Pentagrams
In School
Ellwood, Indiana -
Two Elwood students spent Good Friday in court fighting
for what they call their religious right. They sued the school district
for the right to wear pentagrams and practice a religion they call
Wicca."
"Third graders have already asked, 'Where are the witches?' If (the
teachers) answer, the ICLU will have us in court claiming we are bringing
religious beliefs to the classroom."
NOTE: There have been a series of these incidents where public high school
administrators have demanded the removal of the religious jewelry of
Wiccan students. In every case, to my knowledge, the school has reversed
itself, allowed the students to wear their pentacles, and sometimes had to
pay thousands of dollars in a settlement. There is a network of
religious-rights Pagan organizations that have been very successful in
quickly interceding and solving these problem, usually by reminding the
school administrators of the first amendment rights that sincere Wiccan
students enjoy.
There have been several theories why there is now a rash of these
religious discrimination cases in public schools, ranging from an abject
lack of comparative religion knowledge on the part of school officials, to
school officials only permitting their personal mainstream religion to be
promoted in school, to continuing anti-Pagan religious discrimination by
school officials.
NOTE 2: While there has been considerable effort
expended to find constitutional ways to teach the Bible in public schools,
it is obvious that what is first needed is fair and comprehensive
comparative religion courses for school officials and students.
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