Friday, February 04, 2011

Separation of Church and State?

Or just another school principal's being an idiot? It took a lawsuit to get the school to see straight:

A California elementary school is changing course after being sued for barring a fifth grader from performing to a Christian song in the school's February 4 talent show...

The lawsuit claims that after the boy's January 14 audition the school's principal, Jerilyn Shubert, told his mother the song was "offensive" and a violation of the "separation of church and state" and asked why he couldn't "pick a song that does not say Jesus so many times?"

Los Angeles Unified School District now says the district, the PTA and the boy's legal representation were (sic) have come to an agreement.
Ridiculous that it took this much effort for a kid to perform in a talent show.

1 comment:

maxutils said...

Yeah, BUT. Totally correct decision, AND the principal is an idiot. Let the kid sing. BUT, I think it more likely than not that said song was chosen specifically to trumpet the parent's faith, with little regard to the child's wants. Maybe not, but this reeks of religious stage mom-ing to me. Were I the principal, I would have sat down with the child, and mom or dad if they wanted, and explained that while it's great that they have a religion that they feel so strongly about, and that he was more than welcome to sing the song, that there would be people of other faiths in the audience who might well not be as appreciative. I would then suggest that he might consider an alternative. Then, I'd let it drop. School really is an inappropriate venue for a hymn, even if he can do it. Much like the ground zero mosque -- you CAN build it there, but should you?