# Should students get 6 months in jail for saying the word 'Jesus'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 5, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-students-get-6-months-in-jail-for-saying-the-word-jesus/211612 "2003-11-05T20:32:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-students-get-6-months-in-jail-for-saying-the-word-jesus/211612/81 "2003-11-11T06:39:26Z")
Ceremonial Deism is a remarkably stupid doctrine. It’s not up to the government to decide what is meaningful to people, or what particular theology any given utterance connotes. Almost no religious statement is truly without some underlying theology, and certianly not when exposed to the diversity of human belief and interpretation. The name is probably the stupidest thing of all: practically an oxymoron for many Deists who all had their own idiosyncratic philosophies, their own conception and names for God, and few of which would consider their beliefs to be in any way ceremonialable (to mangle a word). ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-students-get-6-months-in-jail-for-saying-the-word-jesus/211612/82 "2003-11-11T13:27:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Homebrew \* > \*\*So, **Shodan** , are you willing to give up the Congressional Chaplains, Invocations, “In God We Trust” on the money and “Under God” in the Pledge? Because those are allowed as Ceremonial Deism. Otherwise they’d be disallowed. There’s only one way to go with this issue. You get what you got or you give it all up. Personally, I’d like to see it all go. \*\* Sure. Student-led prayers at graduations or other public ceremonies, public mention of God and religious references including those made by elected officials, equal access to public facilities by religious groups, and voluntary inclusion of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge all stay. Because none of them constitute an establishment of religion by the State. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-students-get-6-months-in-jail-for-saying-the-word-jesus/211612/83 "2003-11-12T05:19:03Z")
Sorry, **Shodan** , I ain’t buyin’ it. And based on **minty green** ’s comments in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&postid=4219949) about some “facts” you posted, I ain’t buyin’ anything else you say, either. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-students-get-6-months-in-jail-for-saying-the-word-jesus/211612/84 "2003-11-12T11:12:11Z")
**Shodan** , I’d like to repeat my question because I honestly don’t know how you’d answer it. If students at a local high school graduation invoked the Wiccan Lord and Lady and that was the only mention of religion during the ceremony, would you support that as firmly as you would students invoking Jesus (throw in God the Father and the Holy Spirit if you like)? The reason I ask is it seems to me that all too often the people who most ardently support prayer in schools support only their particular form of prayer in schools. Respectfully, CJ ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-students-get-6-months-in-jail-for-saying-the-word-jesus/211612/85 "2003-11-12T13:05:53Z")
> [@](#): > > If students at a local high school graduation invoked the Wiccan Lord and Lady and that was the only mention of religion during the ceremony, would you support that as firmly as you would students invoking Jesus (throw in God the Father and the Holy Spirit if you like)? Yes. And **Tuckerfan** - I have made some further postings to the thread to which you linked. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2003, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-students-get-6-months-in-jail-for-saying-the-word-jesus/211612/86 "2003-11-12T23:42:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shodan \* > \*\*Yes. > > And **Tuckerfan** - I have made some further postings to the thread to which you linked. > > Regards, > Shodan \*\* And so has **minty**. Nothing you’ve posted has made me change my earlier statement. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-students-get-6-months-in-jail-for-saying-the-word-jesus/211612.md?page=4)