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Like sending “In God We Trust” banners written in Arabic to Texas schools. They don’t like getting done unto them as they do unto others.
I’m curious about this one. I was amused when it was first done - I think I even donated to the cause, but it’s been awhile and I don’t remember. I don’t know if they ever got any of their signs posted, but I do remember people claiming that the law stated the schools had to post donated signs.
Obviously it’s a great loophole in a stupid law, and should equally cover Hindi, Chinese, or any other scary language. The law, as originally written, did not specify a language.
My question is whether it would similarly apply to a sign in English that read “In Allah we Trust.” Since Allah is literally the Arabic word for “god,” it’s semantically equivalent. If so, the same should hold true for similar words from other languages. You might argue that naming a specific god like Vishnu might not pass muster (although I think an argument could be made), but I think that “In Allah we trust” would be almost as defensible as having the entire text in Arabic.
Working in a rather large school district and eventually getting to point where I have somewhat more understanding and information about the inner workings of public ed, I can tell you exactly what a lot of Texas schools decided to do after that law passed and then people started donating signs: we immediately put up any sign that met the requirements and then threw them all away at the end of that same day. We have better things to worry about than trollish legislation and the trolls who troll the trolls. At the end of every single day, our main questions are “did we keep the children safe and the parents informed,” and “is our children learning?”
That’s a fantastic answer and thank you.
Thank you for your genuine curiosity. And if you can, support your local public ed. There are lots of ways to help out that don’t even require spending a dime! Send your kids to public school, volunteer at book fairs, register as a substitute, go to your local town hall and ask hard-hitting questions about transparency and accountability (seriously, ask your local district for the wages of every employee classification, and then go to a town hall meeting and ask why there are so many people working at central office, why people like me who work there away from the children are getting paid more than some teachers, and ask how new positions they keep adding to an already top-heavy district are helping with employee satisfaction and retention), or even run for school board (except that last one is practically an unpaid job).
Thanks very much for this! It’s fantastic advice and I really appreciate it.
My mother was a teacher (and later a union leader) for her entire career, as was my partner’s mother, and as is our best friend. I even taught for a bit (university though - I’m really not a kids kind of person).
Still, I could not begin to imagine the job you folks do. I couldn’t teach in the kind of environments that some states are creating - hence my intentionally snarky but unintentionally insensitive question.
I could certainly do more to support education, though. I live in a fairly well off area with pretty solid public education (my property taxes are about $25k per year and if I’m reading the tables correctly our teachers’ salaries run from about $90k to start (BA + 30 credits) to about $160k (BA + 45 after 12 years)). It’s also a very liberal area - there is a negative probability of a moms for liberty type being elected dog catcher, much less to the school board. I don’t think I’m bringing very much to the table there.
However, I’m going to look into seeing if I can take some of your advice and apply it to other communities in my area. Again, thanks for the eye-opener!
Register as a substitute? Do you not require a degree in education to teach where you’re from?
Depending on the school district, you may or may not. Texas has recently started allowing districts to identify themselves as a “District of Innovation,” which means allowing for alternative degrees when hiring specific types of teachers. That being said, substitutes are not teachers and are not subject to the same requirements; same goes for Instructional Assistants (IAs). Both are woefully underpaid servants for the type of work they do.
State Rep. Brad Sherman, a Republican, even released a newsletter saying that the principle of church/state separation didn’t apply to this display because the state was inherently Christian. After all, he claimed, the Iowa Constitution refers to a “Supreme Being.”
According to these opening lines of our Constitution, the foundation for laws and continued blessing and success in Iowa is based on these points: There is One Supreme God. Blessings over this state come from the One Supreme God We must depend upon the One Supreme God if we want to enjoy continued blessings. It is a tortured and twisted interpretation of law that affords Satan, who is universally understood to be the enemy of God, religious expression equal to God in an institution of government that depends upon God for continued blessings. Such a legal view not only violates the very foundation of our State Constitution, but it offends the God upon whom we depend and undermines our wellbeing. … Therefore, based on the laws of God and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and for the purpose of securing the blessings of God upon our state: I am calling for our governor to have this blasphemous display removed immediately based on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and *offends God upon whom the State of Iowa depends for blessings.* I am calling for clarifying legislation to be adopted in accordance with our State Constitution that prohibits satanic displays in our Capitol building and on all state owned property. I am calling for legislation to be adopted that makes it legal to display the Ten Commandments in our Capitol, in all buildings owned by the state, and in our public schools. If we want the blessings of God upon our state, we must demonstrate by our laws and actions that we are indeed depending upon Him and that we are opposed to Satan.deleted by creator
These assholes never, ever remember that the whole thing about separation of church and state was because of Christians escaping persecution from OTHER CHRISTIANS.
It wasn’t satan after the Pilgrims, it was the bastard Church of England. It wasn’t satan after the Huguenots, it was the state church of France, Catholicism. Ditto the Scottish followers of John Knox, that was the Catholics as well, until some royal died and another was born and then it was the Catholics persecuted, etc.
And that doesn’t even address all the church splits and splinters creating other groups that were widely despised by all the “mainstream” Christians in their time, like the Anabaptists and the Baptists and the Mennonites and the Shakers and the Quakers – and on and on and on the list of Christians directly persecuted by other Christians in the Old World goes.
(Reading this, you might well think, “How could anyone hate a Quaker?” Good question. The answer is that for as peaceful and non-confrontational as Quakers are, at the root of it they believe in following their own inner what-have-you, and that is literally unacceptable to any group that needs your faith to keep you well-positioned and exploitable. The Quakers (and the Shakers) terrified power-seekers, authoritarians, and government-sponsored state religions back in the day when religious identity was used to regulate so much of daily living, because they simply opted out of it. Cue the inevitable inter-Christian persecution.)
Then these groups brought all that shit with them to the New World, or were chased here by it, persecutor and persecuted alike. By the time the Constitution was written, many people had had enough, including Thomas Jefferson. The First Amendment was supposed to literally “put a brick wall” between church and state to end that shit for good.
And look at where we are now. History is absofuckinglutely guaranteed to repeat itself here.
When these present-day Bible-pounding “Freedom of Religion” American Christians run out of outgroups – people of other faiths and other skin tones – they will turn against each other again, just like they have consistently and reliably for the last 2,000 years.
They don’t just fail to understand separation of church and state, it’s like they just woke up and have no fucking idea how it even got here, without even a clue that their own religious forebears were both persecuted and persecutor alike.
They will remember soon enough. When a state takes a religion it is typically pressured to get very specific, and then persecute (convert or imprison / execute) those that do not conform.
This
wasis the crux of the issue in the troubles, which is itching to start up again.True that. On all counts. And it’s pretty clear that’s exactly where the right wing wants to take this pseudo-Christian religious domination: into a codified platform of national power. The First Amendment won’t be the only part of the Constitution to go, the whole thing will be toast except for whatever bits they like, but that’s possibly the worst as it opens the door to entire new waves of “thoughtcrime” surveillance and enforcement.
As an aside, I remember being thunderstruck pre-Brexit about people like Boris Johnson kicking that whole can up the road, not even talking about it, setting aside the Irish border entirely as though it would be easy to resolve in the future, even though it had already lasted hundreds of years prior and the Good Friday Agreement wasn’t even yet 20 years old. In the end, Ireland – both of them – were left out of the Brexit planning entirely. It is to their own credit on both sides IMO that they, not Westminster, have kept things calm.
EDITED TO ADD: When a religion goes national, it’s also usually the excuse for a massive transfer of assets and wealth to the state as well as to its most favored private supporters, such as when Henry VIII created the CoE and took all the abbeys and monasteries and churches, as well as their land and gold, for himself and his favorites. He did it in steps, but in the end he also did it quite completely. Given that this rising Christian Nationalism in the US is primarily evangelical in flavor, the Catholics may end up losing some property and cash yet again, this time 500-ish years later in the New World.
evangelist Joel Tenney, who wanted someone fired over the inclusion and implied (in the comments) that he would personally vandalize the “grossest form of idolatry I have ever seen in my state.” He even asked his followers, “Who’s gonna bail me out?!”
No, he deliberately riled up his followers, then referenced the need for “bail money” like six different times. Guy is just after the money. Hmm, I wonder what his holy book says about money?
Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have.
You cannot serve both God and money.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Oops
“It is more difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, than a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.”
I don’t know, seems vague…
Yeah, like they don’t say how big the camel is - or the needle!
It’s a metaphor, a parable, because the wealthy can buy a really big needle, see! It’s difficult because they have to ask for a custom made needle
Those poor, misunderstood wealthy people!
The needle was a side door in a city wall. The source for this is up my ass.
Luckily they live in the United States of Amoneyca and they are Coinageans praying to the all mighty green and papery Georgod Washington. They can serve both God and money because they are one and the same.
There is One Supreme God.
Clearly they’re talking about Cthulhu, who is not a fan of goats.
There’s only the mighty pasta.
Ramen.
Have you even read the Mythos? Cthulhu is the priest of the Old Gods.
I’ll worship how I like.
I see, I see.
Blasphemy!! Nyarlathotep is the One True God!!
The Black Goat of the Woods, being land-based, is clearly younger (and therefor inferior to) Dagon.
Well, duh, the real Dagon is Mehrunes!
Heresy!!! Nothing is above Azathoth!!!
Yet he is a blind idiot
Damn thee! That scheming little bitch will crumble before the primal force that is our one true god!!!
DAMN ye! Let Neptune strike ye dead, tsonfeir! HAAAAAARRRRRK! Hark! Triton! Hark! Bellow! Bid our father, the Sea King, rise from the depths, full-foul in his fury, black waves teeming with salt-foam, to smother this young mouth with pungent slime, to choke ye, engorging your organs 'till ye turn blue and bloated with bilge and brine and can scream no more… only when, he, crowned in cockle shells with slithering tentacled tail and steaming beard, takes up his fell, be-finnèd arm – his coral-tined trident screeches banshee-like in the tempest and plunges right through yer gullet! BURSTING YE, a bulging bladder no more, but a blasted bloody film now – a nothing for the Harpies and the souls of dead sailors to peck and claw and feed upon, only to be lapped up and swallowed by the infinite waters of the Dread Emperor himself, forgotten to any man, to any time, forgotten to any god or devil, forgotten even to the sea… for any stuff or part of tsonfeir, even any scantling of your soul, is tsonfeir no more, but is now itself the sea!
As if
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Why should we come up with a new idea? They don’t.
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Wow, that rep has no business being a representative when they can’t even understand what separation of church and state means. And somehow are intellectually challenged enough to believe that being a “Christian state” means the law no longer applies…?
Wtf
A rep you say, better not look too close at the house speaker.
Satan sucks!
He also does this thing with his tongue that’s absolutely amazing.
Best comment here
I encourage all to donate to the Satanic Temple today.
“Stop challenging my mythical worldview! Whaaaaaaa!”
lmao
I’m just watching here as this guy gets super-angry about blasphemy
And wondering if he realizes this is exactly why we need separation of church and state
They’re to fucking stupid to understand that.
*too
These topics interest me because I can imagine how inflexible religious fundamentalists must be.
Like, to atheists or satanists seeing a Christian display is at most annoying.
For hardcore Christians seeing a satanic display is a literal challenge from God to be strong, to be loyal. They see it as a glitch in the matrix or some shit, like a virus.
Same as Muslims and displays of Muhammad.
They simply can’t compute the continued existence of such things.
And it makes me laugh.
*some Muslims
Not all branches think the same about displays of Muhammad
That means nothing to everyone else while some still kill over it
Hashtag NotAllChristians ?
I haven’t heard of Christians that kill over depictions of Christ, and to my knowledge the crusades were over centuries ago
In fact, I’ve never once worried one of my actions might inspire a Christian to come and kill me, like labeling a stick figure “Muhammad” might do
You must not live in the USA, or Poland or similar places full of Christian fundamentalists who go around killing people they don’t like.
Or, are you trying to pull a “no true Scotman” fallacy on us?
But nice try at moving goalposts. Fuck, it’s obvious what a horrific, toxic person you are. This is why you have no friends.
Not the person you were answering, just want to butt in:
If you say “you must not live in USA or Poland” isn’t that precisely what Hashtag NotAllChristians means?
Because yes, there absolutely are rabid examples of people bombing abortion clinics or 2nd amendment Christofascists from Howdy Arabia, but the majority of Christians, at least in Europe are more or less quietly doing their own thing and not even going to church outside of Easter or Christmas. So yes, definitely #NotAllChristians.
Doesn’t mean I agree with them, like them or want their delusions affecting our culture, but European Christianity has been dragged into the post-enlightenment world kicking and screaming. We as a civilization reigned in the worst excesses of organized religion, doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen and doesn’t mean it’s peaceful and okay now, but at least we are at a point where the violent looneys are few and far between.
So you agree with me? Fantastic wall of text to say that.
That means nothing to everyone else while some still kill over it
while some still kill
See? Christians are just as bad as Muslims.
Fucknuckle was trying to hate on one religion while propping up their own. That bullshit should not stand.
To be clear, it means everything to everyone. You’re being an asshole bigot here. Even worse, defending Christian terrorism.
A bigoted hypocrite.
This attitude is not welcome here, or anywhere.
That you think the levels of violence are comparable is hilarious, and shows how much of a deluded bigot you are
Projection, thy name is ASeriesOfPoorChoices, quite ironically
I said the opposite. I never said the levels were comparable. In fact, I said comparing them, like you’re doing, is a fucked up thing to do.
And I love how you claim -I’m- projecting. 🤣🤣
You fucking clown. 🤡 🤦
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I hope they choke to death on it.
All praise Satan!
LOL
