I'm on my way to the first annual Progressive Faith Blog Conference. Kudos to Thurman Hart, an Xpatriated Texan in New Jersey, for taking the lead in organizing the event.
Bruce Wilson of Talk-to-Action has asked a few of us to write a statement about the incident at the Indian River School District in Delaware to share with others at the conference. The hope is to pool ideas and come up with a collaborative statement that can be jointly issued. Here's a draft of a statement that I wrote for this effort:
Bruce Wilson of Talk-to-Action has asked a few of us to write a statement about the incident at the Indian River School District in Delaware to share with others at the conference. The hope is to pool ideas and come up with a collaborative statement that can be jointly issued. Here's a draft of a statement that I wrote for this effort:
Regarding Religious Intolerance in Public Schools
We are progressive religious people from a number of different faiths and traditions who are uniting to voice our concerns over signs that intolerance of religious minorities is mounting in America.
One particularly egregious example of this intolerance is the persecution and harassment of an American Jewish family from the Indian River School District in Delaware. Sadly, the Dobrich family felt so threatened by actions of some within their community that they felt it necessary to sell their home of eighteen years, to relocate and to place one of their children in a private school.
Conflict within the Indian River School District originated over forced observance of a religious exercise. Forcing anyone to participate in public acts of worship -- against their will and their deepest convictions -- violates both the Constitution and what James Madison in his "Memorial and Remonstrance" called an "unalienable" right of conscience.
America's public schools serve children from families of many different faiths and traditions. Every parent of every faith has the right to expect that the public schools will not be used to impose religious beliefs and practices upon their children. Every parent of every faith has the right to expect that public schools will honor the parent's solemn responsibility to instruct their own children regarding religious beliefs and practices. Every child of every faith has the right to expect that public schools will not force them to participate in religious practices that violate their religious convictions. Every child of every faith has the right to expect that public schools will treat them with the same fairness, dignity and respect that they treat the children of any other faith.
We call upon all Americans to raise their voices together with us to condemn the spiritual molestation of children taking place in our common public schools when they impose majoritarian religious practices on students from minority faiths.
We ask all Americans to take direct, non-violent action to put an end to every form of tacit governmental endorsement of religion.
We encourage all Americans to reaffirm the Constitutional right of every citizen to be free from being coerced to participate in acts of worship with those of different faiths and beliefs.
All persons should be free to worship with like-minded people of their own choosing in accord with the dictates of their own consciences.
One particularly egregious example of this intolerance is the persecution and harassment of an American Jewish family from the Indian River School District in Delaware. Sadly, the Dobrich family felt so threatened by actions of some within their community that they felt it necessary to sell their home of eighteen years, to relocate and to place one of their children in a private school.
Conflict within the Indian River School District originated over forced observance of a religious exercise. Forcing anyone to participate in public acts of worship -- against their will and their deepest convictions -- violates both the Constitution and what James Madison in his "Memorial and Remonstrance" called an "unalienable" right of conscience.
America's public schools serve children from families of many different faiths and traditions. Every parent of every faith has the right to expect that the public schools will not be used to impose religious beliefs and practices upon their children. Every parent of every faith has the right to expect that public schools will honor the parent's solemn responsibility to instruct their own children regarding religious beliefs and practices. Every child of every faith has the right to expect that public schools will not force them to participate in religious practices that violate their religious convictions. Every child of every faith has the right to expect that public schools will treat them with the same fairness, dignity and respect that they treat the children of any other faith.
We call upon all Americans to raise their voices together with us to condemn the spiritual molestation of children taking place in our common public schools when they impose majoritarian religious practices on students from minority faiths.
We ask all Americans to take direct, non-violent action to put an end to every form of tacit governmental endorsement of religion.
We encourage all Americans to reaffirm the Constitutional right of every citizen to be free from being coerced to participate in acts of worship with those of different faiths and beliefs.
All persons should be free to worship with like-minded people of their own choosing in accord with the dictates of their own consciences.
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1 comments:
A bit more info. I moved from that area a year ago and was following the story before I moved. The family was indeed being harassed, and they moved from a conservative area of the state to the much more liberal Wilmington area. There is a vital Jewish community in Wilmington. I don't believe it was ever reported that the reason their son went to a private school in Wilmington was due to harassment there.
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