This is why Westboro Baptist Church is a joke

[kandrathe]

Regardless, this is irrelevant, because the National Day of Prayer was put into *law* during Truman's presidency. That's an Act of Congress. Still think it's constitutional?

The law is not constitutional, but the tradition of presidents calling for days of remembrance, going back to George Washington, would be an expression, rather than an edict or law.

And, similarly, a school official, or a student assembly asking for "a moment of silent reflection or prayer" is all inclusive. In government settings, contemporaneous expression would be allowable, but putting it on the agenda would not. And... (see below)

Depends on what you actually mean by "sensitive." It's a nice sounding word. What are its functional implications?

I think we'd agree that the crucial part would be to set guidelines that eliminate hidden agenda's. Neither of us want the teacher in the classroom who's purpose is not teaching the curriculum, but rather promoting any other social or political agenda.

Yet, according to what I wrote above, that person would have every right of free expression. Schools need the authority to hire teachers who deliver knowledge and inspire scholarship, and fire teachers who distract the classroom from its intended curriculum whether that be for social activism or as a pulpit.

However, again, the odd contemporaneous expression of belief is understandable in that students and teachers spend a great deal of time together during the school day. The sensitivity goes both ways, in that we all should attempt to make our social gatherings comfortable for all participants. But, we pat ourselves on the backs for celebrating diversity, and we always say we want people to be real and more transparent, until they are and we'd rather they'd not express themselves openly.

So, during my thinking on this, I imagined a diverse science classroom populated with strict Islamic students from Iran, atheists, agnostics, Hasidic Jews, protestant evangelicals, new immigrants from Kenya, and maybe some Hindu's and Buddhists from India. I thought about how I would attempt to teach the curriculum of evolutionary biology in a manner that would be respectful to the diversity of the group. My first thought was that I would probably craft a letter to invite every parent to come and discuss the curriculum with me in advance of my presentation of it to their children. I would want to hear their concerns, but hold firm to the objective obligation of teaching the curriculum. I would in fact work with each parent to help them augment the teaching at home. In the end, the truth and scientific fact stand on their own merits. However these families want to spin that within their cultural context and belief systems is their own concern.