If nothing else, you’ll always have the Walmart clip-on tie. No one can take that away from you.
I mean, who’d want it?
True, Giraffe, but I have a lot of clothing you could say that about. 
Okay, well, I’m home from work. Here is the notice they sent me. (Warning : image size is 231 KB). Item #2 is the pertinent one.
You really oughta challenge this rule, neutron. No school should be allowed to refuse someone a degree because they refuse to go to the graduation.
As far as the kids in WV are concerned, maybe “spontaneous” was a bad word to use. They obviously planned it because they did it at the same time, but nobody “in charge” knew they were going to do it. They didn’t tell them because if they had, they would have been obligated to put a stop to it, which the kids didn’t want.
It was their damn graduation. And judging from the response of the crowd, nobody minded.
I’m sick of a handful of people jerking others around and telling them when they can and can’t pray (and these are the same people who are just dying to make sure 13 year olds know how to jack off and want our tax dollars to pay for it). “OOOOOH you prayed in front of me, I’m so offended.” Get over yourself. Let the graduating class vote on it and if they want to, fine, and if they don’t, fine as well.
And yes, classes WILL vote to not do it if given a chance. One class from my high school (ultra conservative area of west KY) voted not to have a Baccalaureate one year, so they didn’t.
How many fields of grass did you have to harvest to build all those strawmen? On a related issue, do you ever know what the fuck you’re talking about?
“Nobody minded,” Snoop, or “Nobody dared to dissent?”
Snoopy Fan, I’ll expect to see you at a parish of the Established Church for Sunday Eucharist this week, and every week to come.
What’s that? You say you have freedom to choose how and where you will worship? Well, no sir, not if you won’t extend that to others.
This is really not a hard concept – if any governmental entity, including a public school or college, makes something mandatory, and/or pays for it with our tax dollars, they are not permitted to have any religious observance, no matter how interdenominational or blanded down, as a part of it. And, subject to non-content-based time, place, and manner restrictions that are appropriate to their effective functioning, they are not permitted to forbid any act of religious observance.
Personally, I think that every believing teen ought to attend a baccalaureate service and give heartfelt thanks to God for their life, health, intelligence, friends, all the things that they have been given throughout their school years. But there is no way that such a service should be mandatory. And, by the way, one’s religious beliefs are not subject to majority vote. If even one kid wanted to attend a baccalaureate service, it should have been held.
BTW, I would like to see a cite that anyone, anywhere, has ever advocated educating teens on the mechanics of masturbation. Teen and young-adult dopers? Did you ever have a class where you were taught masturbatory technique?. I think if sex education is [part of the curriculum, the subject should be addressed, since it is a common sexual practice, but I don’t thinkl anyone has ever suggested teching how to.
You know, it can get even worse down here when a private, but seemingly completely secular organization meets. Through my school, I got involved in a statewide academic competition. It was a national organization, and the first place winners from the state competitions got to go on to nationals. Unfortunately, a friendly Asian fellow from Monroe barely edged me out of the top spot in Internetworking, but I still had a good time - mostly.
At the beginning of the competition, a local minister was called to the podium. She led the crowd in a lengthy prayer that didn’t even pretend to be non-denominational. She ended it with the words, “Our God, who is Jesus Christ. Amen.” I may be paraphrasing very slightly (it was over a year ago), but I know she emphasized the word “is” that preceded Jesus.
Yeah, I guess if they’re a private organization, it should be okay. But I did get involved with it through a public school. At the very least, they should have been required to inform me about this. I don’t think anyone signing up to compete in a purely technical event should automatically be expected to know he’ll have to squirm through something like that as part of a captive audience.
Yeah, I was pretty pissed off about all the prayer at my graduation. Never mind the fact that a whole heap of us aren’t Christian, never mind that all the rest of the speeches were about “the strength of diversity.” Feh.
OK, we’ve all voted, and the Wiccan coven will be meeting at your house on Monday evenings, the Atheists and Freethinkers Society will be meeting there on the second Sunday of each month, the Fire-and-Water-Baptized Church of the Holy Spirit (Serpent Handling) will be meeting each Sunday morning at seven sharp, and the Reformed Fire-and-Water-Baptized Church of the Holy Spirit (Serpent Handling) will be meeting each Sunday at nine.
Say, how big is your living room, anyway?
Sounds a lot like every assembly at my school, neutron. (It’s public as well).
Every major assembly, graduation, National Honors Society, etc., starts off with a speech from the local Catholic priest. Then a student will usually lead us in a prayer. We are asked to bow our heads. Members of the faculty allude to the Church frequently throughout the whole affair, thanking God for our abilities, and another great school year, that sort of thing.
Though I believe in God myself, I have a couple friends who are ardently atheisist, and was very good friends with a Pagan. (She graduated last year). It really, really bothers me that they have to sit through this sort if thing, especially those of us who believe in other religions. I can only imagine how akward it’d make me feel, how angry, as if my religion wasn’t even important enough to bear mentioning, but this one is. And I don’t understand how it even can happen, legally.
And for Christians who argue, saying this is exactly what’s wrong with schools today, picture this: a prominent community figure coming up on stage and launching into a prolonged thanks to Buddah…which nearly everyone else in the room either agrees with, or doesn’t give a fuck about one way or the other. And your religion is not mentioned. People stare at you, either because you don’t assume the appropriate position, or because they know you’re Christian and want to see how you’ll react. No other religious beliefs are mentioned.
Anyway, just wanted to say you’re not alone, neutron star. And congradulations on graduating, too.
Hey, thanks for the congrats Orange Skinner, and thanks for being what I really wish every Christian could be. Being able to see things from the other side of the fence is an important quality that, to be quite honest, I can sometimes be lacking in.
Every assembly, eh? Is your school in the U.S.? If so, that’s just plain fucked up. Now, I’m no Biblical scholar, but wasn’t it the Apostle Paul who said we should obey the laws of man?
Thanks, neutron.
Not every assembly, like the fundraiser-things or pep rallies, but the important ones…“formal assemblies,” which there are maybe four or five a year, plus graduation, and special honors breakfasts for honor roll students, NHS members and the like. And yup, it’s in the US…really really rural/slightly backward area of Ohio.
I appauld your sentiments. I can’t for the life of me figure out why some believers think that it dignifies their religion to make it something other people feel bullied by, something they have to rise above. Is that really the face they want to put on it? It’s particularly ironic in the case of Christianity, which was born in the context of being a tiny oppressed minority itself.
To bad the USA and many Islamic states do not have freedom from religion.
Yeah. People would be so much easier to control if they didn’t follow those pesky higher powers, wouldn’t they, Muffin?
You actually think religion makes people less easy to contol?
Wow.
Huh?
Time to put your tinfoil hat back on, Snoopy.
Last week I had to go to a function for my work where I was to give a speech, and had to sit through a prayer at the beginning, and then a 30 minute tribute to god by a guest speaker.
It made me feel pretty uncomfortable, but I didn’t know what I could do about it since it would have been pretty visible and angered my boss if I waited outside the room until the religion was over before going to give my speech.