Build up that wall, Mr. Jefferson…

…and the rest of us will work to keep it from being torn down.

There are numerous forces at work in the United States on dismantling Thomas Jefferson’s wall. Expelled is a well-known example, as is Florida’s Evolution Academic Freedom Act (which looks as they it may have cleared the Senate. Curses!)

Wandering about the blogosphere (OK, just one blog) has turned up two other egregious yet small-scale examples.

First is the conduct of a high school teacher, who allegedly taught lessons from the Bible and used an electrical device to burn crosses into students’ arms. Oddly, his students are rallying to his defense. Just shows to go ya that the most popular teachers aren’t always the best!

Second is the one that really burns me (pun enthusiastically intended.) A high school student was booted from class for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance. This, of course, is unconscionable. There is no law holding that students must be compelled to swear allegiance to the flag, and as long as a student not disruptive, there is no grounds for punishing her for refusing to do so. When this particular student got a lawyer involved, the school recanted. They must have recognized the clear 1st Amendment violation they had perpetrated, yes?

No. They recanted because the student claimed she had refused for religious reasons. So if a student refuses to recite the Pledge because she feels it’s a throwback to fascism, I guess she’s just SOL.

They keep on poking holes in that wall, people. Let’s make sure it doesn’t fall.

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Tags: freshwater, mr. jefferson's wall, pledge of allegiance, Secularism, separation of church and state