Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I was so moved by the bill proposed in Florida yesterday that I had to take time to write a letter to my Representative! Here's the article that I saw:


Florida bill would allow majority to promote their religion in public schools

Bills were introduced into the Florida House and Senate today that would allow students to vote on whether or not they want to hear a prayer and which student they want to hear it from.

In the Senate, Stephen R. Wise, a Republican Baptist, proposed SB-1580 which states:

"District school boards are authorized, but not required, to permit the delivery of an inspirational message, including a prayer or an invocation, at a noncompulsory high school activity, including a student assembly, a sports event, or other school-related activity, if a majority of the participating students request the delivery of an inspirational message and select a student representative to deliver the message."

The companion bill in the Florida House is H-0031 and was introduced by Republican and Baptist Brad Drake and is cosponsored by his fellow Republican Baptist, Greg Evers.

The bills were referred to committees. In the Senate, to the Education PreK-12 and Judiciary committees, and in the House to "PreK-12 Policy (EPC); Civil Justice & Courts Policy (CCJP); Policy Council; and Education Policy
Council"

Both bills claim as their purpose to "solemnize and memorialize" such events. Strangely, all three sponsors of these bills are Baptists. And yet, it is clear that the purpose of this bill is intentionally false. The true purpose is to allow Christian students to promote their religious views to captive audiences of their peers, who must submit if they want to participate in what should be a fun and inclusive school function.


WOW! And here is the email I sent to the Representative:


Dear Honorable Speaker Larry Cretul,
I am very much opposed to the bill SB-1580 which would allow the saying of a prayer in school. This is in direct violation of the constitutional rights of people of different faiths. I myself am an Atheist, and support the right of anyone to have any religion they may like, however, to call a vote in a classroom for a prayer, and having the vote come to favor a majority is discrimination against those students who are not of the religious majority in that class and who also, like myself, might be atheists. As you well know, separation of church and state is something that defines our constitution, and forbids the government from favoring one religion over another. To have any form of prayer in public schools which is funded by taxpayer money from many different people of different religious backgrounds is a violation of their Constitutional rights. The government cannot be either for nor against any religion. The duty of teachers is to educate our youth, and not to infringe on or promote any religious practices they might have. I thank you for your time, and I very much hope that you will not vote to pass this anti-American bill, as this would be dirt in the face of our Founding Fathers who sought to put an end to such practices. Thank you once again.
Sincerely,
Christopher Wester

So as you can see I am offended that this is even a bill being proposed! What do you think? Let me know! And if you're a Floridian, please do the same! Comment!

Edit: Sorry, left out the links and the places to find your representatives and senators!

Original Article: Here
Representatives: Here
Senators: Here

Please write them!

4 comments:

  1. I wanna copy/paste your letter but add in parts about being a mom.

    Where do i send it?? (links/emails please!)

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  2. Larry.Cretul@myfloridahouse.gov is the email address you can look up senators and representatives here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Welcome/index.cfm?CFID=189550098&CFTOKEN=64579688 and here http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/
    respectively, and here is a link to the article: http://www.examiner.com/x-40162-Orlando-Atheism-Examiner~y2010m3d2-Florida-bill-would-allow-majority-to-promote-their-religion-in-public-schools

    ReplyDelete
  3. Don't just send it to Cretul, send to the ranking minority members and people who are running. Also, which committees is the bill coming up in? Email the same thing to the members on their committees. There are so many wonderful Florida, Democratic, legislators, they're just getting smothers out.

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  4. Yeah I noticed it's very very complicated!! I'll ask you next time something comes up, I'm sure it will!

    ReplyDelete