Muslim inmate sues to get halal meat

SheikBen wrote:On the topic of halal meat, I think if it is easy enough to get it, it ought to be made available. Why not?

It's OK with me.

On the topic of Massachusettes' state religion, what is the difference between having one and enforcing it?

Constitutionality.

No one was forced to pray in the Baltimore School that Miss Murray's son was enrolled in.

If you had gone to public schools in the 1950s in the "Bible belt", you would know otherwise.

Baltimore is not in the Bible belt.

And yes, mandatory prayers are a different thing than optional ones. Why, then, have the secularists insisted on banning them both?

Because, in the context of the classroom authority scheme, "voluntary" prayer has a subtle way of very soon become effectively mandatory.

What elementary school student, when the teacher says, "Now it's time to pray", has the fortitude to tell that teacher to shove it.

Again, if you had gone to public schools in the 1950s in the Bible belt, you would understand.

But we don't live in the bible belt of the 1950's.

We live in America in the 21st century where our teachers are required to hand out work in two languages, we can't ask parents for identification, we're no longer shocked when we hear of a school shooting or drugs in our elementary schools and the bulk of schools require some sort of protection from the very students we're supposed to be educating and our illiteracy rate is 25 times what it was in the 1910's despite spending that is going through the roof.

Heaven forbid, someone bow their head and say a prayer.

But we don't live in the bible belt of the 1950's.

You might not, but some of us do.

Heaven forbid, someone bow their head and say a prayer.

That's fine; just don't make the rest of us do it as a part of mandatory government schooling.

You're still living in the 50's.

Well, that certainly explains a lot.

The Bible Belt is located in the American South, and it includes all or parts of: Alabama Arkansas Florida Georgia Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri North Carolina Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_is_the_bible_belt_located_in_the_US

SheikBen wrote:Baltimore is not in the Bible belt.

OK. But the institutionalization of religion in public schools was not limited to one single region.