We read:
"Kyle Gearwar, the valedictorian of Fair Haven Union High School in Fair Haven, Vermont, says that he was told by school officials that he couldn’t include specific information about how God has changed his life in his commencement address.
Gearwar told the crowd during his ceremony last Friday that he was only allowed to deliver half of the speech he had wanted to. The Burlington Free Press has more:
“It is a fine line here. Here’s freedom of speech and here’s separation of church and state,” Fair Haven Union High School principal Brett Blanchard said. “The line is generally the difference between proselytizing and personalizing.”
Gearwar was allowed to mention God and Jesus in the accepted portion of his speech, Blanchard noted, but he said public schools have to be careful about allowing someone to preach their religion at a school-sanctioned event.
Gearwar claims that he isn’t interested in setting off a firestorm or engaging in the infamous church versus state debate. The former student said he had simply hoped his words would help others. According to the Free Press, he told the audience:
“I have always dreamed of speaking about God in front of my school as the valedictorian,” he said in his speech. “This was the message God gave to me, and I am not allowed to share it with you even though it is my testimony, the most important change my life has ever experienced, and the one thing that I stand for no matter what.”
Since the incident, the entire text of the speech has been published by The Rutland Herald.
Source
17 comments:
Silly kid. All he had to do was replace the word God with Allah and no one would've dared say a word to him.
This is life now in The United States of Sheep.
Actually the publicity of having his speech censored means that more people will see it than would have if he'd simply been allowed to give it.
Censors: 0
Free Speech: 1
It should be clearly established what the purpose of the speech is and what topics it should cover. If the student started going on about how his stamp-collection made his life worth-while, is that justified by reasons of "free speech"??
"here’s separation of church and state" This phrase does not appear anywhere in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. It exists only in the minds (and I use that word loosely) of the ACLU.
This phrase does not appear anywhere in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.
Yup, "congress shall make no law" is supposed to mean the opposite of what happened here: i.e. the kid has the right to free speech, even in a govt bldg as on a public street as over coffee w/his friends.
The govt should not compel him to speak of his faith, nor should they favor one faith over another, but if he freely chooses to speak of it, that's up to him.
This incident/censorship is just bullying by small-minded people.
Anonymous 3:04 said...
"Actually the publicity of having his speech censored means that more people will see it than would have if he'd simply been allowed to give it..."
Perhaps. But it's not the same as speaking freely which is what free speech means. Or, do you believe censorship is the new path to freedom?
As has been pointed out before: while freedom of speech is or should be protected, there are consequences to exercising that right; and in this case the topics were considered inappropriate for the occasion, and the school and others had the right to object and maybe take disciplinary action, if other rules of the school had been broken or the student had been deceitful or misleading in his intentions.
Anonymous 6.02 pm said that the school may have considered the topic inappropriate. Maybe. However, they justified it on the basis of "separation of church and state".
Amendment I says: Congress shall make no <ilaw respecting an establishment of religion".
Since when is a local school "congress'? Since when is its policy a "law"? Since when does a private speaking at a school become an "establishment of religion"?
He should have replaced the term God with Sam, or George. It would still get the message across and also shame those that tried to censor him, like: I do not always act like I am Born Again. Thankfully, [Hey-Zeus] said I am not perfect and [Sam] forgives me for every sin I commit.
Likely though they would have caught on and disallowed that as well. Remember there is now newspeak and right-thought.
I bet they would have allowed if he had claimed OBAMA was the worlds greatists man in history
Why would the student feel the need to use/abuse another forum other than a church or religious meeting to promote his personal religion, either overtly or covertly, unless he was obsessed by his religion, in which case his sanity is in question!
Anon 5:08 - You really don't get it at all do you?
If he was a fucking mooose slim, he would had nothing censored, they would have let him hand out islamic propoganda to the audience.The dumbass principal would have done salaat during the ceremony.
9:05 AM - ditto!
Alert!! We have a dittohead here.
Alert! We have a dittohead-head here.
If he had praised gaia and gave a speech on earth spirits it would have been okay to the school board of kooks and freaks
Post a Comment