Massachusetts Judge Ignores First Amendment

Posted on February 25, 2007

But discovers a non-existent “diversity” amendment

We read:

“A Federal judge in Boston has dismissed a suit by two families who wanted to stop a Massachusetts town and its public school system from teaching their children about gay marriage, court documents show.

The families last year filed the suit asserting that the reading of a gay-themed book and handing out to elementary school students of other children’s books that discussed homosexuality without first notifying parents was a violation of their religious rights.

Federal Judge Mark Wolf ruled yesterday public schools are “entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy.” “Diversity is a hallmark of our nation. It is increasingly evident that our diversity includes differences in sexual orientation,” he said. ….

A lawyer for the families said they would appeal the ruling, the Boston Globe reported today.

Source

It sounds to me that the judge was “prohibiting the free exercise” of religion. More background here. The chief plaintiff, David Parker, was simply asking to be notified in advance when homosexuality was going to be taught in the school his little kid (aged 5) was attending.

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Comments

5 Responses to “Massachusetts Judge Ignores First Amendment”

T F Stern on February 25th, 2007 10:58 pm

As I wrote earlier this month on very same issue under the title â€œLegitimate State Interestâ€; teaching diversity is how the state schools implement their socialist agenda, an agenda which eventually destroys the family unit, the foundations of a free society, religion and replaces God with â€œthe Stateâ€.
Tim on February 26th, 2007 9:22 am

Out of curiosity, would you support the right of fundamentalist Muslims to encourage suicide bombings? Some imams would claim that was a breach of their freedom of religious expression (the concept of jihad - both in terms of personal struggle and ‘martyrdom’ - is central in most schools of Islam). So far as I can see, both situations are fundamentally about abusing rights to foster bigotry and hatred.
Thomas Jackson on February 26th, 2007 10:34 pm

I found it interesting that a judge could disregard the Constitution with such ease and ignore the evidence of its intentions since the founding of the republic. More evidence that Jefferson was right.
gary l. day on February 27th, 2007 9:01 am

Of course Jefferson was right. He was a staunch advocate of
secular government and separation of church and state.

And could someone please explain to me why “diversity” is such
an evil thing, when it is nothing more than an acknowledgment
that there are different types of people in the world, and should
be respected–provided they don’t seek to harm others.
paul on February 28th, 2007 5:47 pm

I don’t see how it is practical to require state schools to inform parents anytime they teach something that could interfere with the religion of their choice.

If the schools decide to do that, fine.

But the parents don’t have a constitutional right to have it done for them.