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| Athiest School Principal Bans Declaration of Independence at her School - It Mentions God |
| 2004-11-24 |
| H.T. Drudge A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence. Someone has "issues". Get out of sorts at the mention of God in print. Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian. Not neccessarily, the Principal has a "God" hang-up, and had to relieve her tension by lashing out at the nearest handy target... "It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men, and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political correctness is outrageous and shameful," said Williams' attorney, Terry Thompson. A fact lost on the drooling school principal "Williams wants to teach his students the true history of our country," he said. "There is nothing in the Establishment Clause (of the U.S. Constitution) that prohibits a teacher from showing students the Declaration of Independence." Vidmar could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment. In witness protection by the ACLU, and all loony toon associations in the Bay Area... Phyllis Vogel, assistant superintendent for Cupertino Unified School District, said the lawsuit had been forwarded to a staff attorney. She declined to comment further. Doesn't want to touch this with a ten foot pole. Here's the eleven foot pole : Cupertino School Board Phone number is 408-252-3000. The Superintendant's name is William Bragg. He is Vogel's boss. Williams asserts in the lawsuit that since May he has been required to submit all of his lesson plans and supplemental handouts to Vidmar for approval, and that the principal will not permit him to use any that contain references to God or Christianity. ...and "The Internationale" shall save the human race, at least everybody within spitting distance of "Frisco" (They hate to be called that) Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists" and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania." Only history, as it was taught in the former USSR is now allowed by the Totalitarians in Cupertino. "He hands out a lot of material and perhaps 5 to 10 percent refers to God and Christianity because that's what the founders wrote," said Thompson, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom. "The principal seems to be systematically censoring material that refers to Christianity and it is pure discrimination." Principal starts to breathe heavily at seeing the word God in print. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a California atheist who wanted the words "under God" struck from the Pledge of Allegiance as recited by school children. The appeals court in California had found that the phrase amounted to a violation of church and state separation. Newdow will no daubt raise his ugly head again... He's getting all goose-bumpy at this one! |
| Posted by:BigEd |
| #28 I agree with those who believe that a healthy dose of skepticism is called for. The teacher, Steven Williams, is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, which was co-founded by The Campus Crusade for Christ and hard-core fundamentalists James Dobson (Focus on the Family) and D. James Kennedy (Coral Ridge Ministries), among others. These are the "religious right" of song and legend, the radical fringe-dwellers whom the Left contantly and falsely invoke as typical of the anti-idiotarian resistance. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2004-11-24 11:46:39 PM |
| #27 #23, Two wrongs don't make a right but two Wrights can make an airplane. I really feel sorry for atheists at their funerals. All dressed up and nowhere to go. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2004-11-24 8:31:47 PM |
| #26 It's a feel-good story for both sides. Happy Thanksgiving, LOL! We'll see when school and serious reporting start again on monday.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-24 7:49:52 PM |
| #25 Dave, Some facts to keep in mind. The suit was filed Monday. There is no mention of it in the San Jose Mercury News. Joanne Jacobs silicon valley education blogger and maven has nothing on it. World Net Daily breaks the story at noon EST. Drudge picks it up from a Reuters story time stamped 4:12 EST or 1:12 pm PST on the Wednesday before Thankksgiving. My nose is twitching. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-24 7:45:51 PM |
| #24 Somehow I believe as well that there's more to the story. Teaching history without mentioning God could be a little difficult. If I remember well there was a story about a Bush photo being banned at a school that turned out a bit different as well. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2004-11-24 7:40:05 PM |
| #23 That could well be, in which case we got one o' them "two wrongs don't make a right" deals. Like you said, let's see how this shakes out. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-11-24 7:36:30 PM |
| #22 Dave, I suspect it will turn out that Williams has tenure and was proselytizing in class or some such thing and that Vidmar, being the typical authoritarian principal over-reacted and made a stupid and unenforcable edict that Williams was able to peddle to publicity seeking lawyers for a special interest group. Let's wait for the other side of the story. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-24 7:32:10 PM |
| #21 Hmmm... sure looks to me like this Vidmar person doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. She just doesn't want to do the job she was hired to do. Out with her. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-11-24 7:28:13 PM |
| #20 From the California Department of Education standards for teaching fifth grade hisotry: (emphasis mine) Grade Five History-Social Science Content Standards. United States History and Geography: Making a New Nation Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850, with an emphasis on the people who were already here, when and from where others arrived, and why they came. Students learn about the colonial government founded on Judeo-Christian principles, the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the English traditions of self-government. They recognize that ours is a nation that has a constitution that derives its power from the people, that has gone through a revolution, that once sanctioned slavery, that experienced conflict over land with the original inhabitants, and that experienced a westward movement that took its people across the continent. 5.4 Students understand the political, Identify the major individuals and groups responsible forthe founding of the various colonies and the reasons for their founding (e.g., John Smith, Virginia; Roger Williams, Rhode Island; William Penn, Pennsylvania; Lord Baltimore, Maryland; William Bradford, Plymouth; John Winthrop, Massachusetts). Pretty hard to avoid religion when discussing that group. I guess that's why they threw John Smith in. Describe the religious aspects of the earliest colonies (e.g., Puritanism in Massachusetts, Anglicanism in Virginia, Catholicism in Maryland, Quakerism in Pennsylvania). Quakerism? Identify the significance and leaders of the First Great Awakening, which marked a shift in religious ideas, practices, and allegiances in the colonial period, the growth of religious toleration, and free exercise of religion. Understand how the British colonial period created the basis for the development of political self-government and a free-market economic system and the differences between the British, Spanish, and French colonial systems. Understand the people and events associated with the drafting and signing of the Declaration of Independence and the document's significance, including the key political concepts it embodies, the origins of those concepts, and its role in severing ties with Great Britain. Describe the views, lives, and impact of key individuals during this period (e.g., King George III, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams). |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-24 7:22:40 PM |
| #19 Dave D - exactly! Removing any reference to religion in history is wrong historically and shouldn't qualify as teaching. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-24 6:57:53 PM |
| #18 They're gonna have trouble when they get to the Gettysburg Address, too: that's got a "God" or two in it, somewhere. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-11-24 6:55:51 PM |
| #17 Interesting that around Thanksgiving this focuses on the founding dads. Knowing that there are two sides to most stories, it would be interesting to know how Mr. Williams covered the Missions and the Pilgrims earlier in the year. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-11-24 6:51:15 PM |
| #16 Yeah, OK, I can imagine how it might... But the point I was trying to make is that whether or not a person is a Christian, or even believes in God at all, he/she at least ought to be able to acknowledge the rich heritage our country has from Christianity, Judaism, et al, because that heritage is important and a lot of it is very, VERY positive. People like Vidmar aren't just atheists: they're Christian-phobic. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-11-24 6:47:45 PM |
| #15 Hmmm....think we should relieve the gentleman of any federal treasury notes with the citation of "in God we trust" on them? |
| Posted by: Don 2004-11-24 6:46:13 PM |
| #14 I'm sure the principal wouldn't mind not being paid then.. after all all that money has 'In God We Trust' stamped on it. I'd have to classify myself as an athiest, I guess, as I'm just not a religious person. But I sure as hell.... Dave, I agree with you but the above statement just strikes me as somewhat funny..... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-11-24 6:34:39 PM |
| #13 Patricia Vidmar.... Resign Now... No decent parent will trust you after this... PS To all fellow Rantbergians...My apologies for getting so off the wall on this...My 4-yr old son is coming up on a Kindergarten experience Sept 2005, this stuff works me up... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-11-24 6:34:19 PM |
| #12 nice work! Made Fox news |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-24 6:30:20 PM |
| #11 Howbout a simple rule: school districts that can't handle the factual treatment of any subject that includes anything that offends anyone must acquire all their funding via bake sales and calendars with nude pictures of the faculty and administration of saidsame school. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2004-11-24 6:28:10 PM |
| #10 Drudge You Rascal!!!!!! Cupertino School District Server Problem????? GO DRUDGE! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-11-24 6:27:39 PM |
| #9 You have to remember that these LLL are all cut from the same cloth. They get a sick look on their face if you say 'God bless you' when they sneeze. Clearly they either never read or ignored the wording of the Declaration and the Constitution. God (or Creator) is cited many times throughout both documents. Reason number #2 I didn’t go into teaching (#1 was the pay). |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2004-11-24 6:26:01 PM |
| #8 Beware the MSM agenda here. I suspect the Principal's left wing views are more significant than their atheism. There are plenty of atheists on the right, including a number of prominent people here at RB and Christians often figure on the irresponsible Left. But right wing christians are one of the the meme du jours. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-11-24 6:25:03 PM |
| #7 This kinda crap really burns my cork. I'd have to classify myself as an athiest, I guess, as I'm just not a religious person. But I sure as hell don't feel threatened in any way by people who've got religion, unless they're raving fanatics. But that's exactly what people like this Vidmar kook are: raving fanatics. Her atheism is just as much a fundamentalist, fanatical religion as Wahabbi Islam. These people are a damned menace. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-11-24 6:21:09 PM |
| #6 But remember, all Pajamadeen within a 100 mile radius will be sought out to serve 30 days detention for making such a fuss.... Drudge took down the number just now, and left it as a link... Defication must have hit the rotary-blade motor device (S**t hit the fan) and someone at the district made a plea to Drudge persoaally. Note the link has mention of two YMCA groups, apparently she doen't know what the "C" stands for or they'd be gone too. Stevens Creek Elementary Link from Drudge... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-11-24 6:10:52 PM |
| #5 lol - that's where I snatched that |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-24 6:01:16 PM |
| #4 Moonbats need wacking down every 28 days when a full moon appears. It is like pest or cockroach control, every once in a while, on a regular basis they need a smackdown. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-11-24 6:00:22 PM |
| #3 Ol' Drudge just added the phone # on his site at the top of the page. This Totalitarian Ninconpoop will be dragged hysterical from her office wearing a straight-jacket by the guys in white coats within the hour.... Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-11-24 5:53:27 PM |
| #2 Patricia Vidmar - Principal -- (408) 245-3312... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-11-24 5:34:05 PM |
| #1 Cupertino District Webpage |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-11-24 5:21:52 PM |