Remember the Teen Atheist Who Battled for the Removal of Her School’s Prayer Mural? UPDATE

[trotsky]

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/23/remember-the-teen-atheist-who-battled-for-the-removal-of-her-schools-prayer-mural-heres-the-secular-replacement/

Remember Jessica Ahlquist, the teen atheist who successfully fought for the removal of a prayer mural that was once hung in her high school in Cranston, R.I.? A judge eventually ruled in the student’s favor, mandating that the sign be taken down, as it was dubbed a violation of the separation of church and state.

Now, a new replacement mural has been dedicated and hung in the school. And in case you were wondering, it contains no mentions of God or prayer.

On Saturday, the new sign was presented to Cranston High School West by the Class of 1963, which was, ironically, the same group that gave the original mural to the school decades ago. The new sign was unveiled during a closed-door, invitation-only event.

Great news, everyone. This Christian community is now "healed":

As for the new banner, the Class of 1963 said that it was given in an attempt to move on from the contentious national controversy. Member Janice Bertino reiterated this motivation, telling the Journal, “The community is healed. There is no more controversy.”

As long as we overlook the fact that Ms. Alquist herself wasn't invited to the closed-door, invitation-only event.

[LostOne4Ever]

1. If they were really interested in healing

Inviting her would have been a big step.

[trotsky]

2. I completely agree.

But then again, she received death threats from folks who consider themselves to be fine, upstanding Christians as well.

[LostOne4Ever]

3. Probably the same Christians

Replying in the comments section calling her pondscum too. I need to learn to stop reading comment sections. Teh stupid, it burns.

Is it just me or do you think its rather telling that these people are so insecure in their beliefs that they insist on the government acknowledging their god and using threats and violence against anyone who may say differently?

[skepticscott]

16. You need to stop focussing on

all of those extremists, and cuddle up to the "real" Christians instead (whoever the fuck they are).

[cbayer]

9. They did the right thing by replacing it with something secular.

Jessica Ahquist showed great bravery in what she did and the outcome is positive, but it was a very difficult ride for her, the school and the community. She fought for the old banner to be removed, but had nothing to do with a new one being installed.

The class that presented and dedicated the original banner is the same class that provided the replacement. They took the removal of the original banner very personally. They wanted this to be the end of the controversy.

They were under no obligation to invite her nor should she have whined about not being invited. If they felt it would lead to more controversy, they probably made the right decision.

I would advocate for celebrating the good outcome here and not get into the pettiness of who was and was not invited to the installation.

[trotsky]

11. Pettiness?

That's how you are going to choose to dismiss this?

I fully understand you won't respond to this, but it's a slap in the face to Ms. Ahlquist that she wasn't invited. What a "Christian" thing it would have been to include her - but they didn't. They could have helped show all those fine Christians who attacked her what "real" Christians do.

I don't think it's "petty" to acknowledge this fact. But I guess for you, avoiding "controversy" is a good reason to avoid doing the right thing.

[LostOne4Ever]

12. They had every right not to invite her

I do not disagree there.

However they said the “The community is healed. There is no more controversy.”

Ms. Ahquist not only was a part of the controversy, she is a part of the school community. You can't say the community is healed, and refer to the controversy, and not have even attempted to reconcile with the other hurt party.

This signals to me that the community is still hurting and the sore is anything but healed. I am all for celebrating the good outcome, but I still see issues boiling under the surface that may erupt onto the surface if they are not addressed.

The community will never be healed until the parties reconcile.

[cbayer]

14. And she too could have helped heal the controversy by tweeting a thank you

or some recognition that they have done the right thing.

I guess I expect more from her.

Of course the community is still hurting. This was a painful event for all. And since it was a triumph for secularism, I would say that she should take the higher road and initiate the reconciliation, not whine about not being invited.

[LostOne4Ever]

15. You will get no disagreement with me on that :)

Both sides have some maturing to do.

It would be great to see her be the one to try and and make up. However, 18 years old is still very young, and I have a lot of hope for her.

[cbayer]

18. She's tough as nails and she won this, much to her credit.

And she never crumbled despite the hatred thrown her way.

But she should have had no reasonable expectation of them thanking her for it.

[trotsky]

22. "Thanking her for it"?

WTF did that come from?

How about just inviting her to the ceremony to show how much they value her perspective?

I am just flabbergasted at your reaction to this. Blaming the victim - how nice.

[Mariana]

33. They don't value her perspective. nt.

[skepticscott]

34. Sheesh, in another post, you accuse her of "whining"

And now you say "She's tough as nails"? Is there any consideration, any factual basis to your posts at all, or do you just spit out whatever you think other people want to hear or will make you feel best at any single moment?

[trotsky]

17. Wow, to end up blaming the victim here is really pathetic.

How horrible of Ms. Ahlquist to insist on following the Constitution! She should really be more apologetic, huh? She even gave the school the chance to remove the banner without any incident - but THEY chose to fight her.

I just don't understand you, cbayer. Read her twitter feed sometime, and then tell me again how SHE needs to be the one to be contrite. Utterly ridiculous.

[LostOne4Ever]

21. I am almost tempted to get a twitter account

Just to reply to some of those idiots.

[trotsky]

23. I don't think Ms. Ahlquist has much maturing to do at all.

The people who are attacking her, and excluding her, clearly have a lot farther to go.

[LostOne4Ever]

24. You are right

The class of 63 should be around 50 years old, yet they are acting like a bunch of 2 year olds. I take that back, 2 year olds are a lot better behaved than they are behaving.

Now that I really think about it, she did nothing immature. She has a right to comment on it, and all she did was note that she was not invited. I think I got a bit caught up in my tendency to be evenhanded, when its not really called for in this situation.

Sorry.

I guess in my mind I was thinking that if she were to reach out to them during all this, that would be the icing on the cake. Not only would she have won politically, but showed that she, a high schooler, is a better person than them in EVERY way. A final nail in their coffin so to speak.

Not that she would have to do anything after all they have done (and continue to do) to her. She could ignore them for the rest of her life and she would still be better than they are.

[cbayer]

25. The class of 63 are actually probably in their late 60's and I don't think you can in

any way assume that they are responsible for these tweets.

They had a small, private dedication and did not even invite any press. They put the original up at a time when the separation issues were treated differently. I doubt they ever thought they were doing anything that might be offensive.

But it was offensive and violated the law, a fact that became apparent close to 50 years later, thanks to Ms. Ahquist.

When I look at the tweets, many of which are reprehensible, it appears that her statement about not being invited is probably tongue in cheek. She notes that she was acknowledged when she won her case and does not expect this group to thank her for that.

I agree that she has taken the high road and has been victimized by some really hateful people. She's rightfully held as a hero in many circles, but I don't think that anyone who has lost a lawsuit of this type would be expected to invite the plaintiff to their ceremony to replace what has been removed.

[LostOne4Ever]

31. Yeah they would be around 68 wouldn't they?

Its been 50 years SINCE they graduated.

Also, again I made an idiotic statement (not my day today ). It is wrong to generalize the class. Some may have even supported her. Thanks for correcting me.

ONE LAST TRY:

The people who harassed and bullied her acted worse than two year olds.

No, I would not expect the defendants to invite a plaintiff, but I am standing by my statement about healing. If this was about healing she should have been invited.

[cbayer]

32. Nothing at all idiotic about it.

It's a difficult situation and I hope for all concerned that healing takes place.

I had to look up the little emoticon that she used in her tweet. It means "broken hearted". That's pretty clearly sarcastic, imo, and her further tweets would support that.

Anyway, you make a good point. Had she been invited, it could have been a possible olive branch, but they chose to make it a private, non-politicized event and I can't blame them for that.

We don't know the whole story, but she may, in fact, be relieved that she was not placed in the awkward position of having to decide whether to attend or not.

[skepticscott]

19. How typical of you

to blame the person who was in the right all along, the person who was vilified and whose life was threatened. And to pretend that this was absolutely, utterly, equally painful for everyone involved (it's just no good if everything isn't equal, is it?).

Only a very naive person could believe that these people who superficially "did the right thing" still don't hate and resent her, and wouldn't put things back the way they were in a heartbeat if they thought they could get away with it.

[trotsky]

30. Only one thing explains this behavior. Doesn't excuse it, but explains it.

Some people insist that reality must match the narrative they've crafted for themselves. If one's narrative includes the belief that the vast majority of believers are kind, tolerant, enlightened, liberal folk, one must necessarily engage in some pretty outrageous rationalizing in order to dismiss all the evidence to the contrary.

One might even further attack and belittle a brave woman, who as a child, stood up for the right thing.

It's sad and disappointing to see this.

[trotsky]

28. You know, the rest of what you said was just so offensive I didn't even notice this part:

"she should ... not whine about not being invited."

Did you read her tweet?

Cranston West put in new (secular) murals and had an invite-only unveiling and I wasn't invited </3 http://t.co/Z7Ski8LilW

That's what you call whining?

It is just sickening that you would join the chorus of bigots, cowards, and hypocrites to JUDGE and BASH Jessica Ahlquist, cbayer. Hasn't she suffered enough? She's received death threats, for crying out loud. Why are you insisting on heaping on more abuse?

[rurallib]

4. wow - is this Glenn Beck's website? I have heard of the Blaze cable channel

If so the story is not as biased as I would expect.

[LostOne4Ever]

5. And that explains the idiocy in the comments section

Thank you!

[rurallib]

7. holy(?) cow - hadn't read that far - thanks

jesus - they put freepers to shame.
love the one that said that if they wanted diversity they should have left the prayer up - wonder what they would say if their prayer was joined by a muslim prayer and a shinto prayer and a hindi and a buddhist and one from each of the world's however many thousands.

[trotsky]

6. Eww

I had no idea.

Here are some other links:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/prayer-banner-quietly-replaced-with-secular-mural-at-ri-high-school-2-years-after-teen-atheist-won-lawsuit-105176/
http://www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20130921-cranston-high-school-wests-new-mural-means-no-more-controversy.ece

It's good to see the new, more inclusive banner. But I still wouldn't say that community is truly "healed" until Ms. Ahlquist is embraced and accepted as a member of it.

[LostOne4Ever]

13. Exactly (nt)

[Goblinmonger]

8. Though it's hard to pick just one.

I think this comment is my "favorite."

Godless reprobates. A Christian should file a complaint that their new banner offends him and see how far that goes.

[Downwinder]

10. Steal from Arizona high school

(W)e are (T)he (F)alcons

[rug]

20. Groundbreaking news from Glen Beck.

[cbayer]

27. There are other sources available, but this one is particularly inflammatory

and is the only one that includes the rather innocuous tweet about not being invited (which I have now decided was most likely tongue in cheek).

[pa28]

26. The comments are a scream.

I've always wondered what a "godless reprobate" looked like and now I know!

[immoderate]

29. Oh, the passive-aggressive 'Class of '63?' I wonder how many took part.

Not inviting Jessica was important. But I think being on the wall is by far the main thing.

--imm

[dimbear]

35. The city is looking at 200 grand in legal fees to defend this bit of bigotry. The bright side of

that is that the economy must be looking up, otherwise that would seem extravagant.