Here we go again, yet another pointless poll in which Christians will strain to claim that putting a prayer in a public school is not an example of the state promoting religion. I’m tempted to let it go, because everyone who votes “no” in this poll is a dishonest idiot, and I could do with a good wallow in schadenfreude this morning.
43.7% Yes
55.7% No
0.6% I’m not sure
Public school posting a prayer = state endorsed religion. What is so hard for people to comprehend about that?
Why is there never a clause asking, “Do you properly understand the Constitution, and especially the first Amendment?”
Otherwise, who cares if you “think” it’s unconstitutional, or even constitutional?
Glen Davidson
It’s now >50% yes.
I do object to the wording in the linked article, “Atheist teen forces school to remove prayer from wall after 49 years”. The atheist teen didn’t force removal. The judge ruled that the school had been breaking the law for 49 years.
I think they do comprehend it. They want the government do endorse a specific religion – theirs.
When I “voted” the yes/no ratio was about 53:47. I checked it 2 minutes later and it had climbed to 61:39. Seems that it is going in the right direction so to speak :)
Your constitutionally protected practice of religion does not include hanging your prayers on the walls of government buildings. Hang it in your house or put it on a bumper sticker if you like.
It’s now 77% yes. But, really, everyone who voted No should have their citizenship rescinded.
Reading a lot of the comments posted on that site made my brain hurt.
The comments…….. the stupid…….. It burns!!!
From the article: “Cranston, a dense city of 80,000…”
Saddest comment on the article:
“I am an atheist after being raised in a Catholic family I found that I do not believe. However I realize that this country was founded by god fearing men who wanted religious freedom for all. They carefuly wrote our constitution saying seperation of church and state. What that means is the government cannot force us to adhere to a specific church, cannot force us to have a church political party we are a totally secular governing country. It does not bother me to see signs of religious beliefs. They do not bother me because they have no meaning to me. I have come to find that just as there are fanatics in politics there are fanatics in religion and atheistism. This makes me sad. The prayer should stay on the wall as it was put there more as a building tool for building character in students. I am appalled sometimes by the actions of people, always demanding to get their way. Life is not like Burger King, no you cannot have it your way.”
He/she needs to repeat Constitution 101.
To piggy-back off my last comment: sorry that the religious symbol has no meaning to YOU, but it’s still unconstitutional. What a me-monster.
I think there are several lines of “reasoning:”
1.) Democracy means “majority rules.” That’s it. The country/state/public school therefore belongs to the people who get to define who and what the “people” are and what “we” want. An atheist complaining about a school prayer in a community with a Christian majority is exactly like someone coming into your home and telling you what you can and can’t do. No: my house, my rules. Democracy entails that minorities have to behave like guests.
2.) “Religion” is man’s attempt to understand and worship God. So God — and belief in God — is not “religious.” God’s existence is a fact. It’s true. As long as a prayer allows anyone to mentally insert their own understanding of God into it, the prayer is now secular.
Atheists, who don’t believe in God, are just nuts. They’re like people who look at the sun and pretend they can’t see it. You can’t take this sort of nonsense into account when deciding law.
3.) If God does not exist and if Christianity is not true, then the Constitution isn’t valid. Not only do our rights come from the Christian God, but every single principle and idea in the US Constitution only makes sense if you accept the Bible. There may be some reason for the government not to get into specifics of how you ought to worship, but that you ought to worship is a duty of the patriot. In both theory and practice, there can be no separation of God and State.
4.) Right and wrong depend on God. You simply can’t teach any sort of character development or moral values unless you invoke God to a God-believing student body. This is just obvious. Anything else turns into anarchy — and you can’t run a public school, a court, or any governing body if you take away the foundation of every value you promote.
Whenever I see someone defending religion in government they always seem to be using some combination of the above. It is usually accompanied by the smug assumption that any or all of the above are plain ol’ common sense.
I got my “Evil Little Thing” shirt in the mail yesterday. Gonna wear it to work today and really hope that a lot of people ask what it means.
I also notice that most of the rational comments from those who actually understand the situation get down voted into not appearing.
@12
1.) Democracy means “majority rules.”
Yeah, tell it to the people of the polis of Athens.
Hey, looks like we were able to Pharyngulate an MSNBC poll.
There’s another MSNBC poll that could use Pharyngulating! (I kid, I kid)
The worst thing, IMHO, is how many of the same arguments were repeated. “She could have looked away” “what about the rights of those who believe” “she’s just an attention whore” “there’s no mention of seperation of church and state in the Constitution” “the first ammendment only says CONGRESS shall make no law so it doesn’t apply to schools” “she’s pushing Atheism on everyone else”. Those arguments were countered but they don’t care, they just keep repeating them enough times and hope they’ll be true.
Someone should give that school a banner that says, “There’s no God. You’re on your own.” and demand the school put that up for 49 years and see the reaction.
Among the comments are some that claim that atheism is being pushed on them by not having a prayer banner in school (absence makes the heart grow atheier!). It’s a good thing that the christians do not send missionaries to “the four corners of the earth”, for if they did, they would be hypocrites.
The standard anti-Jessica retort seems to be that “in god we trust” is printed on money, and we’re hypocrites if we use currency. (I use AthiestDebitCard: Don’t go to heaven without it.)
That’s OK, I’m sure your god gets a thrill ever time a dollar bill is stuffed down a g-string at a strip club.
Odd poll, that; the yes/no ratio changes over time but the “not sure” is stuck on .6%. “Yes” is now over 80%.
I only go to strip clubs to stick godly dollars into the girls g-string in hopes she’ll come around to Jesus.
The poll appears to be closed now. The final figures:
81% Yes (the judge was right)
18.3% No (the judge was not right)
0.7% I’m not sure
Well done, Pharyngulators.
Ms. Ahlquist on YouTube: Jessica Ahlquist AMA Response
Pharyngulistas can’t take all the credit for turning the poll around. It was posted on Reddit a few hours ago as well.
24. piscador Everyone is welcome to the party :)
Colbert did some good homage to polls, too.
Aaaaaaaaargh!
blockquote fail
I’m wondering on the Pharyngulation of polls. Are the IDjits, creotards & fundagelicals so cluelessly dim in the dome that they don’t realize when it’s possible to vote multiple times? I mean, they are certifiably dumb at just about every turn, but to not realize sloppy polls can be slopped on?
I voted:
81.4% Yes (114,749 votes)
18% No (25,375 votes)
0.6% I’m not sure (891 votes)
I’m a happy Tigger! =^_^=
One more poll here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/jessica-ahlquist-prayer-banner-rhode-island-school_n_1237199.html#id=I1_1327710334097&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com&rpctoken=499749657&_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart
Quick Poll
Do you agree with the judge’s decision?
Yes, the presence of the prayer banner is unconstitutional.
The prayer banner should be altered, but not taken down.
No, the banner is a part of the school’s history.
Undecided.
There are few things on the internet that are as satisfying as a properly Pharyngulated poll.
newname @ 26 —
I want to be Maurice Sendak when I grow up.
Wow, that site has a crappy comment system. I tried to sign in and post a comment, the stupid thing would dissapear my comment or tell me I wasn’t signed in every frickin’ time.
Cheers. Just voted. Latest figures :
*****
Do you think a federal judge was right in ruling that the school prayer hanging on the wall of the Cranston High School West gym was unconstitutional?
How you voted
Yes
No
I’m not sure
Atheist teen forces school to remove prayer from wall after 49 years
Results
Total of 154,621 votes
Yes – 82.3%
127,247 votes
No -17.1% 26,426 votes
I’m not sure – 0.6% 948 votes
*****
The people who voted I’m not usre are silly too. There’;s only one answer here – Yes.
Mind you, they could an ‘Of bloody course he did!” Option too!
@abhishiktjain :
Cheers, done.
***
Quick Poll
Do you agree with the judge’s decision?
Yes, the presence of the prayer banner is unconstitutional – 29.85%
The prayer banner should be altered, but not taken down- 17.6%
No, the banner is a part of the school’s history – 44.75%
Undecided – 7.79%
***
We still have a way to go on this one folks.
I love the smell of pharyngulation in the morning.