← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Valley Forge
Thread ID: 17094 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2005-03-04
2005-03-04 02:34 | User Profile
It looks like anti-Christianity, a central element of the Jewish agenda, has filtered down to southeast Louisiana via the federal bench.
ALEXANDRIA (AP) -- School board members from around Louisiana opened their annual convention with a prayer here Thursday, a common practice that took on an aura of defiance one week after a federal judge banned public prayer at school board meetings in a district north of New Orleans.
''Let it be known, and let the ACLU know, that this meeting started with the Pledge and a prayer,'' said Freddie Whitford, executive director of the Louisiana School Boards Association.
Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan of New Orleans ruled in favor of a parent who sued the Tangipahoa Parish School Board to stop prayers at board meetings. The ACLU backed the lawsuit.
Berrigan's ruling was followed by swift criticism from various state and local officials -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco issued a rare Sunday afternoon statement encouraging an appeal. Several school boards around the state made a point of opening meetings with public prayers this week despite the possibility that they might face similar lawsuits. And on Thursday, an LSBA lawyer said the organization would join Blanco and state Attorney General Charles Foti in filing friend of the court briefs when Tangipahoa Parish appeals.
Clara F. Duhon, a member of a southwestern Louisiana's Calcasieu Parish School Board, opened the LSBA annual meeting with a prayer seeking guidance in ''decisions that affect our children.''
Tangipahoa Parish board members voted Tuesday night to appeal Berrigan's ruling -- after holding a nonpublic prayer in an anteroom before their meeting.
The prayer issue was a hot topic as the LSBA meeting opened, a week after Berrigan's ruling, months after President Bush was re-elected with a strong showing from conservative Christians, and a day after the Supreme Court heard arguments over another church-state issue: whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed on government property.
Pat Howerton, a member of Cameron Parish's board, said he supports his board's pre-meeting prayers because he believes God is a central element of education. Howerton said he first ran for Cameron's board in 1998 because he sensed a rising opposition nationwide to prayers and other religious material in schools and government.
''Instead of fighting these battles, we've been letting the courts and the judges make decisions that go against our beliefs,'' he said. ''We need to fight to keep that prayer.''
Tangipahoa Parish board members have raised questions about Berrigan's impartiality, noting that she is a past president of the Louisiana ACLU. Berrigan led the ACLU before being appointed to the federal bench 11 years ago by then-President Clinton. In response, Berrigan told a New Orleans television station she hopes people will read the entire 25-page opinion before commenting.
In her ruling, Berrigan acknowledged that courts have long allowed deliberative governmental bodies, such as Congress and state legislatures, to open meetings with prayers. School boards, however, are different, Berrigan said.
School-sponsored prayers in classes or at other school functions have been prohibited by federal courts as a violation of First Amendment guarantees against government-established religion. Berrigan said school boards are integral parts of school systems, setting policy, overseeing operations and sometimes involving students in board meetings.
Berrigan drew heavily from a ruling in an Ohio case by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Opponents of her ruling are hoping for a different result from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
[url]http://www.sulphurdailynews.com/articles/2005/03/03/news/news1.txt[/url]
2005-03-04 03:49 | User Profile
Some of the stuff I've seen in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes is discouraging (Christian Zionist billboards and Christian anti-racism billboards), but Louisiana's people are the most defiant in the union. It's good to see someone stand up to the judges. And what exactly is the judge going to do if they keep doing what they're doing?
2005-03-04 12:19 | User Profile
[QUOTE=mwdallas]And what exactly is the judge going to do if they keep doing what they're doing?[/QUOTE]
Call in the Guard? They're probably all over in Iraq and Kuwait.
This is encouraging news. Judge Moore may be having some residual grassroots impact after all.
2005-03-04 14:49 | User Profile
At least someone in this country has some guts.
I knew there was a reason I liked Louisiana. :D