Apparently, the Shawano High School
student newspaper decided to run a "pro and con" editorial
on the practice of gay adoption, to which end they requested two
students to prepare editorials, one supporting and one opposing the
practice. Whether or not it was a good idea is moot, since they ran
the article and thus jumped into the deep end of the debate. It's
important to keep in mind that the students who prepared these
editorials were asked to do so; this is not a case of
disorderly conduct or incitement by a student, and not even a case of
casual remarks being overheard.
After the article was published, a gay
couple dutifully complained to the school district that they were "in
shock," one stating that he was worried about how this would
affect his kids, that "this is why kids commit suicide,"
could lead to "bullying," and, of course, was "hateful."
Basically all of the leftist talking points.
If you haven't guessed by now, the
source of the "hateful" language is the Bible. The 15
year-old author was simply quoting scripture and setting forth the
traditional Christian position on homosexuality. For that matter, of
course, that was the traditional American position as well, until a
few years ago, when the Courts became enlightened and abandoned
morality.
After the complaint, the school issued
the politically correct apology. The school then removed not the
entire article, but only the offensive, hateful, Biblically-based
editorial, leaving the pro-gay editorial untouched. And the school
vowed to make sure this kind of bullying won't happen again, saying,
"Proper
judgment that reflects school district policies needs to be exercised
with articles printed in our school newspaper. Offensive articles
cultivating a negative environment of disrespect are not appropriate
or condoned by the Shawano School District."
Now the Liberty Counsel is involved,
and fortunately so for the young author, for it seems he has been
threatened with suspension if he will not recant his
(Christian-based) views on this matter. Compelling the student to
surrender his Constitutionally protected religious beliefs, in the
school district's collective mind, is evidently not bullying; only
expressing disagreement with homosexuality or the gay agenda is
bullying.
Also, the school district has not even
acknowledged the possibility of First Amendment issues; they seem to
think their bullying policy (or their policy of bullying Christians)
trumps all. Nonetheless, First Amendment concerns permeate this
situation. Freedom of Speech, not only to present an opinion, but to
not have it censored after publication. The right to freedom of
Religion and religious expression also surely trump purported "shock"
that someone would exercise those rights.
But then, maybe not. The Shawano
School District website gives their Mission Statement: To
develop citizens who contribute to a global society through an
individualized and lifelong learning partnership with the family,
school and community.
As nice as that sounds, it says nothing about developing American
citizens who understand American values and contribute to America;
the word "America" is conspicuously absent. "Global"
society is all the politically correct rage, and it may be that to
these modern, post-Constitutional, "global" citizens, the
U.S. Constitution just isn't all that relevant. In that case, these
global citizens will be the first to think that global citizens don't
need free speech, especially if such speech affronts political
correctness.
0 comments:
Post a Comment