Earlier this month, I criticized New Berlin Eisenhower High School for caving into the demands of Americans United for Separation of Church and State to move its commencement exercises from Elmbrook Church, a large comfortable facility that accommodates over 3,000 people.
Ike wanted to avoid a lawsuit. Although the school granted the anti-religion organization a victory, it did avoid being sued.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State slapped the Elmbrook School District with a federal lawsuit yesterday.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A group that advocates for separation of church and state on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the Elmbrook School District from holding high school graduation ceremonies at Elmbrook Church.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State had warned the Elmbrook district in February that it likely would take legal action if the district did not move upcoming graduation ceremonies from the large Town of Brookfield church to a secular location.
Despite the court action, Elmbrook Superintendent Matt Gibson said Wednesday that the plan for now is to use the church for graduation ceremonies in June for Brookfield Central and Brookfield East unless the district's attorney advises differently.
Elmbrook last month told the Washington, D.C.-based group it would not move the graduation ceremonies to another location. In a response to the group, Gibson said the district believes it is complying with the law.
The district, in its response, asserted that its reasons for choosing the church were "purely secular" and included having a venue that is large enough to host all the graduates and their family members.
Gibson said he also told the group that this year would be the last year the Elmbrook district would use the church. The district has construction projects ongoing at Brookfield Central and East high schools this year.
...The suit was filed on behalf of an Elmbrook graduating senior, current and former district students and several parents in the district.
Five parents and four students are listed as plaintiffs in the suit under pseudonyms of Doe to protect them from "social ostracism, economic injury, governmental retaliation, and even physical harm," the suit says.
Many of them feel uncomfortable with having the ceremony in the church because "Elmbrook Church teaches that persons who do not subscribe to the church's Christian beliefs will suffer torment in hell for all eternity," the suit says.
I don't believe that the "Doe" students and parents experience genuine discomfort because of the Elmbrook Church venue for graduation.
I think they're anti-religion crusaders and they want to force their will on others.
Churches are used for public, non-religious activities all the time.
They are the sites of community meetings and political forums. Some are used as polling places.
Elmbrook Church is merely the facility where the ceremony is to take place. It's a building being used for graduation. No religious service would be forced on anyone attending.
This isn't about separation of church and state.
It's BS to suggest that merely seeing a cross or other Christian symbols is in violation of one's civil rights.
I'm a Christian, but if Elmbrook Church were a synagogue or a mosque, I wouldn't feel threatened if I were attending a graduation ceremony there.
I wouldn't be going to the place for a religious service. I would be going to see someone special in my life be recognized for his or her achievement.
In terms of comfort, Elmbrook Church is a climate-controlled environment.
Certainly, Elmbrook Church is a much more comfortable facility for elderly relatives or people with disabilities to attend.
The facility enables so many more people to witness the graduates being awarded for their achievements.
...The suit says the senior, listed as Doe 1 in the court records, has been left with the choice of "attending a graduation ceremony at a Christian house of worship . . . or missing Doe 1's own graduation."
"Public schools should schedule graduation ceremonies at public venues where families of all faiths or none will feel welcome," the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, stated in a news release about the lawsuit. "Graduation is too important to leave some families out."
No families are being left out of graduation.
Intolerance and stubbornness are driving this lawsuit.
This isn't really about families feeling unwelcome. It's just a whiny group's effort to make a lot of people uncomfortable and unhappy.
2 comments:
Elmbrook should be able to hold Graduation where ever they want, do we not live in a Democracy ? how can 14 % of our population tell us what to do. We have gone way to far with Political Correctness, which by the way was started in Germany in the 1920's look where it led them.
We tore down the wall once. Why are Obama and his voters trying to rebuild it?
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