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Comment of the Fortnight
30 January 2000
Religion in Schools

Note: the names and addresses in the text below have all been changed.

Last weekend I was helping with scorekeeping at an amateur wrestling tournament at Brookdale High School, a public high school located in an area with a large Hispanic population. On a bulletin board in a locker room, I saw the following sign, all in capital letters, which I have translated from the Spanish original.

IF YOU CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS LORD AND
YOU BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART THAT GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE
DEAD, YOU SHALL BE SAVED       ROM.10:9

YOUTH SERVICES

TEMPLE EMANUEL OF THE LATIN AMERICAN COUNCIL
OF CHRISTIAN CHURCHES

1001 N 1ST AND MANSFIELD ROAD
PASTOR: REV. MIGUEL JIMENEZ

ALL ARE INVITED EVERY FRIDAY AT 7:00 PM
IF YOU NEED TRANSPORTATION CALL (408)555-1111

As far as I am concerned, this is a clear violation of the separation of church and state. I would have no objection to the sign if it were sponsored by a student group that met at the church, or if it were a notice for counseling or tutoring services sponsored by a church. But this has absolutely nothing to do with education; it's a pure appeal to religion, and religion alone. As such, it has no business being in a public school.

If you are one of those folks who don't have any objection to such Christian religious material being posted in schools, ask yourself how you would have reacted to this sign in a school district with a large Asian population:

NOT TO DO ANY EVIL, TO CULTIVATE GOOD, TO PURIFY ONE'S MIND,
THIS IS THE ADVICE OF THE BUDDHAS

YOUTH SERVICES
WEST SAN JOSE BUDDHIST TEMPLE
REV. AHN NGUYEN

Does that belong in a public school? What about this one, in a school with a large Haitian population:

TOUT MOUN METE NAN LA PREZANS DE DYE. L'ANGE DU SEIGNEUR DIT A MARIE - VENEZ, MON DIEU, VENEZ

YOUTH SERVICES
SAN JOSE VOUDON HOUNFORT
PRIEST: JOSEPH DELACRESSE

Or this one in any given neighborhood:

ALL GOOD THAT A PERSON DOES TO ANOTHER RETURNS THREE FOLD IN THIS
LIFE; HARM IS ALSO RETURNED THREE FOLD.

YOUTH SERVICES
WICCAN COVEN OF SAN JOSE
HIGH PRIESTESS: SUSAN REED

Are you outraged by this? If so, now you begin to understand why people who aren't of your faith are so reluctant to have religion introduced to the public schools.

Let me know what you think.

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