Fresno City College Instructor Teaching More Than Science

Do these teachers think they won't get caught or do they just not think. If they do not think then what are they doing teaching.

ACLU Accuses Calif. Instructor of Religion Lessons 

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

Published: February 8, 2010

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union says a science instructor at a public community college in California is improperly teaching religious views on homosexuality and abortion as fact.
ACLU staff attorney Elizabeth Gill sent a letter to Fresno City College officials on Monday about the introductory science class instructor, Bradley Lopez. Gill says Lopez's teaching methods violate California laws protecting gays from discrimination and prohibiting religious indoctrination at public schools.
Gill says several students have complained that he quoted the Bible to prove that human life begins at conception. They also say he characterized homosexuality as a mental illness that degrades society.
Telephone calls to Lopez and a college spokeswoman were not immediately returned.

Update - Special Area Provided for Religious Signs at Football Games

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the Special Area Provided for Religious Signs at Football Games. Apparently, the debate is still going on although no one has yet sued they are certainly playing the First Amendment card on both sides.

John Pless of WTVC-TV NewsChannel 9 posted the following article on the continuing saga in Catoosa County.

Who Is Right About The Law, Cheerleaders, The Bible?

The debate over Bible verses posted at one high school's football games rages on with both sides making passionate arguments while petitions are being tossed around. But lost in all the emotion is the law and what the courts say the First Amendment means.
So who is right, and will anyone spend the huge amount of money and time to challenge the court's interpretation of the law? So far no one has sued.
Ringgold Attorney Matthew Bryan, who has recently spoken on behalf of the cheerleaders actions, said Wednesday "let me clarify that I am not ready to pursue this in the courts and I don't know whether a group of people is or not."
But Bryan does want to clarify his interpretation of the law -- the First Amendment to the Constitution -- that so many people at Tuesday night's Catoosa County School Board meeting shared. They don't like the School District putting an end to a practice on the Lakeview Forth Oglethorpe High School football field.
Before home games players would run through a banner peppered with verses from the Bible and erupt on the field in a show of "Warrior" team spirit. But the School District says it gives the appearance of the public school promoting a religion.
"The issue is going to be, are the signs private student speech or are they state sponsored speech," Bryan said.
Byan said the banners are an expression of private student speech. He said similar legal battles over religion vs. public schools have resulted in the courts favoring expression of religion in some cases. In other cases, Bryan said the courts sided with public schools.
Each case that has been tried and adjudicated revolves around very particular, unique issues and circumstances that are very different from each other -- whether it's an issue of what a student wears, says or expresses and how those thoughts and opinions are expressed.
Here's how the attorney for the Catoosa County School District sees this particular issue with the cheerleaders.
"The engaging of pre-game activities at a football game, that the school is sponsoring the religious activity, that's the heart of the matter," Rezno Higgins said.
Of course lawyers and the courts have different interpretations of what the First Amendment to the Constitution means. While there have been plenty of cases decided that involve religious issues and public schools there has never been a case involving cheerleaders or banners with Biblical verses on the playing field.
What has been so puzzling to parents and students is the School District will allow religious expresion in the stands, outside the stadium and on t-shirts -- all in plain view of anyone attending the game -- but not on the playing field which is also in plain view.
"The activity in the stands, the activity right outside the stadium, the activity off the field and off the sidelines does not give the impression to a casual observer that the school is sponsoring the religious activity," Wiggins explained.
But Bryan said cheerleaders are being denied their right to freely express their private views, according to the way he reads some past court decisions.
"We don't have the school system having anything to do with the message and these banners are not going up because of some policy the school system has in order to promote religion," Bryan said. "Without these two factors it remains private student speech and so has First Amendment protection."
For either side this would be a difficult case to prepare and argue before the courts. Similar lawsuits against school boards involving religious issues take years to settle and cost between $350,000 and $1-million.
Wiggins said complications, costs and time consumed increase in these type of cases because organizations and special interest groups file motions and orders with the court that have to be settled before the main case can be heard and resolved.
"Every dollar that's spent on attorney fees and defense of legal costs in this matter is a dollar that doesn't go for the education of students," Wiggins said.

Related articles at News Channel 9:
http://www.newschannel9.com/news/support-985255-game-cheerleaders.html
http://www.newschannel9.com/news/school-985252-signs-game.html
http://www.newschannel9.com/news/school-985156-support-students.html

Special Area Provided for Religious Signs at Football Games

Image by WRBC via WRBC

When I first read the article below I said WTF? Then I realized that the school had already done the right thing and banned the religious banners. However, due to a complaint they allowed them back, although about 50 yards away, they are still on the school grounds. WTdoubleF? What part of keeping religion and its influence out of public schools don't they understand?!

While the district superintendent supported her decision to not allow the banners with case law, she none the less appreciated the students "christian values". However, one of the best quotes comes from a cheerleader at the high school, "It was heartbreaking to know that our school system is just conforming to the nonbelievers and letting them have their way when there's so many more people wanting the signs. Our freedom of speech and freedom of religion is being taken away." Fail!


The following is the article from Fox News online:

A public high school in Georgia that recently banned banners containing Bible verses from being displayed at its football games will designate an area roughly 50 yards away from the field for cheerleaders, students and others to erect signs with religious themes, the school's principal said Wednesday.

The decision comes after a group of cheerleaders were told they could no longer display the religious banners — a mainstay at the school for eight years — on the football field at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. The ruling caused an uproar in the community.
Jerry Ransom, the school's principal, said he expects the newly designated area, on the school's lawn, will see a large turnout.
"I expect a lot of kids to have signs and T-shirts," Ransom told FOXNews.com on Wednesday. "We've designated an area to hold the 'run-through' signs outside the stadium for those who want to display Christian signs or Muslim signs or whatever they want to do.
"We've got a big front yard here, and we're going to try and accommodate everyone."
Click here for a video.
Ransom said the religious-themed banners, which the school's cheerleaders hand-craft during the summer, have been a fixture at the school's football games since shortly after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He said he had not received any complaints from football players or other students regarding the signs.

One of the signs that was banned from the football field was a "run-through" banner displayed before a game on Sept. 18. It read: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called in me Christ Jesus."
Hundreds of people rallied at the high school on Tuesday to support the cheerleaders, who were told last week that they could no longer display the religious-themed signs during Friday night games.
One of those supporters said the decision to ban the signs infringed on the students' freedom of speech.
"Our Constitution does guarantee that our federal government will not establish a religion," youth pastor Jeremy Jones told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "It will also make sure that we are allowed to exercise it without interference from the government. That is what we need to fight for, folks."
Jones, one of the rally's organizers, said Catoosa County Schools Superintendent Denia Reese violated the students' right to freedom of religion when she ruled last week, following a complaint to the district, that the banners could no longer be shown, since they violated federal law by promoting religion at a school function.
Reese, who could not be reached for comment on Wednesday, ignited the controversy three days later when she released a statement regarding the banners.
"Personally, I appreciate this expression of their Christian values," Reese said in a statement. "However, as superintendent I have the responsibility of protecting the school district from legal action by groups who do not support their beliefs."
Reese's statement also noted that the U.S. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals have ruled that religious activities at high school football games create the "inescapable conclusion" that the school endorses such activity. Violations can lead to costly lawsuits or the potential loss of federal funding, she said.
"I regret that the cheerleaders can not display their signs in the football stadium without violating the first amendment," Reese's statement continued. "I rely on reading the Bible daily, and I would never deny our students the opportunity to express their religious beliefs."
Taylor Quinn, a cheerleader at the school, said she understood Reese's decision but was "angry" about it nonetheless.
"I'm sad and angry about it, because we're silenced for what we believe in," she told the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "It was heartbreaking to know that our school system is just conforming to the nonbelievers and letting them have their way when there's so many more people wanting the signs.
"Our freedom of speech and freedom of religion is being taken away."
Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Ronnie Cobb reportedly disagrees with the ban and will call on City Council officials to support the cheerleaders' right to display the signs.
Meanwhile, Ransom said he expects a fiery crowd Friday night when the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Warriors meet the Ridgeland Panthers.
"That's our big rival," he said. "So on top of everything else, it's going to be a big game no matter what."