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Sunday, October 23, 2005

No Jesus in School, Antonio!

Antonio was in kindergarten at Baldwinsville Elementary School in New York. Antonio was assigned to draw a picture about saving the environment. Antonia created a poster of people holding hands around the world with recycle bins, etc. And along the edge was an unidentified bearded man reaching his arms toward the earth. Antonio acknowledged that the bearded man represents Jesus. The school did allow Antonio's picture to be displayed with all the others but someone first folded down the side that had the Jesus figure so he couldn't be seen. None of the other posters were censored in any way. And Antonio's parents have been fighting this in court since 1999. Here is the news release.

Am I bonkers or is this just getting out of hand? IN WHAT SENSE does a five-year-old's drawing of Jesus break the law? The Constitution simply says that Congress shall not establish an official religion or prohibit the free exercise thereof. It says nothing about children drawing pictures of Jesus. Simply allowing a child to express his beliefs does not mean the state is imposing a religion on anyone else. Let the Jews draw Moses. Let the Muslims draw Mohammed. Let the Mormons draw Joseph Smith. Let the Jedis draw Yoda. Good grief! Before you know it, they'll be telling us we can't say "under God" in the pledge of allegiance or something.

Hat tip: Lost Budgie Blog

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Freedom of speech, at least when it comes to religious belief, apparently is limited to freely expressing one's belief internally...particularly when it comes to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Witnessing for Christ is something we should be expressing beyond fellow Christians...thank goodness the Apostles were willing to give even their lives to do so...Amen.

Darrell said...

The constitution prohibits Congress from establishing a national religion... which, I suppose, means that states are free to establish state religions. I'd kinda like to see one try, just for academic reasons.

Of course, in today's world, the constitution has been re-interpreted to ban Christianity outright. Christ said that the world would hate us as it hates him. If anything, it's a reassurance that, as usual, my Savior got it right.

Pastor Scott Stiegemeyer said...

Darrell,
You said it, bro!

Actually, as I recall, several states did have state churches until the 19th century. It's been done.

And you are right about what our Lord taught. I think of the apostles in the book of Acts who "rejoiced for being counted worthy to suffer for His Name (acts 5:41)."

Pastor Scott Stiegemeyer said...

Kurt,

I occasionaly smoke a pipe. And that is almost never allowed anywhere.

The devil is so crafty. Our society acts as if smoking is the sin of sins, but endorses sodomy.

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