Quote:
Originally posted by elaphe
This is a public school teacher, right? Fighting for her First Amendent rights? Doesn't the First Amendment also enshrine the separation of church and state?
"Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
If I am reading this right, the United States Government cannot create its own religion or force it down people's throats. I think that as an employee of the state, her personal freedoms must take a back seat to the government's or its institutions' (like public schools) duty to uphold everyone's freedom. The rules did not forbid her wearing a cross, or any other religious article which would violate her personal freedoms. It only mandates that she not broadcast her religious beliefs when working which could infrige upon someone else's right to religious freedom.
No harm, no foul. I think she will loose.
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While the Constitution prohibits the establishment of a State religon, it also protects an individual's exercise of their religion. She was not ramming Christianity down anybody's throat by wearing a cross.
I'm totally against school prayer but this was an individual doing nothing more that wearing a piece of jewlery. It's like the school saying it's against policy to wear red because it espouces Communism.