Pagan Mom Challenges School Bible Distribution

[StallChaser]

I have an old account on there from super-long ago, but I have no idea if it would still work.  Its been inactive for years, and I haven't cared about it since the lulzfest of November 2008.  I'd be kind of surprised if the login still did work, given their level of paranoia.  They've probably gone through and deleted inactive accounts for fear of the secular liberal internet spies around every corner.

[TheL]

*blinks a little bit*  It seems she just gave basic teen guides to Wicca. Which isn't exactly spellbooks but is instructional material in a different way but similar to the Bible. At least I hope so.

Technically, it's not even similar to the bible.  The bible is considered a sacred text and a religious guide.  Wiccans don't have any real equivalent to that.  Our "Wicca 101" books are generally: "This is what Wicca is.  Decide if it's right for you.  If it isn't, then at least don't be a dick to Wiccans."  In other words, it's the softest sell possible.

[Shane for Wax]

You know what I mean. Whilst it isn't exact, it is a barebones idea of the two.

[DiscoBerry]

Hockey is a Satanic plot to pervert Canadian youths.

[Osama bin Bambi]

I have an old account on there from super-long ago, but I have no idea if it would still work.  Its been inactive for years, and I haven't cared about it since the lulzfest of November 2008.  I'd be kind of surprised if the login still did work, given their level of paranoia.  They've probably gone through and deleted inactive accounts for fear of the secular liberal internet spies around every corner.

Oh. I've tried to get on with proxies but it doesn't seem to work.

What happened in November 2008? (You can PM me if you don't want to derail the thread.)

[Art Vandelay]

I have an old account on there from super-long ago, but I have no idea if it would still work.  Its been inactive for years, and I haven't cared about it since the lulzfest of November 2008.  I'd be kind of surprised if the login still did work, given their level of paranoia.  They've probably gone through and deleted inactive accounts for fear of the secular liberal internet spies around every corner.

Oh. I've tried to get on with proxies but it doesn't seem to work.

What happened in November 2008? (You can PM me if you don't want to derail the thread.)

2008 presidential election. Needless to say, they weren't particularly thrilled about Obama's victory.

[Star Cluster]

Just to give you guys an update, due to the mom that wanted to distribute pagan material in response to Gideon bibles being handed out at her son's school, the Buncombe County BoE has ruled that religious material of any kind may not be distributed on school grounds.  Naturally, the Christians are all up in arms claiming this is violating their constitution rights.  However, the BoE said that is not so. as any teacher that wants to, say, wear a necklace with a cross pendant is free to do so.  They just can't preach about it.

This was just reported on the local news and I can't find a link to it yet.  There should be one later today or tomorrow.

[TheL]

Just to give you guys an update, due to the mom that wanted to distribute pagan material in response to Gideon bibles being handed out at her son's school, the Buncombe County BoE has ruled that religious material of any kind may not be distributed on school grounds.  Naturally, the Christians are all up in arms claiming this is violating their constitution rights.  However, the BoE said that is not so. as any teacher that wants to, say, wear a necklace with a cross pendant is free to do so.  They just can't preach about it.

This was just reported on the local news and I can't find a link to it yet.  There should be one later today or tomorrow.

Notice that the law was passed after Gideon Bibles had been handed out, but before those books on Paganism could get around to being distributed.  Sometimes fairness isn't exactly fair.

[Lithp]

Yes, it is a violation of freedom of religion. Persecuted by the Christian school board. What we have here is a textbook case of Christians persecuting other Christians, & both parties persecuting those nasty pagans.

[Star Cluster]

Just to give you guys an update, due to the mom that wanted to distribute pagan material in response to Gideon bibles being handed out at her son's school, the Buncombe County BoE has ruled that religious material of any kind may not be distributed on school grounds.  Naturally, the Christians are all up in arms claiming this is violating their constitution rights.  However, the BoE said that is not so. as any teacher that wants to, say, wear a necklace with a cross pendant is free to do so.  They just can't preach about it.

This was just reported on the local news and I can't find a link to it yet.  There should be one later today or tomorrow.

Notice that the law was passed after Gideon Bibles had been handed out, but before those books on Paganism could get around to being distributed.  Sometimes fairness isn't exactly fair.

True.  But it's rather obvious that was her intent to begin with.  It forced the BoE's hand to either ban all religious material or allow her to distribute hers.  The whole thing would have been avoided if they had simply followed the law in the first place and not allowed the Bibles to be distributed.

Incidentally, since this happened in Buncombe County, NC, it may interest some to know that the word bunkum, meaning nonsense, is derived from Buncombe County, NC.  Back around 1820, the congressman representing Buncombe arose to address a particular matter before the US House (whether Missouri should be admitted as a slave or free state) and spoke such nonsense that he was actually shouted down by his colleagues.  Thereafter, any such speech was said to be buncombe, the spelling of which later changed to bunkum and the meaning expanded to mean anything that was nonsensical.  Considering how fundies constantly stating that not being allowed to spread their religious material and message on public property, particularly in schools, is denying them their constitutional rights is pure bunkum, I thought it both ironic and appropriate that this took place in the word's namesake.

[Yaezakura]

Technically, they were following the law up until the point where they refused to distribute her material. It's an "all or nothing" thing. The door is either open to every faith (including atheist material someone may want to distribute to the kids) or closed to every faith. They can't do much as restrict it even to only mainstream religions--it literally has to be open to everyone.

She did, however, prove the point that it was never their intent to follow the law, but only to distribute Christian material.

[Thejebusfire]

We had Gideons at the college last year. A few of my friends and I gathered as many of their Bibles as we could, then started having "Bible Fights" that involved hurling them at each other.

That sounds very painfull.

[Mechtaur]

We had Gideons at the college last year. A few of my friends and I gathered as many of their Bibles as we could, then started having "Bible Fights" that involved hurling them at each other.

That sounds very painfull.

Not really. I suppose hurl was the wrong term, sounds a little rougher than it should. Gentle overarm throws would be the closest thing I can think of as a descriptor.

[N. De Plume]

Usually the Gideon Bibles distributed on street corners are really small-lightweight things with soft covers and cheap, lightweight paper pages. Oftentimes, I have seen them containing only the New Testament. They wouldn’t hurt that much.

[Osama bin Bambi]

Usually the Gideon Bibles distributed on street corners are really small-lightweight things with soft covers and cheap, lightweight paper pages. Oftentimes, I have seen them containing only the New Testament. They wouldn’t hurt that much.

Once there was this old guy in a trenchcoat who would walk around the school campus, handing out Gideon Bibles with fluorescent orange covers. The school told him to get off their property, so now he just distributes them to the kids walking home.

I don't see the point, most of the school population there was Christian anyway.