"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
A new law was just passed in Louisiana that will require a poster of the 10 Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. It looks like it will be challenged constitutionally in the courts as a violation of the First Amendment.
Back in the early 70’s school officials at my High School tried to suppress the Jesus People Movement. We had Christian underground newspapers confiscated and I was personally threatened with expulsion for holding Bible studies on campus during our lunch breaks. The Dean of Students said that if our Bible study grew too large he would force it to be shut it down. The Dean’s reasoning was that if we were allowed to hold Bible studies, then he would also have to allow Satanists and Wiccans to hold their own gatherings. I explained to the Dean that I had no problem with Satanists and Wiccans being allowed to gather during lunch time because the Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment gave every student the right to freely exercise their religion. Seeing that I had the Constitution on my side the Dean was left with no other choice but to allow us to continue our lunch time Bible studies.
Long Haired Hippie Jesus Freaks were born out of the anti-establishment, anti-war, don’t trust anyone over thirty, home grown everything, free lifestyle mindset. So, standing up to school officials and resisting the suppression of our free exercise of religion just came natural.
The pendulum is trying to swing the other way now and they want to force religion down kid’s throats. I think that this new Louisiana law should be challenged and repealed.
Beware, living in a theocracy is not a good thing!
“We establish no religion in this country, we command no worship, we mandate no belief. Nor will we ever. Church and state are, and must remain, separate." ~ Ronald Reagan
Peace, Love and Light!
Kevin (Cloud)
