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Post by Napoleon the Clown on May 20, 2011 16:26:01 GMT -5
Much easier to not attend the graduation ceremony and just pick up your diploma later. Because taking the easy way out is better than doing the right thing, gotcha. No, it's just easier. And in this case lets you avoid the pointless ceremony.
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Post by Old Viking on May 20, 2011 16:48:31 GMT -5
Grin and bear it. I'm not so hypersensitive that I go into convulsions every time I encounter a group of halfwits praying. It's a social custom, they think they're doing something admirable, it's (usually) brief, and no great harm is done that I can see. Hell, in this retirement community they can't have a potluck supper without first assuring God what a great guy he is. But it doesn't harm the meatloaf. Let's use our energies to confront the anti-abortionists, the creationism-in-the-classroom morons, right-wing politicians and such-like. Don't fight them on a battlefield of their choosing. In principle there should not be prayers at a public high school graduation. In reality there will be. And not a whole lot is gained by making a rancorous issue of it.
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Post by foolishwisdom on May 20, 2011 17:09:23 GMT -5
But...it's the principle!
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Post by DeadpanDoubter on May 20, 2011 18:03:56 GMT -5
...I LOVE his name, especially in this context. His given name happens to be the same, spelling and everything, as a half-demon character of mine, so I'm sitting over here snickering and wondering why the fuck his mother gave him the name Damon.
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Post by VirtualStranger on May 21, 2011 0:53:12 GMT -5
Update: They went on with the prayer anyway. The first video was the practice recital. This is the actual graduation.
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Post by tolpuddlemartyr on May 21, 2011 1:04:02 GMT -5
As a teacher I have to say that the only times I've wanted to see another teacher stripped of their right to teach more vehemently than I do now is in cases where a teacher has molested a student in their care. This is disgraceful!
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Post by DeadpanDoubter on May 21, 2011 4:25:27 GMT -5
"I respect the beliefs of other people, BUT..."
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Post by foolishwisdom on May 21, 2011 9:00:17 GMT -5
"I respect the beliefs of other people, BUT..." It's almost as annoying as, "I have [people/group I hate] as friends, BUT..." Such sincerity doesn't excuse you for making such actions against people you "respect" or are "friends" of. It's even worse if you're a two-bit liar, and you say things like that just so you won't look like the bad guy.
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brainy
Junior Member
Gay, atheist, psychologist. The fundie trifecta!
Posts: 63
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Post by brainy on May 21, 2011 10:14:00 GMT -5
Breaking the law and praying anyway leads to applause, but I wonder how fast they will scream religious persecution when a lawsuit is filed. I'm guessing we could measure the time-frame in milliseconds.
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Post by MaybeNever on May 21, 2011 13:23:21 GMT -5
I believe horological engineers will have to invent a far more advanced method of measuring time than any yet devised in order to determine that particular span, actually.
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Post by Iosa the Invincible on May 21, 2011 13:49:27 GMT -5
Breaking the law and praying anyway leads to applause, but I wonder how fast they will scream religious persecution when a lawsuit is filed. I'm guessing we could measure the time-frame in milliseconds. As others have pointed out, I wonder how fast they'd scream religious persecution if it was another religious prayer being issued. Would they want a Christian in a predominantly Muslim school to just quietly keep their mouth shut if the school wanted everyone to do a Muslim prayer?
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Post by musicalbookworm on May 21, 2011 14:47:57 GMT -5
Old Viking, this battle must be fought precisely because it is this attitude that prayer is an acceptable part of a non-religious public ceremony, without concern for the beliefs of others present, that lead to the belief that it is ok to persecute those who disagree with you. Sitting respectfully through illegal public prayers gives these fools the delusion that the next step--taking away the rights of others is OK.
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Post by VirtualStranger on May 21, 2011 18:41:34 GMT -5
Interestingly, (and by that I mean "Infuriatingly") The administration had originally altered the ceremony so that he would be the last to walk on stage. After being threatened again, they put him back in his normal position shortly before the event, presumably so that they would just get a lawsuit instead of having all of their funding revoked for blatant discrimination. If the quality of "journalism" in their local newspaper is any indication the town's collective IQ, then they need all of the education funding they can get. Yeah, the poor, persecuted christian majority needs protection from the evil, godless, liberal atheists. Never mind the fact that Damon was the one getting death threats. Mob mentality at it's finest.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on May 21, 2011 20:14:47 GMT -5
I believe the harm is obvious when your choices are "ignore it" or "face an angry mob." And when the thing you're ignoring is something that's illegal anyway. And then they go ahead & do it anyway. I heard the phrase "moment of silence." Why couldn't they have just settled with that? It's a reasonable compromise to anyone who doesn't need to hear their beliefs parroted to them in front of a captive audience.
I wanted to skip my graduation ceremony, but my parents were a huge pain in the ass about it, to the point where my only option would have been to just walk out of the school on the day of.
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Post by foolishwisdom on May 21, 2011 20:27:30 GMT -5
Interestingly, (and by that I mean "Infuriatingly") The administration had originally altered the ceremony so that he would be the last to walk on stage. After being threatened again, they put him back in his normal position shortly before the event, presumably so that they would just get a lawsuit instead of having all of their funding revoked for blatant discrimination. If the quality of "journalism" in their local newspaper is any indication the town's collective IQ, then they need all of the education funding they can get. Yeah, the poor, persecuted christian majority needs protection from the evil, godless, liberal atheists. Never mind the fact that Damon was the one getting death threats. Mob mentality at it's finest. They get such a "I'm special, you're not" attitude, just because they worship the "right" god (an infinite amount of gods, and you picked the right one. What are the odds?[/sarcasim]), and they feel the have the right to step on everyone. And what's worse, they get used to it so much, they feel any attempt to let them know they aren't really that special, they get a hissy fit.
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