Mississippi HS Marching Band pulled from Halftime performance because of "How great thou art"

[ogibillm]

i'm not sure i'd call that 'good'
and i disagree that they fucked it up. but guess what? my opinion and your opinion on it don't matter. reality is the decision has been made and challenged countless times, and the ruling stands.

We don't have to abide by a wrong SCOTUS ruling.

if you like breaking the law that's your deal - but just remember you aren't the arbiter of what is and is not a 'right' or 'wrong' ruling by the court.

Yes We the People are the final arbiter.

we the people have entered into a government in which the supreme court is the final arbiter. if we the people want to do anything about that or any particular decision we'll have to amend the constitution.

Or have them impeached or face the consequences. We the People ARE the final arbiter.

we can't impeach, that'd be our representatives. we also can't do it just because we dislike a ruling.

 

[ogibillm]

There's more to this story than was mentioned in the OP. A federal court order was issued back in July prohibiting the school district from participating in any religious activity or soliciting such activity while at school or during any school event. The district continued promoting Christianity during school hours and was fined $7500 for doing so. The decision to disallow the band to perform its halftime show with the hymn intact was reportedly made in order to avoid being fined again, but it's pretty clear that this was done in part for the sake of publicity. The real issue here involves the rightness or wrongness of preventing a publicly funded school district from actively promoting Christianity.

no one is forcing anyone to worship.

that's the difference

leftist pretend it's force, when it's not, then go fucking overboard. they won't be happy until you can't say god or jesus outside of church, assuming they allow churches to stand, since you have to travel on tax payer roads to get to them.

at that school they were. they held a school assembly that promoted christianity and forced attendance.

How did they force attendance?

students were required to attend.

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

There's more to this story than was mentioned in the OP. A federal court order was issued back in July prohibiting the school district from participating in any religious activity or soliciting such activity while at school or during any school event. The district continued promoting Christianity during school hours and was fined $7500 for doing so. The decision to disallow the band to perform its halftime show with the hymn intact was reportedly made in order to avoid being fined again, but it's pretty clear that this was done in part for the sake of publicity. The real issue here involves the rightness or wrongness of preventing a publicly funded school district from actively promoting Christianity.

no one is forcing anyone to worship.

that's the difference

leftist pretend it's force, when it's not, then go fucking overboard. they won't be happy until you can't say god or jesus outside of church, assuming they allow churches to stand, since you have to travel on tax payer roads to get to them.

at that school they were. they held a school assembly that promoted christianity and forced attendance.

How did they force attendance?

students were required to attend.

Was it a class? Did they get in trouble for cutting class if they didn't attend? What was the enforcement mechanism for forcing kids to attend a diversion event?

 

[PoliticalChic]

...freedom from religion...[/B]

where did you find the word "from" or did you insert just because you are stupid ??

I wonder which of the ten commandments they'd like to be free of?

 

[ogibillm]

There's more to this story than was mentioned in the OP. A federal court order was issued back in July prohibiting the school district from participating in any religious activity or soliciting such activity while at school or during any school event. The district continued promoting Christianity during school hours and was fined $7500 for doing so. The decision to disallow the band to perform its halftime show with the hymn intact was reportedly made in order to avoid being fined again, but it's pretty clear that this was done in part for the sake of publicity. The real issue here involves the rightness or wrongness of preventing a publicly funded school district from actively promoting Christianity.

no one is forcing anyone to worship.

that's the difference

leftist pretend it's force, when it's not, then go fucking overboard. they won't be happy until you can't say god or jesus outside of church, assuming they allow churches to stand, since you have to travel on tax payer roads to get to them.

at that school they were. they held a school assembly that promoted christianity and forced attendance.

How did they force attendance?

students were required to attend.

Was it a class? Did they get in trouble for cutting class if they didn't attend? What was the enforcement mechanism for forcing kids to attend a diversion event?

all school assembly with mandatory attendance. what difference does it make how that was enforced?

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

no one is forcing anyone to worship.

that's the difference

leftist pretend it's force, when it's not, then go fucking overboard. they won't be happy until you can't say god or jesus outside of church, assuming they allow churches to stand, since you have to travel on tax payer roads to get to them.

at that school they were. they held a school assembly that promoted christianity and forced attendance.

How did they force attendance?

students were required to attend.

Was it a class? Did they get in trouble for cutting class if they didn't attend? What was the enforcement mechanism for forcing kids to attend a diversion event?

all school assembly with mandatory attendance. what difference does it make how that was enforced?

The difference is, I think you pulled that out of your ass.

 

[ogibillm]

at that school they were. they held a school assembly that promoted christianity and forced attendance.

How did they force attendance?

students were required to attend.

Was it a class? Did they get in trouble for cutting class if they didn't attend? What was the enforcement mechanism for forcing kids to attend a diversion event?

all school assembly with mandatory attendance. what difference does it make how that was enforced?

The difference is, I think you pulled that out of your ass.

i pulled it from an article about the original court case. the one the school lost because it had a mandatory attendance assembly promoting christianity.

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

How did they force attendance?

students were required to attend.

Was it a class? Did they get in trouble for cutting class if they didn't attend? What was the enforcement mechanism for forcing kids to attend a diversion event?

all school assembly with mandatory attendance. what difference does it make how that was enforced?

The difference is, I think you pulled that out of your ass.

i pulled it from an article about the original court case. the one the school lost because it had a mandatory attendance assembly promoting christianity.

So you did pull it out of your ass and have no idea if this one was mandatory or not. You also can't explain how a "captive audience" voluntarily sang "How Great Thou Art".

 

[ogibillm]

students were required to attend.

Was it a class? Did they get in trouble for cutting class if they didn't attend? What was the enforcement mechanism for forcing kids to attend a diversion event?

all school assembly with mandatory attendance. what difference does it make how that was enforced?

The difference is, I think you pulled that out of your ass.

i pulled it from an article about the original court case. the one the school lost because it had a mandatory attendance assembly promoting christianity.

So you did pull it out of your ass and have no idea if this one was mandatory or not. You also can't explain how a "captive audience" voluntarily sang "How Great Thou Art".

here's an article about the original suit
Rankin County student sues over religious assemblies at school
here's another about the district's troubles
Judge finds Rankin County School District in contempt over school prayer

i don't know what group voluntarily sang what and i really don't care.

 

[Capstone]

I still don't believe the district's decision to sit the band was a matter of necessary compliance with the Judge's order, but I understand the likely rationale behind it. $10,000 a pop is significant enough to give pause to any district administrator. The scope of the Judge's ruling probably needs to be clarified. Then, and only then, some of the faux outrage might actually be justified.

 

[ogibillm]

I still don't believe the district's decision to sit the band was a matter of necessary compliance with the Judge's order, but I understand the likely rationale behind it. $10,000 a pop is significant enough to give pause to any district administrator. The scope of the Judge's ruling probably needs to be clarified. Then, and only then, some of the faux outrage might actually be justified.

you have to ask yourself, out of all the music available for a marching band, why would a director in a district that's had issues with pushing religion choose a hymn for a halftime performance?
to me, whether or not it was intentional, it looks like the district trying to skirt the rules... again.

 

[Capstone]

I still don't believe the district's decision to sit the band was a matter of necessary compliance with the Judge's order, but I understand the likely rationale behind it. $10,000 a pop is significant enough to give pause to any district administrator. The scope of the Judge's ruling probably needs to be clarified. Then, and only then, some of the faux outrage might actually be justified.

you have to ask yourself, out of all the music available for a marching band, why would a director in a district that's had issues with pushing religion choose a hymn for a halftime performance?
to me, whether or not it was intentional, it looks like the district trying to skirt the rules... again.

Your point is well taken, but if you think many HS marching bands' field shows are designed solely (or even primarily) for halftime at football games, you're way off base. These performances are generally designed to win trophies at a series of relatively local competitive band reviews.

Second but more importantly, I think explicitly banning (in the courts) any type of music from public school music programs is intrinsically problematic on a number of levels. Believe me, that's a legal can of worms nobody should want opened.

 

[Capstone]

Here's the Brandon HS marching band performing its 2014 show:



Looks like they have a pretty solid music dept. at that school.

 

[blackhawk]

Saddest part I suspect this shit will only get worse.

 

[Capstone]

Saddest part I suspect this shit will only get worse.

If, by "this shit", you mean the sort of legal action that finally curtailed the Christianity-based crap that had gone on unchallenged for far too long at schools in the Rankin County School District, then let's hope so!