Patterico's Pontifications

6/6/2013

It Now Takes “Courage” to Express Your Faith at a Graduation

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:30 pm



Wonderful. And I mean that both sarcastically and sincerely. Sarcastically as a comment on our society — and sincerely as a comment on the valedictorian.

UPDATE: For non-clickers — and to get you to click:

A South Carolina valedictorian garnered wild applause after he ripped up his pre-approved speech and delivered the Lord’s prayer at his high school graduation on Saturday.

The act was apparently in protest of the Pickens County School District’s decision to no longer include prayer at graduation ceremonies, Christian News reported. Officials said the decision was made after the district was barraged with complaints by atheist groups.

But that didn’t stop Roy Costner IV of Liberty High School. He ripped up his graduation speech for all to see, before he started talking about his Christian upbringing, Christian News reported.

“Those that we look up to, they have helped carve and mold us into the young adults that we are today,” he said. “I’m so glad that both of my parents led me to the Lord at a young age.”

“And I think most of you will understand when I say…” he paused. “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name…”

The auditorium began to erupt with applause and cheers.

Awesome.

98 Responses to “It Now Takes “Courage” to Express Your Faith at a Graduation”

  1. But really: it’s wonderful.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. if you pause at 51 seconds you can clearly see that one of the ripped pages of his speech looks almost exactly like a beretta storm px4

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  3. Dammit happyfeet, you got the good stuff and you’re not sharing.

    nk (875f57)

  4. This is how we should pray.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  5. Amen, DrJ 🙂 Shalom and amen!

    colinsmammy (c88c66)

  6. “This is how we should pray.”

    – DRJ

    On the streetcorners? I thought this was how we were not supposed to pray.

    Leviticus (2c236c)

  7. … which is an unduly harsh assessment on my part, and I don’t mean it to be. I dunno.

    Leviticus (2c236c)

  8. On the streetcorners?

    On the what now?

    They held the graduation ceremony on the streetcorner?

    Patterico (9c670f)

  9. Sometimes (SOME times) the urge to be contrarian can cause premature asshatation.

    Icy (e6f6e4)

  10. Boy.

    What in THE HELL are you talking about?

    /Fletch

    Patterico (9c670f)

  11. OK, I was close.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  12. Wow, this Country’s come a long way. A young man is now correctly praised for being courageous because he recited the Lord’s Prayer at his graduation.

    Walter Cronanty (d16f1a)

  13. The spirit of the individual American shall not cannot be infringed..

    E.PWJ (016f5f)

  14. The part of that story that actually made me laugh (gallows humor edition) was: “… after the district was barraged with complaints by atheist groups.” Atheist groups in South Carolina? What, all one of them?

    Seriously, has there ever been a case of political dogs being wagged by political tails more so than that militant, OCD atheist demographic with which the country has become saddled? You could fit a meeting of those malcontents into a phone booth and yet they’ve managed seriously to influence in various respects not only local school district policies but national public policy too. What a farce. All part and parcel of the big decline.

    William Scalia (89a442)

  15. Context, Mr. Leviticus, context.

    The point is don’t pray in public if you think it will gain you the respect of important people.

    But if you want to pray in public to show you will pray to the Lord God Almighty no matter what people say, even if you get in trouble, then it’s ok.
    At least if you put the Scripture you quote together with the passage of Daniel getting tossed into the lion’s den for praying “in public” (with his window open, not caring if he was overheard).

    Who knows, maybe Harvard just withdrew his acceptance.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  16. Some where else I saw a story about a young woman who will not get her diploma until she pays a $1,000 fine because she had a feather hanging from her cap. She (really, unlike Sen. Warren) has Native American heritage and it was important to her.
    That was bogus too (to be fined, not that she wanted to do it).

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  17. MD

    I think that story is an old AIM fake story from numerous lawsuits in the 60’s and 70’s in Arizona and Oklahoma, lots of these get recycled

    E.PWJ (016f5f)

  18. Could be
    but it was dated recently with a location I think in northern alabama with a picture of a young lady with the feather
    but who knows, could have been some yahoo on yahoo news making something up

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  19. “Awesome.”

    No, misguided.

    Gramps2 (2ce516)

  20. Leviticus,

    Matthew 6:9-13

    “This, then, is how you should pray:

    “9 ‘Our Father in heaven,
    hallowed be your name,
    10 your kingdom come,
    your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
    11 Give us today our daily bread.
    12 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
    13 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  21. Also, I think God wants us to pray everywhere.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  22. Leviticus was obviously referring to Christ’s admonitions prefacing the Lord’s Prayer. It’s only one way to pray.

    I gave a short, non-theistic, non-sectarian talk, to a bunch of doctors and pharmacists with a smattering of executives and lawyers, not too long ago, about prayer. In a nutshell:

    Prayer is the oldest and most universally used method to achieve an altered state of consciousness and connection with a Higher Being. It can be silent, it can be recited, it can be sung, it can be guided, it can be interactive, it can be can be communal; it can be accompanied by religious images, by music, by dance; it can be a combination of many of the preceding. It can lead, at the very least, to an altered mental state from peaceful, meditative and contemplative to enlightening and even orgiastic.

    nk (875f57)

  23. On the streetcorners? I thought this was how we were not supposed to pray.

    Actually, we need to stop what we’re doing, point in the direction of Mecca, get on our knees, and pray five (5) times each day.

    Of course, to question such behavior is unkind, heartless and bigoted. Such questions, in fact, may result in “workplace violence.”

    Mark (72edfd)

  24. The Greek Orthodox liturgy is all of the above, including the priest doing the dance of Isaiah, BTW.

    nk (875f57)

  25. Yes, I agree Leviticus was referring to
    Christ’s admonitions in Matthew 6:1-5, and he’s right that Christ warned us against hypocritical prayer done to “be seen by others.” But was that this young man’s motivation? Or was he trying to bring God’s word to a place that had rejected it?

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  26. Or was he trying to bring God’s word to a place that had rejected it?

    I think he was. I forgot to mention, above, that prayer can also be celebratory.

    nk (875f57)

  27. And it’s a Texas post, too, I just noticed. 😉

    nk (875f57)

  28. “But was that this young man’s motivation? Or was he trying to bring God’s word to a place that had rejected it?”

    – DRJ

    No, I think you and nk and others are probably right. I think my initial assessment was unduly harsh. I think the kid was probably willing to accept punishment to express his faith, and I think that’s commendable.

    Leviticus (2c236c)

  29. I also think my own concerns about Christ’s admonitions preceding the Lord’s Prayer have (on occasion) resulted in me being too intent on not being heard praying in public, too concerned about whether or not my prayers are heard by others who would see it as a show.

    Leviticus (2c236c)

  30. I struggle with that, too, Leviticus. I don’t want to seem like I’m preaching to people, something I’m woefully unequipped to do. But I want to bring God’s word to everyone, especially as I get older and think more about my mortality.

    I’ve decided that, for me, it’s foolish to do nothing because I might do it wrong. Instead, I’m trying to learn to pray more and trust God to lead me where He wants me to go.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  31. I’m trying to learn that, too. I am a slow learner.

    Leviticus (2c236c)

  32. Thanks for the link, nk. I’ve never seen a Greek wedding. What a beautiful ceremony and that choir is incredible. You know how much I like Texas stuff, so that was the icing on the cake.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  33. You’re welcome, DRJ. I doubt that the composer is P. Teague, as the poster says, though. I think it’s St. John Chrysostom. What Greek Orthodox services are not is freestyle. 😉

    nk (875f57)

  34. Leviticus,

    As you know all too well, I’m always talking about the benefits of age — largely because age brings experience and I think experience helps give us more insight into why people do things and the consequences of our actions. But another thing age brings is the knowledge that we aren’t in control of our lives. Life, especially unexpected hardship, has that effect. I think faithful people believe God is in control; I guess atheists believe fate is; and when we’re young, most of us think we can control our lives and outcomes if we simply make good decisions.

    I’m a big fan of the importance of good decisions, but I’ve decided there’s a difference between being in control and living a faithful life. Fortunately, though, I’ve also decided it’s more comforting to not be in control and to focus on living a God-centered life.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  35. nk,

    I think I read that Greek services and the services in my Anglican church are similar. I don’t know if that’s true but I think they might be. I know they share a common origin and both have formal liturgies, right? I suspect I’d feel right at home in a Greek service.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  36. Comment by DRJ (a83b8b) — 6/7/2013 @ 8:07 am

    I read where Churchill would at times go outside at night and look at the stars, and then say to a companion, “Do we feel small enough yet?”

    One other thing that comes with age, often a spouse and children, and aging parents. Even if one could control one’s own life, you can’t control the lives of others that have responsibilities toward.
    In one way it is impossible to love God with our all because of our sin, but in another way it is a potentially doable thing by logic, because it does not demand an outcome, but demands how to act.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  37. I appreciate your wisdom more each day, MD.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  38. Since God is above structures in the universe that are billions of light years across as well as subatomic particles and forces that we don’t understand, it is reassuring that He is in charge and not us,
    that is, if one thinks He can be trusted.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  39. Also, your feather story is true.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  40. Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 6/7/2013 @ 8:28 am

    I read where Churchill would at times go outside at night and look at the stars, and then say to a companion, “Do we feel small enough yet?”

    I read where Churchill, during the dark times or bad moments during World War II, would start singing something like:

    “We’re Off to See the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz”

    He wrote that in his book “Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour (Cambridge, 1949). pp. 615-16.”

    He explained that as follows: he had heard that in North Africa, in 1941, Australian troops went into battle singing:

    Have you heard of the wonderful wizard,
    The wonderful Wizard of Oz,
    And he is a wonderful wizard,
    If ever a wizard there was.

    Oz is also a nickname for Australia.

    Winston Churchill knew nothing about the 1939 movie.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  41. His courage is fine. His reasoning skills are off. But then he was indoctrinated as a child including by threats of hell, so that’s hardly surprising.

    That’s not even really his fault, really, although I hope he figures this out.

    Former Conservative (6e026c)

  42. There are at least three things that even scientists have to take on faith.

    1. There exists a physical world outside our own conscience.
    2. The rules by which the physical world is governed are the same across time.
    3. The rules by which the physical world is governed are the same across space.

    Both Empiricism and Rationalism fail to confirm these essential truths on which the rest of science is built.

    Some of us believe a fourth one, that God exists and has communicated with man. You can jeer and claim that reason dictates there is no God. I disagree. Reason dictates neutrality on the question as opposed to an affirmative claim of non-existence.

    Experimentation on the words of God suggests to me that believers live happier, healthier, and more peacefully. Children raised by faithful people in a two-parent household are much more likely to be happy, friendly, productive, and law-abiding.

    Finally, I’m interested to point out FC’s claim this young man is a product of fear-driven indoctrination is, well, another claim lacking evidence.

    bonhomme (a73d63)

  43. Maybe, but we don’t have to threaten kids with never-ending torture to get them to accept things that are self-evident to them.

    Former Conservative (6e026c)

  44. The problem with valedictorians praying in their speech is that they can be perceived by some people as speaking for the school, and the school is prohibited by the constitution from endorsing any particular religion. If the school were to designate someone to say this prayer on its behalf, that would be wrong and blatantly illegal. But it’s perfectly legal for a student to say it as his personal expression. The fact that this student publicly ripped up his prepared speech and announced that he was defying the administration should be more than enough to make it clear that he was speaking for himself and not for them, and that is all it takes to make it legal.

    Milhouse (3d0df0)

  45. As much as I don’t agree with religion, I think it’s insane to think of a student giving a speech as speaking for the school.

    If that’s truly a problem, have the announcer say before the student comes up (or once at the beginning of the ceremonies), “These speakers aren’t speaking on behalf of the school, but we’re interested in hearing their viewpoints on account of their accomplishments.”

    Problem solved.

    Former Conservative (6e026c)

  46. You’d think that would be enough, but some courts have said “yeah, they’re saying that, but everyone knows they don’t mean it”. This performance made it clear that it really was the student’s own decision, nobody in the school administration made him do it, so not even the most cynical person can suspect otherwise.

    Milhouse (3d0df0)

  47. Maybe, but we don’t have to threaten kids with never-ending torture to get them to accept things that are self-evident to them.
    Comment by Former Conservative (6e026c) — 6/7/2013 @ 3:40 pm

    I wasn’t threatened with torture as a child, nor was I taught about the rewards of heaven as a child.

    But as a young adult I came to a better understanding of what was indeed self evident, that there is a God and I am not Him. What was less self evident was that God was merciful, and what was not self evident at all was that He had acted in history in many ways, ultimately in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    More than that I don’t have the time nor skill, but would recommend Lewis’ Mere Christianity
    as a start.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  48. DRJ,

    I don’t know enough about the Anglican Church to make the comparison. The Greek Orthodox Church claims to be the original church founded by the Apostles. I know its doctrine varies very little(insignificantly in my view) from Catholic doctrine. It has never had a Reformation or an Inquisition. You could call it staid.

    I’m sure you would feel at home. It does disapprove of proselytizing baptized Christians of other denominations, but it by no means turns them away.

    (I don’t know how much you care about the major debate within the Church over whether St. Augustine embraced the filioque — that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. It’s only been going on for for about 1,600 years so it’s too early to tell how it will be resolved. 😉 )

    nk (875f57)

  49. Maybe, but we don’t have to threaten kids with never-ending torture to get them to accept things that are self-evident to them.

    Comment by Former Conservative (6e026c) — 6/7/2013 @ 3:40 pm

    To accept what things do we threaten kids with never-ending torture?

    Gerald A (82a59d)

  50. #50

    Also who is the “we”?

    Gerald A (82a59d)

  51. DRJ

    Don’t worry about your mortality, Cruz is going to denounce death tomorrow 🙂

    But seriously, thanks for being you. I wish all of you a happy and very long and rewarding life.

    E.PWJ (1cedce)

  52. ‘Courage’ is defined as Sandra Fluke at Georgetown, or some atheist at the Naval Academy, or someone in a burka,
    capisce.

    narciso (3fec35)

  53. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

    Government, in the current incarnation, is doomed.

    gary gulrud (941a3b)

  54. 52. Have you not heard “He descended into hell”, and paraded Death captive?

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/joeljmiller/2013/03/the-victory-of-christ-and-the-harrowing-of-hell/

    gary gulrud (941a3b)

  55. “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.” – Matthew 6:5

    JEA (fb1111)

  56. let’s face it my friends
    we live under tyranny
    when gov pleads the Fifth

    Colonel Haiku (9fea4c)

  57. How come I get the feeling that JEA’s knowledge of scripture runs a mile wide but an inch deep?

    JVW (23867e)

  58. And maybe not even a mile wide.

    JVW (23867e)

  59. So a guy who calls himself ‘Leviticus’ admits that his “initial assessment” on a religious matter “was unduly harsh” – what’s the opposite of ironic?

    Dr. Weevil (5fb078)

  60. JVW – you give the serial asshat way too much credit.

    JD (b63a52)

  61. My nice Greek neighbors across the street leave up their Christmas lights longer than I do, nk. So there’s another difference.

    elissa (16bbd7)

  62. Our schools are utterly broken. We’ve given the charge of educating our children to a class of people too f’ing stupid to feed themselves.

    SPQR (768505)

  63. I hope that the kids who failed to cheer got beat up — or at least will be shunned — by their God-Fearing classmates.

    If only the rest of America were like the South!

    Gary Thomas (b9a17b)

  64. i hope matt damon falls down a flight of stairs and impales himself on a rusty pipe jutting out from a gas radiator but

    it’s just not gonna happen so

    I dunno

    I’m going to moderate my expectations of life so if it does happen it’ll just be gravy

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  65. 50.

    Maybe, but we don’t have to threaten kids with never-ending torture to get them to accept things that are self-evident to them.

    Comment by Former Conservative (6e026c) — 6/7/2013 @ 3:40 pm

    To accept what things do we threaten kids with never-ending torture?

    Comment by Gerald A (82a59d) — 6/7/2013 @ 8:32 pm

    Gun Control. A Kali school is doing a toy gun buy back.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_23406432/hayward-school-sponsors-toy-gun-exchange

    HAYWARD — An elementary school will hold a toy gun exchange Saturday, offering students a book and a chance to win a bicycle if they turn in their play weapons.

    Strobridge Elementary Principal Charles Hill maintains that children who play with toy guns may not take real guns seriously.

    “Playing with toys guns, saying ‘I’m going to shoot you,’ desensitizes them, so as they get older, it’s easier for them to use a real gun,” Hill said.

    This is a complete fiction, but it’s justification for their systemic child abuse. Recall how they recently interrogated a kindergartner in Maryland until he wet his pants over a toy gun. And suspended a boy (I forget the state) for merely saying the word gun on a school bus. Pat had a post up about the first incident.

    The principal gives the game away at the end of the article.

    “Some of the guns I’ve confiscated, if they’re stuck down in a waistband, the average person would think it’s a real gun,” Hill said. “I could easily see one of our sixth-graders wanting to fake out someone at a 7-Eleven by walking in there” with a toy gun. “They would think it’s funny, but it could turn into tragedy.”

    First of all, he’s never confiscated a gun. A poptart that a child chewed into an unapproved shape, maybe, but not a gun.

    Second, who here back when it was a free country ever wandered into a convenience store trying to “fake someone out” with their cap guns thinking it would be funny?

    These are the demons the gun grabbers have to imagine in order to pretend their agenda is about safety. But the gun grabbing principal gives it up entirely in the last sentence.

    Hill hopes the toy gun exchange idea catches on.

    “If we want older kids to not think guns are cool, we need to start early,” he said.

    The torture will continue until the kids learn to think only officially approved thoughts about their rights.

    For your viewing pleasure, here’s a YouTube video of Eric Holder telling teachers they have to include an anti-gun message every day at school in order to “brainwash” kids into thinking about guns in an entirely different way.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nM0asnCXD0

    Steve57 (7895a0)

  66. To make it my last post more relevant to the topic:

    Matthew 22:35-40

    35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

    37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

    You are commanded to love your neighbor as yourself. So before you can truly love your neighbor, you must first love yourself. That means you must also love the life that God has given you. You have a duty to defend that life if you love it. It’s true if there’s no other way to defend your neighbor’s life you can sacrifice your own. But you can’t just give it away.

    Steve57 (7895a0)

  67. I happen to agree that guns should never be thought of as toys and toy guns teach bad muzzle discipline, Steve. My daughter now eleven can have a real rifle like I promised her. She knows guns are not toys. (She prefers killing zombies on her iPad, though.) But I also agree that other parents can teach their kids different — we do what we do, and they do what they do.

    nk (875f57)

  68. nk, I had cap guns as a kid and remember bringing one to show-and-tell in kindergarten (because I tripped in the playground and broke it). I started going hunting with my uncle when I was 7 or 8. Believe me or not, but when I was finally allowed to use an actual shotgun I didn’t confuse it at all with a cap gun.

    Steve57 (7895a0)

  69. When I was a kiddo, we had firearms in the house. And my father was emphatic about safety. My Dad’s #1 rule:

    Never ever point a firearm at a person you don’t intend to kill. All firearms are dangerous, especially the unloaded ones.

    Very true. When I was ten, a neighbor boy had a CO2 powered pellet gun that took BBs, darts, and pellets. He had loaded darts into it, and was waving it around.

    “Hey, be careful,” I protested.

    “Aw, the safety is on,” he replied. Then he pointed it at my leg, pulled the trigger, and put a dart into me.

    OUCH.

    I couldn’t hide it, since I was bleeding a bit. My father lost it, and marched down to my friends’ house for some, um, spirited discussions. I can’t begin to think of the punishment that kiddo received.

    Times are different today.

    Simon Jester (98611e)

  70. Never ever point a firearm at a person you don’t intend to kill. All firearms are dangerous, especially the unloaded ones.

    We had the same rule in my family.

    It’s just that we never confused water pistols, nerf guns, GI Joe action figure accessories, photos or drawings, shapes you can make with your fingers, or creatively chewed poptarts with firearms.

    I’m wondering why we’ve gotten so much stupider in the 21st century then we were back in the 6th or 7th decade of the last century.

    Steve57 (7895a0)

  71. We told our boys that since they were taking real fencing lessons that they could not/did not need to fence with sticks and “put somebody’s eye out”,
    and that worked.
    So, maybe we should actually have NRA sponsored gun safety classes starting in kindergarten.

    All those decades of kids playing with guns prior to the 1980’s, remember all of the school shootings then… no, neither do I.

    I liked thge story of Gov. Perry shooting a rattlesnake when he was out for a run or walk or something
    so I say we breed rattlesnakes, let ’em loose, and teach kids guns are for shooting rattlesnakes.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  72. So before you can truly love your neighbor, you must first love yourself.
    Comment by Steve57 (7895a0) — 6/8/2013 @ 5:34 pm

    That indeed is a common understanding of the passage, and the one I have heard most often stated.

    But there is actually another possibility which I think is true. People actually already do love themselves, unfailingly. The problem is that love for self “functions best” when it is subordinated to loving God first. Love for God purifies intent and clarifies understanding, so one can love oneself “rightly”.
    People can stay in an abusive relationship out of love for self because they are more afraid of what will happen to themself if they leave.
    People destroy their lives with alcohol or drugs rather than face life without them.
    Even the person who says, “I hate myself” is really saying, “I hate the way I look, or what I did, or what I didn’t do”. It isn’t that they really hate themself, it’s that they hate they are not the person they wanted to be/thought they should be.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  73. pop tarts are just really flavorful in my experience

    my favorite is the strawberry one with icings

    but I went to school back before we knew that pop tarts had a dark side with respect to promoting gun violence in our schools

    a lot of pension piggy teachersluts say we need to ban subversive pop tarts NOW

    but I would submit we have to teach kids to chew little safety latches into their pop tarts or otherwise what’s gonna happen?

    we’re just gonna push all the pop tart guns underground where there’s absolutely no chance whatsoever for a gun safety ethos to prevail

    I don’t care what chris christie says we have to put the interests of the children first

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  74. the idea is conditioning like the Morlocks did to the Eloi, where they reflexively ran to the sound of the air raid sirens, like the deligitimization campaign Holder urged against guns in ’95

    narciso (3fec35)

  75. public schools are obscene

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  76. I believe Dewey in the 1800’s spoke of the importance of public school in shaping children into the kind of citizens society wanted them to be, or some such.
    Not a bad idea if you are talking about the local community and the local school system reinforcing what the community wants taught.
    Not so much when the fed govt. is trying to produce worker drones that think and do as they are told, to enable the people in power to do what they want.
    G’night.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  77. All those decades of kids playing with guns prior to the 1980′s, remember all of the school shootings then… no, neither do I.

    There were school shootings. They just weren’t these mass shootings by students or former students of other students. Do you think that it’s a coincidence that back when every kid played with toy guns without a schoolboard jumping down their throat these things didn’t happen? And if that’s the case, suspending students for using the word gun or even bringing a cap gun to show a friend isn’t the solution.

    Steve57 (7895a0)

  78. g’nite Mr. Dr.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  79. Public schools are not obscene, Mr. feet. The Department of Education’s intrusion — and the left’s dominance of the same — into public schools is obscene.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  80. it’s basically the transition from Horace Mann to John Dewey, as Robin has pointed out on occasion,

    narciso (3fec35)

  81. I don’t know Mr. 80

    when even social conservatives like me are applauding the home school movement there’s something going

    these public schools do things on kids what are nothing short of indecent

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  82. *on*

    there’s something going *on* I mean

    i saw something nasty in the public school woodshed

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  83. Sending your children to public school is child abuse.

    mg (31009b)

  84. it’s not at all dissimilar to beating them cause of they used wire hangers really

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  85. That was heart warming to watch. Great to know that this United States still has people who can stand for what they truly believe. God save America.

    The Emperor (d9a464)

  86. But more to the title of this thread, why should it be considered a thing of “courage” for a young man to pray in public? Has this nation so fallen to the point where righteousness and godliness is now a novelty and rarity to people? It is sad when you think of the fact that this nation was founded upon the faith and prayers of the founding fathers. Whatever is born of prayer will only be sustained by prayer. It is time for America to return back to God. This video is a sign of the times; God is calling America back to Him.

    The Emperor (15596f)

  87. “It is time for America to return back to God.”

    Two weeks after declaring his candidacy for president, Barack Hussein Obama told Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times that the Muslim call to prayer is “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  88. @Daley.
    It would seem from new revelations coming forth recently that Obama was not as forthcoming as he should have been about his true faith. But I am not one to quickly jump to conclusion. And my earlier statement is based on the Christian/Judaic God.

    The Emperor (15596f)

  89. We’ll leave it to God to judge men’s hearts. Having one of my own, I rather doubt the kid is the hypocrite referred to by Jesus.

    I also wouldn’t stand anywhere near Jug-Eared Alien for the duration.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  90. when even social conservatives like me are applauding the home school movement

    happyfeet, based on a variety of your socio-cultural comments dating back quite awhile, I think you actually meant “when even social liberals like me….” That also would fit your predicate about “applauding the home school movement.” IOW, it wouldn’t be surprising or unexpected if a right-leaning person was sympathetic with the concept of home schooling.

    Mark (bb410c)

  91. And then when the kid was at church, he delivered an educational speech, right?

    Just a show of hands, would it have been okay if the kid was Muslim and started reading from the Koran? Or is only Christian verse appropriate? Do kids of all different faiths and no faith have to patiently wait as everyone goes through their prayers at a university ceremony?

    At a secular institution that has had complaints from athiests, it seems this was a bit holier-than-thou….

    Mahalia Cab (0e09f9)

  92. On a scale of 1 to bugf@cknutz, how crazy is Mahalia??

    JD (129489)

  93. There is no scale that goes high enough to rate the crazy in that one JD.

    peedoffamerican (ee1de0)

  94. ‘What comes after eleven’

    narciso (3fec35)

  95. 92. You haven’t been in school lately, dearie.

    Muslims number among the crappiest students in every school they habituate. They’re among the laziest cheaters as well.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  96. our friend Edward makes graduation boy look like a piker in the courage department I think

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  97. Comment by Mahalia Cab (0e09f9)

    What do you believe?

    The Emperor (d9a464)


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