What are your thoughts on this school district being denied a hearing?
In July of 2012, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Elmbrook School District in Brookfield, Wisconsin to be denied a hearing after violating the first amendment. They violated the law, by holding graduation ceremonies in a Christian Church for about nine years.
Just to clarify, other venues were available, and this turned out to be nothing more than a push for Christian only values during a supposed to be secular event.
Sources:
Religious News
Patheos
Brookfield Now
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3 Answers
I think the ruling consistent with enforcing the separation of church and state.
They weren’t denied a hearing. They had plenty of hearings, most of which were in favor of the school district, which is why it was appealed to the full Circuit Court.
The SCOTUS does not hear everything appealed to it; in this case, by a vote of 7–2, the Court determined there was no error or even question of error or unsettled law in the Circuit’s decision.
The shocking thing for me is that this went on for so many years.
Well, that sucks, but I agree it’s not Supreme Court worthy. The State just needs tell them not to do that again. They can have the event in the church, but they can’t purposefully push Christianity, unless they’re willing to represent other religions as well…and I bet they aren’t.
Here, all of the voting is actually held in churches. It’s just a space with a roof and walls. It also has a lot of Christian messages around, but that’s just what’s in that church. We attended the Democratic Caucus here in a church. Had Grandkids with me. We sat in the pews. We did some practice reading words from the Bible just to pass some time.
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