Bryan Fischer
Petty little high school junior is America's newest religious bigot
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
I have created the American Association of Religious Bigots (AARB) to honor the Christophobes in America who just cannot stand the thought that someone, somewhere, might be enjoying his unalienable, God-given right to religious liberty and freedom of speech.
The newest Focal Point-certified member of the AARB is a high school junior from Rhode Island, Jessica Ahlquist by name. She has been added to the list as of today. (For the full list of this Hall of Shame, go here.)
This little atheist bully, with the help of the grammatically-challenged Freedom From Religion Foundation (the Constitution guarantees freedom "of" religion, not freedom "from" religion), got a prayer banner pulled off the wall of a Rhode Island high school, a banner that had not been bothering anybody since it was first put up in 1963.
The banner was, in fact, a gift to the school from its first graduating class. So much for history and tradition and honoring the generosity and thoughtfulness of earlier generations of students.
News flash for Jessica and the FFRF: the Constitution hasn't changed since 1963.
This prayer banner was constitutionally fine then, and it is constitutionally fine now. The only thing that has changed is that hatred of Christianity has now been mainstreamed in the cultural elite, who want to remove all vestiges of the acknowledgement of God from the public arena.
Ms. Ahlquist complained that the presence of the banner showed the school didn't "respect" her views. She is apparently tyrannically oblivious to the plain fact that her pettiness shows only one thing: she's the one who does not respect anyone's view but her own.
This small-minded and vengeful brat has managed to override the Constitution's guarantee of the free exercise of religion and free speech just by being noisy and mean. She is the newest religious bigot in America.
The school first covered up the banner, as if its contents were pornographic in nature and might damage the delicate sensibilities of constitutionally-impaired students. Then the school meekly capitulated to Ms. Ahlquist's demands to avoid the possibility of having to pay huge attorney's fees if it lost on appeal. Apparently, in their judgment, the right to liberty isn't unalienable after all. The warranty on this right bestowed by the Creator apparently ran out as soon as soon as the money did. So much for pledging sacred fortunes and honor to protect God-given rights.
Hey Jessica: if you don't like the banner, don't look at it. Nobody is forcing you to notice it, read it, agree with it, or pay any attention to it at all.
Justice Clarence Thomas has often articulated what is a plain fact: the minimum you must have to have a violation of the First Amendment is some kind of coercion. Well, Jessica wasn't coerced into doing anything.
She, however, has compelled this school to disregard the Constitution altogether. What this school board needs is an anti-bullying policy to keep its own students from pushing them around.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
February 18, 2012
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
I have created the American Association of Religious Bigots (AARB) to honor the Christophobes in America who just cannot stand the thought that someone, somewhere, might be enjoying his unalienable, God-given right to religious liberty and freedom of speech.
The newest Focal Point-certified member of the AARB is a high school junior from Rhode Island, Jessica Ahlquist by name. She has been added to the list as of today. (For the full list of this Hall of Shame, go here.)
This little atheist bully, with the help of the grammatically-challenged Freedom From Religion Foundation (the Constitution guarantees freedom "of" religion, not freedom "from" religion), got a prayer banner pulled off the wall of a Rhode Island high school, a banner that had not been bothering anybody since it was first put up in 1963.
The banner was, in fact, a gift to the school from its first graduating class. So much for history and tradition and honoring the generosity and thoughtfulness of earlier generations of students.
News flash for Jessica and the FFRF: the Constitution hasn't changed since 1963.
This prayer banner was constitutionally fine then, and it is constitutionally fine now. The only thing that has changed is that hatred of Christianity has now been mainstreamed in the cultural elite, who want to remove all vestiges of the acknowledgement of God from the public arena.
Ms. Ahlquist complained that the presence of the banner showed the school didn't "respect" her views. She is apparently tyrannically oblivious to the plain fact that her pettiness shows only one thing: she's the one who does not respect anyone's view but her own.
This small-minded and vengeful brat has managed to override the Constitution's guarantee of the free exercise of religion and free speech just by being noisy and mean. She is the newest religious bigot in America.
The school first covered up the banner, as if its contents were pornographic in nature and might damage the delicate sensibilities of constitutionally-impaired students. Then the school meekly capitulated to Ms. Ahlquist's demands to avoid the possibility of having to pay huge attorney's fees if it lost on appeal. Apparently, in their judgment, the right to liberty isn't unalienable after all. The warranty on this right bestowed by the Creator apparently ran out as soon as soon as the money did. So much for pledging sacred fortunes and honor to protect God-given rights.
Hey Jessica: if you don't like the banner, don't look at it. Nobody is forcing you to notice it, read it, agree with it, or pay any attention to it at all.
Justice Clarence Thomas has often articulated what is a plain fact: the minimum you must have to have a violation of the First Amendment is some kind of coercion. Well, Jessica wasn't coerced into doing anything.
She, however, has compelled this school to disregard the Constitution altogether. What this school board needs is an anti-bullying policy to keep its own students from pushing them around.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
