Plead the First

I’m a little late on this, but wanted to mention it anyway. We’ve had conversations about the establishment clause before. When someone argues in favor of government officials offering sectarian prayers, or allowing religious displays of one faith to the exclusion of others, I often ask a question like “Would you feel the same if the prayers (or display) were offered to Allah, or Satan, or L. Ron Hubbard?”

I’m sure this probably seems like a mere rhetorical device to some, but a recent incident in Virginia has turned the hypothetical into the actual:

A group of Pagans in Albemarle County, Va., was recently given permission to advertise their multi-cultural holiday program to public school children – and they have the Rev. Jerry Falwell to thank for it.

The dispute started last summer when Gabriel and Joshua Rakoski, twins who attend Hollymead Elementary School, sought permission to distribute fliers about their church’s Vacation Bible School to their peers via “backpack mail.â€? …

School officials originally denied the request from the twins’ father, Ray Rakoski, citing a school policy barring “distribution of literature that is for partisan, sectarian, religious or political purposes.�

A Charlottesville weekly newspaper, The Hook, reports that Rakoski “sicced the Liberty Counsel on the county,� and the policy was soon revised to allow religious groups to use the backpack mail system. Liberty Counsel is a Religious Right legal group founded by Mathew Staver and now affiliated with Falwell.

Some local Pagans who attend Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church, a Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Charlottesville, decided to take advantage of the new forum as well. They created a one-page flier advertising a Dec. 9 event celebrating the December holidays with a Pagan twist and used the backpack system to invite the entire school community.

Now of course, while parents seemed to have no problems with flyers from Christian groups, there is suddenly an outcry over the flyer for a Pagan event. Some people are all for religion in schools and government, as long as it’s only their own religion.

It doesn’t matter if you are Christian, Muslim, Wiccan, or whatever – if you aren’t comfortable with equal access for all religious viewpoints, then you should be against the government or public schools advocating for any religion – even your own.

(The flyer in question may be seen here.)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 11th, 2006 at 11:33 pm and is filed under Politics, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.