Lawsuit claims illegal religious activities at Florence (Colo.) High School

[jayschool]

Source: Denver Post

A teacher in southern Colorado is suing his school district claiming the district's only high school "operates largely to promote the evangelical Christian ideals" of a local church that operates in the school.

Robert Basevitz's lawsuit against the Fremont Re-2 School District was filed Tuesday in federal court in Denver. School district officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Randy Pfaff, the pastor of The Cowboy Church at Crossroads, said he will not apologize for being in Florence High School.

"I don't believe the constitution was meant to keep God out of the schools. That's absolutely absurd," Pfaff told The Denver Post on Tuesday in a phone interview. "This nation was founded on Christianity."

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28192296/lawsuit-claims-illegal-religious-activities-at-florence-high?source=infinite

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Super duper.

[Archae]

1. "Reverend" Pfaff needs to find God or Jesus in the Consititution...

That's correct, there's no mention.

[The CCC]

9. "Reverend" Pfaff needs to find God or Jesus in the Consititution...

Actually it does "done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,... ." But that was a mere writing social convention of the time.

[Roy Rolling]

2. When will it stop?

I don't know, but here's a thought:

That praying around the flagpole thing every morning will stop when the Muslims start spreading out their prayer rugs on the front grass under the flagpole to pray three times a day.

And shouldn't a bit of turf be reserved for the snake handlers? They deserve space to practice their faith.

And maybe that space will be next to the Hare Krishnas chanting and dancing on the front lawn next to the flag pole. That's a 5,000 year old religious tradition.

I'm sure the pastor will give his full support because, after all, "I don't believe the constitution was meant to keep God out of the schools. That's absolutely absurd."

I beg to differ. I think the Constitution specifically FORBIDS competing gods in public assets, to avoid the type of spectacles as I mentioned above.

[YOHABLO]

3. What is that Church doing in a public school in the first place? That's just wrong wrong.

[Stryst]

17. While I don't know all the details about this

A lot of schools rent out their facilities after hours. Some schools have tried to avoid renting to religious groups, but after a number of lawsuits, they've pretty much been forced to. Past court decisions have generally supported the right of community religious groups to expect to be able to rent these rooms if they have previously been rented to secular groups. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 9 to 0 that discrimination solely directed against religious organizations by public schools is unconstitutional. A number of courts have ruled that public schools and libraires have only two choices: either to rent to both secular and religious community groups, or not rent rooms to any outside organizations. Libraries are often used too, since they often have meeting rooms that they rent or check out.

And since these facilities are usually WAY cheaper than actually acquiring a building (and they come with power, running water, and usually internet), some evangelical groups will do things like check out a meeting room at a library every Sunday (for free, or a very low cost), which allows their tax free tithes to be funneled to whatever (horribly regressive) social cause they want to support.

[Thespian2]

4. Randy Pfaff...

another con-man making his bucks from religious non-sense...obviously he has never read any history, or he would know that the founding fathers denied repeatedly that America was founded on "Christianity"...

[DFW]

5. or worse

Maybe he knows full well that the USA was not founded on Christianity, but acknowledging that won't make him rich.

[Thespian2]

16. Yep

you are probably right...I mean, so many "religious" snake oil salespeople...

[sulphurdunn]

6. Cowboy Church?

Can Indians attend? Well, God is already welcome in public schools before school, after school and on weekends. People are free to pray silently anytime they want. They can read the Bible or any other Holy book they choose when not doing academic work. The secular humanist types behind this public education thing just want some time during the middle of the day to teach things like math, science and the humanities. In high school they like to throw in some vocational electives as well if it doesn't offend the Lord and isn't too much trouble.

[Bartlet]

7. It's kinda sad

how many "christians" are so woefully uninformed about the constitution and why we don't allow people to force their chosen religion on others using public funds.

For those professing the "we were founded as a Christian nation" bloviation, perhaps they should take note of the glaring fact that there is not one word supporting religion on the Constitution. The only words in the constitution concerning religion are a specific and singular restriction on the Government from interfering with your practice of whatever religion you CHOOSE. Kinda funny that our constitution would be so bereft of christian religious drivel if were founded as a "christian" nation. But then this toad is a "pastor"so it's not like anyone expects him to have a fucking clue about history.

[eggplant]

8. I didn't have to read farther than "southern Colorado".

This is one of the ground-zero hotspots for loony evangelicals, conveniently located across the way from the Air Force Academy.

My only surprise is that the district hasn't (wrongly, of course) fired the guy yet.

[COLGATE4]

10. Not to worry - they'll find a pretext to 'git rid of

that god damned Jew'. Feel the Xian love.

[Botany]

11. Good God in Butter

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that and Article VI specifies that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." The modern concept of a wholly secular government is sometimes credited to the writings of English philosopher John Locke, but the phrase "separation of church and state" in this context is generally traced to a January 1, 1802 letter by Thomas Jefferson, addressed to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut, and published in a Massachusetts newspaper.

Echoing the language of the founder of the first Baptist church in America, Roger Williams—who had written in 1644 of "[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world"—Jefferson wrote, "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state_in_the_United_States

Why do we keep having to have this fight?

[cstanleytech]

15. Because their are morons who want to shove their religious beliefs down our throats and are imo

no better than any other religious extremist group.

[mountain grammy]

12. "A lot of Christians are losing their rights"

said a brainwashed student who had been designated a leader..

More teachers should be speaking out on this. Does the "cowboy preacher" have everyone brainwashed? Children of the corn maybe?

[BigDemVoter]

13. Yuck

I can imagine exactly what must be going on at that school. I bet they are putting pressure on kids to accept Jesus as their personal savior, all the while claiming to be "non-denominational."

In any case, "non-denominational" or not, they are way out of bounds. And Pastor Fuck Bucket needs to study his American history with particular attention on the constitution. Somebody really should ask that asshole to state just exactly how he came to the false conclusion that this country was founded on Christianity.

[Gregorian]

18. Yuck's the word.

You've turned an otherwise furious moment into one of laughter. Thank you. Mr. Fuck Bucket. Haha.

[cstanleytech]

14. Pfaff and anyone who tries the BS that the nation was founded "on" Christianity is imo a damn moron.