To me the editing by the superintendent is where the crime lies

but a 6 year old girl cannot say "prayed to God" in a Veterans Day poem?

Amazing and stupid.

....and therefore, the use of the word "God" in any other reading or discussion is not prohibited by any Federal or state law of which I'm aware.

I'm an atheist, but I'm not offended by the word God used to describe what this kid's grandfather did. How stupid.

watching how the reactionarky press has neutered the people, i betcha that the goof who makes anti god moves in public is a reactionarky sympthathiser....and the rightwing wins again! imagine WHAT oreally and rush limbah-humbug etc SAY when this 'anti american' story breaks into news cycle!
betcha ya didn't know the people who destroyed the GREAT LIBRARY at Alexandria (AD 500 about) were a christian mob under directions of the bishop of Alexandria! Just a detail from hushstory, which the xian media has somehow kept hidden (EVEN FROM ME! though i've read ten thousand books!)
daMN FASCISTS, THEY'S SO SMART!

A radical atheist does something rather dumb and the fundies go fucking nuts over it.


Ever notice how much insane bullshit comes out of churchie people that gets barely a whisper?


Selective outrage, another rightie (and apparently leftie now) family value.

Just as likely scenarios:

- Christian who honestly beliefs the school will get in trouble if the unedited poem were read at school assembly

- Catholic sick of being the target of bigotry in the Bible Belt; until fairly recently Roman Catholics, not Atheists, were the most frequent plaintifs in Church/State Separation cases

- Radical Christian provocatuer; a few years back in Vincennes, Indiana, a woman with the government agency handling public housing informed residents that they could not put up Christmas decorations in their apartments; the agency fired her upon learning of her actions, and it was discovered that she was a member of a Radical Religious Right group who did this just to get people angry.

I don't care what his reasons are. I don't care if he's an Atheist or not. That was not the point of what I was trying to say. I was commenting concerning selective outrage, is all.

the gods themselves contend in vain.

It isn't that the word "God" can't be uttered on school property. It is that the school, as a state institution, can't lead a prayer of any particular relgion, or establish a religion in any way. But a student can recite a poem she chose herself that includes a reference to a religion. That isn't school-led; it's coming from a student. I don't see why this is a problem. But the community needs to understand that if an Islamic student chose to recite a poem that mentions Allah, it is the same thing and equally OK. If they wouldn't be OK with that, they need to check their thought process.