Proselytizing in the Hart School System

[XLFD]

You may have heard about the Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists (MACRA) take a stand against the Dewey Hill Cross in Grand Haven with a letter asking to place other more secular objects on the publicly-owned hill, such as displays promoting marriage equality and abortion rights.  In this case, the City of Grand Haven, at the beginning of this year, decide to replace the cross with a ship's anchor to signify the heritage of the US Coast Guard in Grand Haven.  A lawsuit has been filed by a group of Grand Haven citizens to restore the cross to the hill.

And at the end of last year, MACRA urged the removal of a placard at Hager Park in Jenison that quoted a verse from the scriptures, a sign that has stood in the park for 50 years without issue, until it was removed under such pressure in December during the Christmas season:

Since then, the Ottawa County Commissioners have reversed the removal, though they have mollified the objections somewhat by having an additional disclaimer sign.

But this ambitious group is not through with their campaign across western Michigan.  They recently got wind of a substitute teacher working for the Hart Public Schools handing out materials to students with a decidedly religious undertone, the worst being depicted below:

MACRA has accused the teacher of proselytizing students by handing out Christian tracts and routinely discussing the Bible and God.  Holly Huber, one of MACRA's aggressive leaders in the area has pointed out: 

"Hart Public Schools has a policy regarding religious expression which includes: “Official Neutrality Regarding Religious Activity: Teachers and school administrators, when acting in those capacities, are representatives of the State and are prohibited by the establishment clause from soliciting or encouraging religious activity and from participating in such activity with students. Teachers and administrators also are prohibited from discouraging activity because of its religious content and from soliciting or encouraging anti-religious activity."

Strange that this group has not came out so strongly against the teaching of Islamic tenets in our public schools, or the public indoctrination of their own secular progressive dogma they wanted put up on Dewey Hill. 

It is not clear whether the Hart substitute teacher did anything wrong other than likely going against what the regular teacher had as a lesson plan.  And whereas the handout seems to be from a Sunday School lesson more akin to scrutiny in church, it may have been presented to enforce values or principles consistent with morality.  Or maybe even as something to promote discussion between kids of whether they agree or disagree with the message in the handout. 

Whatever may be the case, due to the controversy, the school system is likely to cave in to the pressure and dish out some sort of punishment to the substitute even if it is only not to employ them in the future.  You must ask yourself:  Who is doing the proselytizing here, MACRA or this teacher?

[Willy]

Will this be next: I can just see the upheaval that will be caused if the PM memorial cross becomes a target for banishment.

I am a firm believer in keeping Religion separate from any Government entity not because I disagree with what it represents but because I don't want the introduction of Islam or any other radical religious beliefs to infiltrate our Governmental systems. There have been to many conflicts over Religious beliefs. Even among Christians there is a myriad of different philosophies. Protestants and Catholics have been feuding for years. The Sunni and Shi'ite  Muslims have also been in conflict with each other. There is no one way on Earth that people unite when it comes to Religion and for the sake of peace, Government should remain neutral on Religion. Whenever I have discussions regarding the prohibition of Government sponsoring Religious practices or promoting Religious beliefs I always ask others if they want Radical Islamic teachings in our schools or Sharia Law practiced in our Courts because if we open up our legal system and halls of Government to Religion that is exactly what we will get. I don't agree with taking down establish monuments but if it means that radical  Islam will  be kept at bay then I can see no other way but to practice neutrality in separating Government from all Religions.

[XLFD]

Unfortunately, there is an ill-defined line between what constitutes encroachment of government by a religion.  Is the cross on Dewey Hill or even the Pere Marquette Memorial on the Buttersville Peninsula some government endorsement of a religion?  It wasn't considered such when they were erected, and since they are pretty much serving as little more than tourist destinations and curios now, I have a hard time seeinghat bridge between church and state, though I could see some competing belief system thinking so.

As for the Jenison park sign, again erected back in a time when there would be no issue, it has a verse that alludes to the beauty of the natural setting, which wouldn't bother anyone if it were a quote by Mark Twain or C.S. Lewis. 

The eradication or modification of these sites under pretenses that are manufactured by a group with its own rigid belief system, secular humanism/progressivism, in many ways less tolerant than Christianity, should be cause of alarm for non-religious folks who want to preserve history and positive traditions.  A visit to the MACRA Facebook site and a reading of their comments had me believing this group was fervent in its beliefs and opinions and definitely doing their own proselytizing. 

[XLFD]

Substitute teacher informed he can no longer teach in the Hart School District, per Hart Superintendent Platt in a stiff penalty, definitely not the proper way to handle the situation as reported.   Out from Shoreline Media today: 

HART — Public reaction to a substitute teacher who passed out religious materials at Hart High School recently did not lead to a demonstration at the school Monday — even though a demonstration had been sought by someone who posted a message on a community Facebook page.

The substitute teacher — who is from Professional Education Services Group, a company that provides substitute teachers when requested by school districts — has been told that passing out religious material during school is unacceptable at Hart Public Schools, said Superintendent Mark Platt.

“The substitute had, in fact, done some things and passed out materials with religious information and some specific references to entries in the Bible,” Platt said. “That is not allowable.”

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” That has been interpreted as meaning government, including public schools, shall not set one set of religious beliefs over all others.

An allegation of wrongdoing was raised in the Hart case by Mitch Kahle of the Michigan Association of Civil Rights Activists (MACRA), reported Oceana’s Herald-Journal.

Platt said he learned about the charge April 6 and has had time since then to talk to the substitute teacher.

Platt said he then talked to Professional Education Services Group and told them about materials the teacher had passed out.

“He can’t be doing this and he will not be subbing here,” Platt said.

He said a man has demonstrated on private property near Spitler Elementary School by carrying a sign to protest the school district’s decision during a couple recent days.

“He has not been a problem,” Platt said.

Somebody also posted the Facebook message on the Hart Public Schools Community Page asking for people to join them in a demonstration in the high school to protest the fact that the substitute teacher is not being allowed in the school.

Platt said that demonstration did not occur Monday.

[Willy]

What's so ridiculous is that the school is treating this as if a major crime had been committed. All that needed to be done is inform the sub. that what he did, is not allowed. But what happens? It's all over the news. This kind of overreacting is becoming the norm. The people running the school systems are a bunch of hair trigger alarmists.

[XLFD]

On the given information, I totally agree with your assessments, Willy.  If this guy was teaching something harmful to the kids, it may deserve more punishment than telling him to change his behavior, but he was doing something that schools seem to absolutely abhor nowadays, giving a morality lesson that went askew to progressive secular teachings.