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Culture Wars right near me (ACLU takes on local school district)

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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-25-09 10:27 PM
Original message
Culture Wars right near me (ACLU takes on local school district)
this is really taking off here...letters to the editor are flying fast and furious....people in town are taking sides..this is high drama in this small town..almost as much fun to watch as the case of the Bloomingdale MI public schools hanging a picture of Jesus in the hallways a few years ago and the Mi ACLU suing them.... (they lost).

anyway here is the latest breaking from near where I live and the locals are all a twitter...they are handwringing and screaming at each other in letter after letter after letter... I just cant believe they thought they could get away with this.

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'The ACLU of Michigan has sent a letter (PDF here) to the superintendent of South Haven Public Schools asking the school to change their policy of allowing a local youth minister and lunchroom volunteer to proselytize students in the lunchroom during school hours.

The letter, sent to superintendent Robert Black, urges the school to prevent Mike Dubbink, the youth minister at Hope Reformed Church in South Haven, from recruiting students for his church and speaking to them about religion while acting as a lunchroom volunteer at the middle and high schools.'

'During one incident, the ACLU has learned that the youth minister and the South Haven High School Assistant Principal forced a student into an isolated room and attempted to pressure the student to pay for a church-based retreat that the student signed up for during school hours, but did not attend. During this ordeal, the student was not permitted to call his parents and in fact, his parents were never notified that he signed up for the church retreat.

In the letter, the ACLU of Michigan urged the superintendent "to assure that all students' constitutional rights are protected by putting an end to the unlawful practice of permitting and/or encouraging religious leaders to proselytize students at South Haven Schools."

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/01/aclu_protests_lunchtime_prosel.php
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donco6 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-25-09 10:31 PM
Response to Original message
1. I can't believe any district would allow this.
I can't imagine the KIDS putting up with it here. They'd be calling the board.
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47of74 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-25-09 10:46 PM
Response to Original message
2. I wonder about when Bill O'Really will be weighing in on this...
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anonymous171 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-25-09 10:49 PM
Response to Original message
3. Clear violation of the 1st Amendment. nt
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msongs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-25-09 11:09 PM
Response to Original message
4. child molestors in action nt
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orleans Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jan-25-09 11:14 PM
Response to Original message
5. my god--i'd lose my mind
i was furious when a room mother put bible school flyers into all the cubbies of my daughter's first or second grade class. i remember showing it to the principle and he was pretty pissed off as well (at first i thought the school okayed them, but they hadn't--this mother had just wet herself over having such an opportunity and didn't care what rules it violated).
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ropi Donating Member (948 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-26-09 12:30 AM
Response to Original message
6. they allow it more than you think.
i had to stop this from happening to one of my younger cousins who did not wish to participate in these church based programs. she lost her mother when she was eleven, and to her the church represents pain, tears, and crying as she saw my aunt crying and praying to live before dying from breast cancer.

now she's 18 and it seems that a local pastor had the same rights and access during lunchtime and he was proselytizing to her and other students. what is sad is that somehow he got access to her records and filled out all the application material for her to go on a field trip. i was livid. nevertheless, my aunt and i put a stop to this immediately by making a few phone calls and mentioning the ACLU. he's left her alone ever since--but it is not too surprising.
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bertman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-26-09 12:39 AM
Response to Original message
7. Recommend. This is a vivid reminder of how these christians want to have THEIR
religious views plastered everywhere.

Thanks, Mari333.

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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-26-09 09:59 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. The church in question has hired this group to defend them
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Defense_Fund

this should set off some fireworks in town....the family that contacted the ACLU is in hiding.....
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gollygee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-26-09 10:04 AM
Response to Original message
9. South Haven?
Wow.
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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-26-09 10:07 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. you know the town?
its a hoot. everyone is up in arms. I laugh, I laugh.
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gollygee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-26-09 10:26 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. I'm from Kalamazoo
I'm obviously not keeping up on local news enough.

I remember the Bloomingdale thing though.
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Mari333 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-26-09 10:28 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. ah so...well hello neighbour
kalamazoo is right near me. yes, the bloomingdale fiasco was fun. this fiasco should bring out all the crazies, too. :)
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