

[Fintan]

But school administrators have said the issue is not religion. They said they are adhering to a policy that bars students from passing out non-school-related literature on campus.

Gee, whyizzit I have the funny feeling that if these kids were handing out condoms with candy canes, or pro-gay brochures with candy canes, or anti-war propoganda with candy canes, or "Islam: The Religfion of Peace" pamphlets with candy canes, we wouldn't even be reading about Westfield High School students ?

[Hebrews 11:6]

You have committed the fundamental mistake of failing to consider the context of both situations, friend--they are not parallel at all. The council banned the apostles from all preaching, anywhere. These students are not banned from preaching at all--their place and manner of preaching is merely being regulated. Constitutionally, such regulation is severely restricted: it must serve a compelling governmental interest and be uniformly applied to all (content-neutral), which is the claim made.

You would have a stronger argument if, for example, the council had prohibited the apostles from preaching at the Temple, because it disrupted worshippers, while ignoring their preaching elsewhere.

[Hebrews 11:6]

In which case these kids would have a winning basis for a court challenge. But the article mentions no such disparate enforcement. Perhaps subsequent articles will supply more detail....

[Mercat]

Check out the ACLJ website. http://www.aclj.org/

They're knee deep in this stuff. Good group IMHO.

[frnewsjunkie]

When COMMON SENSE fails .... you can always go back to the letter of the law... just like in the Old Testament.

For crying out loud... these kids did no harm... and I'd fight for their right to hand out candy canes with a scripture verse... any day. Caesar or no caesar.

If condoms can be given out... then a scripture verse can be also. We've given in to TOO much of this stuff already!

[Hebrews 11:6]

...I'd fight for their right to hand out candy canes with a scripture verse... any day. Caesar or no caesar.

Which is your right, of course. My point is that a mature Christian conforms to Christ's Word, which they did not do.

When COMMON SENSE fails .... you can always go back to the letter of the law... just like in the Old Testament.

In my view, you have it backwards. Christians are commanded to start with not merely the Law but the entire Word of God. If you are not a Christian, you might not know that....

[stands2reason]

ROFLMAO!!!

[DouglasKC]

Christians are called by Romans 13 to obey civil authorities except where the laws contradict God's laws; as Jesus said, give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. This tension between evangelism and obedience to law, both of which God commands, is easily resolved: hand out the candy canes out on the sidewalk. Don't be a scofflaw and thereby bring Jesus into disrepute.

Excellent post...

[frnewsjunkie]

I've been a Christian longer than you've been born. (:>)

We are not to live by the letter of the law of the Old Testament. Jesus came... New Testament... all that kind of thing?

[frnewsjunkie]

And forbidding of the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is going against what Jesus and Paul taught.

[Bobby777]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech ..."

perhaps it's in some ruling but people think it says "separation of church and state" ... that's not exactly what is being said above ... the spirit of the above writing is clear ... but twisted by communist / Marxist organizations ...

[Freebird Forever]

These students are not banned from preaching at all--their place and manner of preaching is merely being regulated.

A clever distinction based on secular, statist legalese.

Do you, for a minute, believe that the author of Hebrews 11:6 (or better yet, the One who sent him forth) would have foregone an opportunity to make disciples on account of such a regulation?

Personally, if ever faced with a similar situation, I hope to err on the side of God's will.

[DouglasKC]

And forbidding of the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is going against what Jesus and Paul taught.

The bible teaches that we are in authority under governments. If the government is making us violating God's laws then we are bound not to follow that law...BUT, and here's the big but, we are still to accept the punishment of that government for violating it's laws.

In this particular case the school had a good policy. But if the children think that they're are being asked to violate any of God's laws then they are bound to take schools punishment for doing so, not to try and get out of serving the penalty.

[frnewsjunkie]

I will write it again... more clearly.

When common sense fails... you (or anyone who wants to find and follow the "law").. can go backwards to the "letter of the law" ... which was in the Old Testament... and which was BEFORE Christ. I prefer to not go backwards.

[frnewsjunkie]

Or fight it.. and I like a fighter!!

Communism happened 'cause the people accepted it.

You know the saying "when good people do nothing......"?

[Old Professer]

We're going to have to settle this God issue once and for all; either no God or all Gods, can't be any other way.

These students knew they were breaking the rules, their supporters disagree with the rules while their critics disagree with their belief, what then to do?

Mandatory schooling is the root issue, as long as it is the "Law of the Land," there will be those who seek to subvert the process on both sides of the debate.

How does it benefit society to waste resources on the unwilling and the incapable?

[E.G.C.]

Here are my thoughts on the subject.

This is why you're seeing more and more people choosing to home school their kids. These are obviously kids who believe in the Bible and are simply trying to excercise their first amendment rights. They are NOT agents of the state, they are regular kids and to treat them as though they're agents of the state in this way is rather stupid, idiotic and foolish.

And I'll tell you something else. No amount of goverment force or intmidation is going to make these kids give up on any of their ideas just to get along with those who think differently. This is what they're trying to do in California. They're forcing homeschooled kids to enter the public school system whether they want to or not. What's going to end up happening is a lot of these kids are going to choose not to accept the authority of those in charge with the mindset of an athiest and they're going to end up spending the majority of their young lives either on suspension or in dentention. No christian or conservative kid is going to let some ahtiest educrat tell him or her what to do. This is a recipe for our nation becoming a third world country which apparently, some bozos amongest us seem to want.

So the question is do we want to end up with a generation of kids with no knowledge of anything whatsoever because they had to spend a large part of their time fighting atheist educrats and as a result are out of school incompentent and dumb and their only experience is standing up for their conservative and christians and as a result showing disrepect for authority in the process? Is this what we really want?
Regards.