Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) has paid for a full-page ad to run in the July 3 issue of the New York Times, protesting the Supreme Court’s decision that two companies could, on religious grounds, opt out of covering female employees’ contraception. A small screenshot of the ad is below; click on it to see the full pdf.
These ads are hugely expensive but visible; do consider joining or contributing to this worthy organization (you can do so here).
Last Tuesday, June 24, the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent its second letter to the Superintendent of the Lebanon (Missouri) R-III school district, asking them to respond to the FFRF’s previous letter about Principal Kevin Lowery’s prayer at the graduation ceremony at Lebanon High. (You can see Lowery’s prayer on YouTube here, which I now notice says “embedding disabled by request.” Now I wonder who made that request? No comments are allowed, either.)
The FFRF sent its first letter by snailmail and email on June 2, and I posted it. Delivered to the Superintendent and all the members of the Lebanon school board, it was completely ignored. Although Lowery issued a notapology for his prayer, he claimed that nobody forced him to. At the request of the FFRF I won’t reproduce the second letter, as they want to give the school board time to respond. You will see it soon.
This is a no-brainer for the Lebanon school board: if they don’t issue a written statement saying that public prayer at Lebanon High School won’t take place again (apparently Lowery did this all the time), they will be sued. I’ve already heard that the American Civil Liberties Union has some legal action in the works. And I’m pretty sure that the requirement for such a suit—a “complainant,” a student or parent willing to join a lawsuit—will be found. Given all this, and the cost of a losing suit for the Lebanon School District (for they will lose a lawsuit), they should accede to the FFRF’s reasonable request.
What we see here is a case of cognitive dissonance. The town of Lebanon is so soaked in Christianity, and the people so sure that they have the God-given (if not Constitutionally-given) right to pray in public, that they simply can’t look ahead and see the ruin that awaits them. That’s why they’re simply not responding. But if they think the ACLU or the FFRF will give up, they’re mistaken.
Meanwhile, at the American Family News Network’s site, One News Now (this is a Christian news organization), there’s a piece by Bob Kellogg, “You say I can’t pray? Well just watch me,” whose title tells it all. It gives a brief precis of what happened at Lebanon High and then adds only positive comments on the school prayer:
Travis Weber, director of the Center for Religious Liberty at Family Research Council, offers his assessment of the principal’s actions.
“He basically was pointing out the ridiculous state of the law in this area – really, the prohibitions on any expression of faith in the public square, including schools,” he says.
According to Weber, a letter of complaint to the superintendent about Lowery’s comments was riddled with typos and errors. “Then they can’t even accurately cite the Declaration of Independence,” he laments. “It’s kind of ironic when you have them claiming to rest upon accuracy in the law and they make an error like that.”
Christian News Network quotes several individuals who were appreciative of Lowery’s remarks, complimenting him on his boldness and his encouragement to students – through his example – to stand up for what they believe.
Riddled with typos and errors? I’m baffled. I just read the letter quickly (read for yourself here), and I can’t see anything erroneous, though combing through it carefully might reveal a few errors. But why does that matter? As for the Declaration of Independence being misquoted, the quote used comes from Lowery, not the FFRF. As for accurately quoting the law, the FFRF correctly pointed out previous cases in which courts prohibited prayer at school-sponsored public events, including graduations. Weber is simply avoiding the issue, and makes himself look silly in the process. But of course he’s a Christian and has to dissimulate about such things.
Here’s a sample of the 39 comments; surprisingly, there are some favoring the FFRF’s stand against religious intrusion into public schools. The third one is a hoot:
Muslim indoctrination? What’s that about? I’m pretty sure that doesn’t occur in Lebanon.
And yay for this guy!
Of course he was deluged with criticisms, including all those legal-savvy Lebanon residents who just know that Lowery’s act was legal.
Someone even claimed that Lowery didn’t go far enough—he was a wimp to utter a silent prayer!:
But another person stood up for the Constitution, too:
The dogpile inevitably ensued:
Rosa Parks? How dare these people equate their public-school prayers with civil rights? And Parks, committing an act of civil disobedience, took the penalty for her actions. Will the people of Lebanon take theirs?
I’ll close with a typical sentiment from the area:
This is a new bit of apologetics to me: The Argument from Supper.
Reader Aelfric, an attorney, called my attention to a new U.S. Supreme Court decision that, surprisingly (given the court’s composition), upholds the separation of church and state. I’ll simply reproduce, with permission, the email he sent me. Granted, it’s only one case, and I’m always worried about the Court’s commitment to the First Amendment, but it’s good news nonetheless:
I wanted to write you because First Amendment establishment issues seem to be very much on your mind lately (with good reason) and especially with regard to public school graduations. That being the case, I wanted to note a bit of good news that happened this morning but is likely to fly under the radar, so to speak.
The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in Elmbrook School District v. Doe, meaning the decision by Chicago’s own Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals remains intact. This is a very good thing.
The underlying facts are easy enough: a suburban Milwaukee school district chose not to have its graduation in the gym, as was the custom, but rather to hold the ceremony in a local non-denominational church. For obvious reasons, some people had a problem with this. The local district court held that doing so was not unconstitutional; though I confess I have not read the district court opinion, it apparently relied on the fact that no prayer or other religious activity was coerced. The church was just a structure.
Thankfully, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed this decision, noting that if a school can’t create a pervasively religious environment, neither can it lease one for school functions. The decision is available here. The court even noted, somewhat unusually, that secular belief systems can offer the same benefits as religions (after the usual platitudes about religion, of course).
I occasionally post on your website as Aelfric, and if you’ve ever noticed such comments, you may know that, as an attorney I am very pessimistic about our court system, especially in this particular arena. As such, I had mentally noted this case when certiorari was filed, and had a nasty feeling it would be a 5-4 decision overturning the Seventh Circuit. To my surprise and delight, the Supreme Court this morning denied certiorari, meaning the case won’t be heard and the decision below stands.
I highly recommend reading Scalia’s dissent from denial (joined by Thomas, because of course) which can be found in today’s orders (it is the very last section of that document). It’s yet another telling look into Scalia’s mindset, in which he likens offense taken at religious imagery in a church to his own dislike of rock music and Stravinsky (and I kind of like Le Sacre du Printemps!). Anyway, I will take up no more of your time, I just felt the need to convey this minor victory to someone, and you seemed apropos.
Scalia and Thomas, then, didn’t have any problem with holding graduation in a church, but were overruled by their colleagues. Just for grins, here’s that part of Scalia’s dissent. (The court’s decision is just the first line.)
UPDATE: Reader Pliny the in Between has made this cartoon for his site Pictoral Theology:
As far as I know, ever since the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) wrote to the Lebanon, Missouri school superintendent and school board, objecting to Lebanon High School principal Kenneth Lowery’s prayer to God at graduation, there has been no response. None, that is, except for Lowery’s two apologies, which weren’t really apologies because he said he was sorry “if he’d offended anyone.” He further said that nobody had leaned on him to produce his apologies, and since he’s a Christian and wouldn’t lie, I’ll believe him.
But by failing to give a formal response—one promising that it would stop religious proselytizing in its schools—the Lebanon School Board and its superintendent are putting their schools in danger. If they think that Lowery’s notapology was sufficient, they’re wrong. Christians they may be, and insistent on their right to pray in schools, but they’re ignoring the ultimate currency of American society: currency itself. For by ignoring the perfectly valid complaints of the FFRF, the Lebanon R3 School District is bringing itself closer to a lawsuit, one that it stands a good chance of losing. And if it loses, it will have to pay court costs, which can be substantial. When the school district of Dover, Pennsylvania ignored warnings about teaching creationism, and went to their famous trial, their defeat set back the school district over one million dollars.
Why don’t the people of Lebanon realize this? By insisting on their right to pray in public schools, a “right” that has been repeatedly overturned by the courts, they could bankrupt a school district that can’t be very wealthy to begin with. Yet most of those on the school board appear to be bankers and businessmen! Their fealty to God is distorting their thinking.
At any rate, things have gotten even closer to Lebanon. As The Friendly Atheist (Hemant Mehta) reported yesterday, another public school in Missouri, Fayette High School, was sued because one of its teachers, Gwen Pope, made announcements about Christian prayers over the school’s loudspeaker every Friday morning, apparently touting the Christian school club that she sponsored. (These announcements weren’t allowed for other clubs.)
It went further than that. As Hemant reports:
Pope’s husband Michael (who didn’t work at the school) would attend the meetings. Pope was quoted as telling her math students that “God will punish them if they are not good.” She had Christian books on her desk. She put up color flyers on her door for the meetings (another privilege no other student group at the school had). And the school allowed all of this to happen.
The American Humanist Association (AHA) brought suit with the help of a brave young lad, junior Gavin Hunt. The school decided to settle without admitting guilt, but that still involved prohibiting announcements of religious activity over the public address system, forbidding school employees from participating in religious activities (I’m not sure what this means), and banning teachers from placing religious articles in public view.
Oh, and the Fayette School district had to fork over $41,000 in legal fees to the AHA. If there had been a trial, it would have been much more expensive!
So the lesson to Lebanon is clear: settle now, before you bankrupt your schools. The solution is easy: just follow the law and promise to stop proselytizing and praying at school events.
The lesson for Gavin Hunt was even harder. Mehta wrote to him asking how he felt about it all, and Hunt responded:
I’m no longer attending the school as a result of the harassment and I’m positive this [new] school will provide a more appropriate environment. I cannot adequately express the importance of keeping religion out of schools. I will continue advocating for a secular government and the advancement of humanity in any way that I possibly can.
Another Jessica Ahlquist! How I do admire these students who stand up for principle, knowing what it will cost them.
But I want this to be a lesson for the students of Lebanon, too. Realize that if you are brave enough to take on the school about the issue of prayer, your road may not be easy. Only you can determine where you’re comfortable making a stand.
It wouldn’t be fair to interact with these students and not let them know the consequences of asking for their First Amendment rights in a religious community. Like honey badgers, when Christians are riled it’s not a pretty sight.
UPDATE: I’m adding one comment I found on Facebook’s “Standing strong with Kevin Lowery” page:
It’s unbelievable: these people feel uncomfortable UNLESS God is mentioned constantly—and, in this case, illegally. Sometimes I feel I’m living on a different planet from these people.
*****
Here are a couple of comments from the Fox News story on Lebanon, Missouri’s praying-principal issue, “Missouri principal wows crowd, angers atheists with guarded ‘God’ references“.
I love the last comment, with “god” in lower case. But there’s a reason why people like Davidd1975 are sometimes called “the Christian Taliban.” Imagine if they ran the country! Could we still drink and dance?
Refreshingly, though, there’s a lot of pro-secularism comments on that thread, which surprised me.
In the meantime, a few more students and residents of Lebanon have overcome their fears and written to me in support of the First Amendment and against the relentless proselytizing of Lebanon High School, its principal, and its supporters. I hope to publish the thoughts of these dissenters later today. But in the meantime, what started as a simple criticism of a legal violation has become, for me, a fascinating glimpse into a part of American society that is widespread, but one that I don’t often hear from. Fascinating, but scary.
Katie Hilton is a columnist for the Lebanon [Missouri] Daily Record. In her latest op-ed, “Hats off for Lowery!“, she espouses every sentiment that shows the problems of that intolerant, faith-soaked town. I’ll reproduce her column in full, interspersed with my own comments in bold.
A tip of the mortarboard to Lebanon High School Principal Kevin Lowery. His introductory speech at commencement included a moment of silence, for which he has been forced to apologize.
Nope, he was forced to apologize not for having a moment of silence, which is legal, but for what Hilton describes next, which is illegal. Oh, and FYI, where do you get the idea that Lowery was “forced to apologize.” The only statement he’s made about his “apology,” such as it is, notes that he apologized of his own free will. Do you have other sources for your information?
Lowery told the audience that he used his moment to pray for the students, thanked God for them, their parents, teachers and the community, and asked God to protect them in the future. A University of Chicago professor who saw part of the remarks on YouTube declared Lowery’s talk was “clearly a violation of the First Amendment.”
Nonsense. You can view the supposedly objectionable portion of Lowery’s remarks here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctwrBqcBcgM.
It’s not nonsense; it’s settled case law. If you doubt that, read the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s letter of complaint to the Lebanon School Superintendent and School Board.
Dr. Jerry A. Coyne, an evolutionary biologist trained at Harvard, has a blog called “Why Evolution Is True,” also the title of his most recent book. He posted his first rant against Lowery May 31, along with a letter to Dr. Duane Widhalm and the school board.
“Lowery’s behavior during that graduation ceremony is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment, and of court decisions that prayer in public schools by officials of those schools is illegal,” Coyne claimed. “Apparently, by making a public display of his faith, Mr. Lowery wished to voice his disdain for those rulings, and for our Constitution.”
I think Dr. Coyne should stick to monkeys and their uncles. You can judge for yourself.
Here we see the first hint that perhaps Ms. Hilton isn’t down with modern evolutionary science. “Monkeys and their uncles”? Really? This makes me wonder whether Lebanon High School even teaches evolution, or whether they sneak in intelligent design or other forms of creationism. Perhaps one of the several LHS students who reads this site can tell us.
The First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Lowery clearly isn’t Congress, nor did he establish any religion at commencement. He did exercise his right to pray during the moment of silence that he requested, and he did exercise his right to free speech when he shared what he had chosen to pray.
This is breathtaking inanity. Lowery doesn’t have to be “Congress” to violate the Constitution! All he has to do is be a government official who tries to promulgate religion in the organs of government. He is and he did. The courts have clearly established that “free speech” does not include an official’s right to pray to a captive high-school audience at official events—like graduation. This has been decided by the courts over and over again. When I read stuff so blatantly ignorant and self-serving, I wonder whether Ms. Hilton really understands the issues, or that she does but is just ignoring them. Like a good theologian interpreting the Bible, she picks and chooses from the Constitution what she wants to see. Unfortunately for Hilton, the courts consistently disagree with her interpretation. Her take on the Constitution is like a garden-variety Catholic telling people what official Church dogma is, despite the Vatican saying otherwise.
Coyne was satirized in February as “censor of the year” by the Discovery Institute. According to the institute’s website, Coyne and the Freedom From Religion Foundation caused Ball State University to ban teaching the scientific theory of intelligent design. ID is a theory that contradicts Coyne’s Darwinism.
“The scientific theory” of intelligent design? Here again we see hints that Ms. Hilton rejects evolution as it’s accepted by scientists (not just “Coyne”). If the people of Lebanon want to parade their ignorance of evolution as visibly as they parade their ignorance of Constitutional law, by all means let them, for they only make themselves look like ignoramuses.
*****
Truly, the Lebanon Daily Record should be embarrassed to have someone with this degree of acumen as a columnist, but sentiments like these are what we’ve come to expect from the Lowery-boosters. In effect, they are encouraging violations of the law, and I suspect they know it. And they haven’t learned to think for themselves, for they simply fall in line with the sentiments of the religious and of the small-town boosters so ably depicted by Sinclair Lewis in Main Street.
There is only one comment after Hilton’s article, and it opposes her. I’ve just added another (I don’t know if it will be approved) using the eloquent words of Christopher Hitchens as reproduced by reader Harry in yesterday’s comments. My own comment is addressed to the young folk of Lebanon, as was Harry’s.
If you’d like to weigh in on Hilton’s editorial, you can go here to do it. If you do comment, please be polite! We don’t want to act like the citizens of Lebanon.
Also, as reader Barry notes below:
By the way, if you click on “Home” after reading the dreadful article, there is a poll about this issue with two options. It looks like the goddies are dominating right now.
The poll is at the bottom right of the “home” page (you have to go to the article first and then, as Barry says, click “home”). Here are the results when I voted:
I’m not sure that the citizens of Lebanon, Missouri realize that they’ve got a Constitution problem on their hands. Not only are they vociferously defending principal Lowery’s prayer to God at the Lebanon High School graduation, but they’ve started a Facebook page in his defense.
Now it’s fine for a community to support its beloved principal, but it’s not all right—with me, at least—to both openly praise his violation of the law, and do so defiantly. And, in the process, they continue to document that Lowery’s graduation speech was not a one-off thing, but part of a pattern of long-term religious proselytizing in that school. In so doing, they’re just providing potential ammunition for a lawsuit.
But take a look first at the “Standing strong with Kevin Lowery” Facebook page. Here’s the banner, complete with crosses and a sentence from Lowery’s graduation prayer (after his “moment of silence,” he proceeded to tell the students that he used his moment to pray to God).
The latest picture from the page:
And some new comments, selected pretty much at random. The first one’s a doozy:
They aren’t allowed to be openly Christian? Of course they are! They just can’t foist their beliefs on a captive audience while acting as an agent of the government. Somehow the distinction escapes them. . .
But wait! There’s more!:
Uh oh. . . look here:
Do these people realize what they’re doing? Are they too thick to see that they’re documenting an illegal pattern of behavior? Or don’t they care?
From another public Facebook page, “Lebanon underground breaking news”, sent by a resident who omitted last names. People are furious at the school board for supposedly making Lowery apologize, although he said he apologized on his own:
“Sad day for Lebanon I for one think this community would have stood behind our school and our principle. Just another case of caving …it’s no wonder we as Christians have no voice. As soon as pressure is put on we deny our God and our Freedoms. I already sent an email to R3 letting them know how I felt I encourage you to do the same. Matthew 10: 33”
-Stephanie“An APOLOGY?! SCREW THAT! I understand their reasoning I guess, but in no way will i EVER apologize for my faith! What a bunch of petty ridiculousness this is!”
-Jeff“So sad that we live in such a “politically correct” world that we would feel it necessary to publicly apologize for the mention of God in our schools. And we wonder why the world is the way it is……………….”
-Chriss“I was there as well & in no way should anyone be offended by what he said. Shame on R3 for not backing him up.”
-Barbara“Shame on the administration and whoever else made this decision”
-Doug“Wow….shame on you R3. Everyone can have a religious opinion except a Christian is that it??!”
-Carol“The school board must be against God then”
-Mike“Shame on the district for not standing behind him.
He didn’t force anyone else to pray or thank GOD.
So sick and tired of people getting up tight when GOD is mentioned.”
-Jessica“I knew a bunch of losers ran the Lebanon school district–I feel sorry for these people that are complaining when they have to stand before GOD when they leave this earth.”
-Jason
“Whoever on the R3 board that decided for this apology?? I would like OFF THE school board. I support the schools by paying taxes every year, I have two kids in school myself… And this speech was making a community proud of its schools. I am tired of Christians being discriminated upon, having no voice and expected to adhere to everyone else’s nasty and immoral ways so we don’t discriminate on them.
So whoever made this decision…. You’re not needed in this community on the school board… You’re hypocritical and unnecessary for our children’s needs”
-Ron
“Unreal… The R3 district should be ashamed of themselves for even considering an apology… They need to apologize to the community for the lack of services offered to our children, and the way they treat their staff…. NOT apologize for a staff memeber that was in his right to speak on behalf of himself, the graduating students and families. Someone needs to start a petition for a complete NEW SCHOOL BOARD in this town. I will be the first to sign. We can’t complain unless we are willing to make a stand!!!”
-Jennifer
I should add that there are one or two voices of sanity on that page, but they’re quickly overwhelmed by the goddies.
Finally, Principal Lowery has his own publicly-accessible Facebook page, and here’s the banner:
And a picture shared by the principal:
With comments:
I thought the following comments came from Lowery’s own Facebook page (I don’t have a record of where I got the screenshot), but they could be from one of the other two pages. (I believe Lowery has either removed comments from his page since yesterday or made them private, but I may be wrong). At any rate, they document both the community religiosity as well as the pattern of religiosity in the school. None of these came from “friends” of Lowery who have access to private comments, as I don’t post such things.
Notice the first comment:
It appears that these folks are so blinded by their affection for Mr. Lowery, or by their faith, that they’re shoveling coal into the boiler of The One-Way Train to Lawsuitville. But the damage is already done. There have been many comments and emails noting that Lowery repeatedly prayed not just at graduations, but at school assemblies. Any decent lawyer could document a pattern of illegal and unconstitutional behavior.
Unfortunately, Champion Jesus can’t save Lebanon from the law.