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March 01, 2006
More Government Censorship
The following painting was banned by a judge in Virginia:
A federal judge has ruled against a public school teacher who filed a lawsuit after administrators removed Christian-themed postings from his classroom, including a depiction of George Washington praying at Valley Forge and news clippings about the faith of President Bush and former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
William Lee – a Spanish teacher at Tabb High School in York County, Va. – was represented by the Christian public-interest group Rutherford Institute in U.S. District court, arguing his free-speech rights were violated.
The postings, removed at the beginning of the 2004-05 school year after a parent complained, included news articles about Bush's Christian faith and Ashcroft's prayer meetings with staffers.
I don't understand why it's legal to ask students to observe Ramadan in California but not discuss Christianity in Virginia.
Posted by Aaron at March 1, 2006 02:28 PM
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Comments
It wasn't banned by a judge, it was removed by his bosses.
But you can't handle the truth.
As you well know there is no constitutional right to put up posters of your choice in your place of work.
Posted by: paul at March 1, 2006 04:44 PM
Poor wording, maybe; I'll grant you that Paul.
But this is a public school and a teacher had a picture of our first president praying removed by his bosses.
I'd like for you to see what would happen to a boss here at the federal government if he/she went into a black person's office and started taking down bible verses they have posted. That would be considered religious oppression.
But for a teacher to hang NEWS ARTICLEs showing the current president's faith and historically contrasting that with our first is totally appropriate.
The judges decision that the painting is not protected speech is an essential ban on the painting in public schools in VA.
Posted by: Aaron at March 2, 2006 08:19 AM
It's not a ban Aaron, and you know why. The people who run the school are perfectly free to put the painting up in the school, and you know it.
A classroom is not analogous to an office, in my view, it is analogous to a store. But I doubt that a policy of removing personal items in federal offices is something that a judge would find violates worker's rights to free expression.
Posted by: paul at March 2, 2006 02:06 PM
So when the Supreme Court said that a court in one state couldn't show the 10 commandments inside a courthouse in one state that it was okay in another? Or was it in effect a ban on the display? And courthouses and schools are both public property.
Posted by: Aaron at March 3, 2006 10:34 AM
No, it was. And more than that, the Court often distinquishes similar fact sets.
Posted by: paul at March 3, 2006 03:07 PM
No, it wasn't. Once case could display the commandments on the courthouse grounds. The other case said the commandments could not be displayed inside of a courthouse.
Posted by: Aaron at March 3, 2006 04:12 PM