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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 17830
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
5/4/2007
7:54:06 am EDT
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Views: 7,342
RSS: 19,356
Comments: 25
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Religious Discrimination In School?
Author: Miss Faith Source: Associated Content (CO)
Title: RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION IN SCHOOL?
Even though the public school systems are supposed to abide by the law of separation of church and state, this normally does not mean that the students are forbidden to express their own religion through jewelry or even sometimes dress. But where should schools draw the line and should they be permitted to deem one religion as socially acceptable while another is not?
In a recent situation that took place in Cedar Lake, Indiana, this question abounds. A high school freshman from Hanover Central High School was sent home May 2nd for displaying a pentagram on her cheek. According to the family, their daughter has been a practicing Pagan for three to four year and was wearing the symbol in celebration of a religious holiday, Beltane.
As to why the school allows students to attend school with ash on their foreheads for Ash Wednesday, Livovich claimed that situation was entirely different. According to [the school Superintendent, Michael] Livovich Jr., he had done some research on Paganism and found no information stating that wearing a pentagram on the face is part of the tradition for May Day or Beltane.
Additional Article Link: [Click HERE]
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Community Thoughts: There are 25 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Oh My Goddess | May 6th. at 12:08:57 am EDT
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Ander s. Drake (hays, Kansas) - Email Me
that tiny pentagram is so distracting, wow i could bear make it out!
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| It Is Not Required Of A Devout Catholic | May 4th. at 7:19:26 pm EDT
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Shadowbear (Hillsboro, Oregon) - Email Me
that they be able to go to church before school and have ashes on their forehead on ash wednesday. They could go after school if they did not want to call attention to themselves - and all christian children do not do this on ash wednesday so it would still be "distracting." What, exactly does "distracting" mean in this context - were crowds of students pointing and throwing vegatable matter? Were they refusing to pay attention in class because they were looking at her and talking/pointing/praying in fear?
This seems to have been a great overreaction to this pentacle - however, the girl's response by putting multiple pentacles all over her face when she went back to school shows a certain - in-your-face attitude that is not helping her claim that it was a matter of faith when she did it the first time.
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| Something To Ponder. | May 4th. at 2:56:01 pm EDT
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Becky (Olean, Ohio) - Email Me - Web
I find myself wondering if this school lets their cheerleaders, dance or flag line, pep band or other students paint their faces or wear temporary tattoos in school on the day of sporting events/pep rallies.
If there's a "no paint on the face" rule, and it's overlooked or allowed for "showing school spirit", the administration has already and repeatedly broken the same rule they're trying to enforce now. This leads to the question "Why is it 'distracting' for a student to have something on her cheek now, but not when dozens of students wear something the same way and are already excited about an upcoming event?"
I guess the personal spirit just isn't as important as that basketball team knowing they're properly worshiped before the game.
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| This Has Been Made An Issue By Bad Choices. | May 4th. at 2:55:33 pm EDT
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Draccus (Kenmore, New York) - Email Me
This could have been made a non-issue if the school had not gone overboard. This was not a distraction to anyone till the School pointed it out all that was needed to keep this from being a problem is to ignore it. Kids do a lot of silly things over a lifetime and even Pagan kids will do things to get attention. This is in many ways like Ash Wednesday in that it is a deeply held personal expression of faith. That was all that was needed for the School to have an out and not allow a small mole hill to grow to a giant mountain. All of the Adults the Parents included need to be Adults in this and say it was probably not the best choice, but it is also not really a big deal either ways.
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| Here, Here! | May 4th. at 2:16:48 pm EDT
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Erihu (Sunset Beach, North Carolina) - Email Me
"One of the realities of our chosen faiths is that they have nothing by way of dogmatic ritual requirements outside of the Circle. There is no Wiccan rosary, no diatery laws, no special garments to be worn. So while some of us may adopt these things to enhance our own worship experience, we have no grounds to claim that they are mandated, dogmatic rituals which must be observed in order to be considered a true follower of the faith. So while the comparison to ashes from Ash Wednesday is a good one from the point of view of distractions, comparing the Catholic requirement to wear ashes to the personalized choice to draw a pentagram on your cheek is not."
I couldn't have said it better myself. We are talking apples and orages here. You cannot compare the wearing of ashes, which is REQUIRED by a devout Catholic, to the drawing of a Pentacle by CHOICE. Not the same things at all. Also, there are those who are comparing the wearing of jewelry, such as crosses, to what the girl had painted on her face. Again, not the same thing. She wasn't wearing a Pentacle necklace. She had it drawn on her face.
And it's not cowardice to disagree with what she did. I'm sorry, but I am more that simply a Pagan, I am also a parent. I see this as a dress code issue, not a freedom of speech issue. And there are many things other Pagans do that I would disagree with.
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| Every Heard Of Ash Wednesday? | May 4th. at 1:43:23 pm EDT
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Wytchone (LaPlace, Louisiana) - Email Me
Not all Pagans follow or worship the same way. It's one our strength and weekness.
Now would I do this? Nope. But I don't belittle those who do.
This is discrimination. Pure and simple.
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| If It Were A Cross | May 4th. at 1:37:19 pm EDT
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arinna (Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina) - Email Me
would they still have sent her home? Judging by the response to the ashes for Ash Wednesday I would guess they would not have. So if the problem with the symbol on her face is that it 's a Pagan symbol instead of a more mainstream religious symbol, then this is a case of discrimination pure and simple.
It's true that the symbol is not part of a requirement for celebration but that doesn't mean her free speech wasn't violated. For Pagans the requirements of our religion are few but the reason they are few is because it is one of our core beliefs that each person should be free to find their own path and means of expressing their spiritual nature (as long as it not causing harm to others of course) . This harms no one so it falls within our guidelines of accepted practice and by restricting that they are restricting religious freedom for us based on our difference from mainstream religions that have a more formal structure. That makes it discrimination.
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| They Should Have Left It Alone | May 4th. at 1:14:00 pm EDT
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Jain (Baltimore, Maryland) - Email Me
If the school had not made such a fuss in the first place it would have blown over. Yes, she would have drawn attention to herself. Any kid with a new haircut or the newest fad in accessories will do that. Will a new look seriously disrupt learning? I doubt they send kids home for having a too- trendy backpack. If she had painted a daisy on her cheek in honor of Mayday would the result be the same?
Now it's turned into a big Religious Freedom issue. It still feels like attention-getting to me, given that the girl has now deliberately set herself up for dismissal.
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| Religious Observance | May 4th. at 12:09:16 pm EDT
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Rev. Ryan Adams (SWC) (Fort Polk, Texas) - Email Me
As a Chaplain Assistant in the Army I dealt with many situations similar to this one. Soldiers would request an exception to policy for the purposes of religious accommodation. My job was to review the situation and make a recommendation to the command as to whether or not the accommodation was 1) valid and 2) a reasonable request. In my time in I encountered the most problems with Pagans asking for accommodation. The most common example was Wiccan or Pagan soldiers who wanted to keep a ceremonial sword in their barracks room. When the commander or First Sergent asked me if such an item was a requirement I had to answer with an honest, "No Sir/First Sergent. While the sword can enhance the worship experience, the religion in question does not require the use of any physical item." The same thing would happen in a field setting. A few soldiers would ask for a space in which to worship and then complain when we would not let them build a fire. Once again I would be called upon to evaluate the situation and my answer was the same.
One of the realities of our chosen faiths is that they have nothing by way of dogmatic ritual requirements outside of the Circle. There is no Wiccan rosary, no diatery laws, no special garments to be worn. So while some of us may adopt these things to enhance our own worship experience, we have no grounds to claim that they are mandated, dogmatic rituals which must be observed in order to be considered a true follower of the faith. So while the comparison to ashes from Ash Wednesday is a good one from the point of view of distractions, comparing the Catholic requirement to wear ashes to the personalized choice to draw a pentagram on your cheek is not.
Aman Nai
La'Terre
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| Send An Email | May 4th. at 12:08:30 pm EDT
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jim (orlando, Florida) - Email Me
to the school board. I did.
Look at the earlier article on the same subject : [Web LINK]
For brevity, here's the school board's email addresses.
twilkening@hanover.k12.in.us,rpetyko@hanover.k12.in.us,rhelton@hanover.k12.in.us,mkaper@hanover.k12.in.us,csheehy@hanover.k12.in.us
enough public reaction and they'll change their minds, just like any other politician confronted with their misdeeds (well..... maybe not any other, as I'm sure we can all think of a few examples where that doesn't hold true.)
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| Cheeky & Uppity | May 4th. at 11:35:41 am EDT
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karrie9 (Kenosha, Wisconsin) - Email Me - Web
Oh, we've met uppity students before. Had to have 1,200 members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell escort the nine students into Central High one year. [Web LINK]
All that *attention*. What a *distraction*!
And it wasn't even *one* student. There were nine. [Web LINK] Oh, a lot of people didn't like those cheeky kids one bit either. No credibility what so ever....
Yeah...
Since when do we have an "index card mentality" that cheeky/uppity is bad, and only bad, instead is a lot of things across the range of causes/situations?
That is a problem because people do tend to recognize strength, movements, or civil rights in numbers.
More than numerous pentacles on the cheek, what is needed is the *focus* on support for civil rights.
There needs to be recognition that religious prejudice does creep into the translation when false dilemmas such as “Normative vs. "Causing a Distraction" (Suspect) ” become the norm, enabling people to *establish* what’s native to monotheism but not necessarily to other religions.
That is majoritarian tyranny, not simply majority rules, and we need realize (verb) the import of differentiating between the two. We need to realize the power of naming what we differentiate.
The kid bashing I’ve heard connected to this bothers me. Are we so indoctrinated by dualistic (dumbed down) thought that’s saturated our society that *either* the child has to be and act perfectly with incredible propriety…*or* no support for her/our civil religious rights?
Tha's just another way of being cowardly and people don't tend to respect cowards.
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| When Will It Stop? | May 4th. at 10:16:07 am EDT
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Berkana (spokane valley, Washington) - Email Me
Maybe she was a distraction to the superintendent but, I bet that's about it.
You know, this has got to change, sometime. If people weren't being taught that symbols in themselves were "bad" then we would not see this crap! I don't know, What more can I say except that this sucks!!!
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| What Really Ticked Me Off... | May 4th. at 9:52:26 am EDT
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Vema (Riverside, Missouri) - Email Me
... was the superintendent saying the girl had "become a distraction".
The girl HERSELF was the distraction? Sounds like this chica is being discriminated against to me. I have a feeling this might not be the first time she's done something like this, although this may be the first time she's been sent home for it.
Of course, coming to school with pentacles all over her face a day or so later also implies that she's happy to have the attention. I wonder what her parents thought of THAT...
Vema
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| Establishment Of What's Native To Monotheism.... | May 4th. at 9:05:01 am EDT
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karrie9 (Kenosha, Wisconsin) - Email Me - Web
It's true that Pagans have no wearable musts comparable to ashes on the face on Ash Wednesday.
Supposedly religious hierarchy a la monotheism and such hierarchy's dictated norms are the norm for all religions? No. They're not! So such things should not be considered *** established ***!
I't not necessarily Pagan norm to equate religion with faith or religious practitioner with "devout" ____, and that is related because many are saying that this Pagan child didn’t **have to** do this as a devout follower.
Pagans don’t have any popes and one often hears admonishments to “question everyone and everything” in Pagandom, even as we treasure good teachers and HP’s and various elders and/or creatives.
"Normative vs. "Causing a Distraction" (Suspect) " is a false dichotomy (based on a logic fallacy) that reached a crescendo post 9/11 and post Columbine. It's got to stop. It has it's elements of establishing what's native to some religions but not others.
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