Seventh grader’s Bible taken away while reading during free time at school

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1still_waters

Guest
#1
Seventh grader’s Bible taken away while reading during free time at school


MARSHALL, Mo. — One middle schooler is speaking out after his teacher censored his reading material.

Loyal Grandstaff, 12, was reading his favorite book–the Bible–during free time in school when his teacher told him to put it away, according to Fox 4 Kansas City. “I like to read my Bible because it’s a good book,” Grandstaff told the station.

Grandstaff said he wasn’t reading out loud or sharing his book with any classmates, he was just reading it during down time.

“I feel like it violated his freedom of religion, but also his freedom of speech,” Loyal Grandstaff’s dad, Justin, said.

http://foxct.com/2015/01/06/seventh-graders-bible-taken-away-while-reading-during-free-time-at-school/
 
Feb 16, 2014
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#2
The 1st amendment only applies to the school staff, not the students. I feel many teachers fail to understand this and react inappropriately.

That said, I'm still a bit skeptical of the story since we only heard from the kid and his parent's points of view. It's possible the teacher told the kid to stop reading while they were trying to teach class, and the kid is twisting his story around. Or maybe the teacher really is misinformed or intentionally unlawful. Hopefully we get to hear the teacher's side of the story.
 
Mar 22, 2013
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#3
id bet the teacher is one of them loony liberal leftists. (you know the ones with that mental disorder known as liberalism. that if they don't agree with it you can't do that)

yeah. public school.... er liberal indoctrination camp yeah they hate the word of God
 

skipp

Senior Member
Mar 6, 2014
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#4
id bet the teacher is one of them loony liberal leftists. (you know the ones with that mental disorder known as liberalism. that if they don't agree with it you can't do that)

yeah. public school.... er liberal indoctrination camp yeah they hate the word of God
I'm a public school teacher. A lot of my friends are public school teachers. We are all Christians and we all love God. Please don't bash an entire profession of people by saying that we "hate God".
 
D

didymos

Guest
#5
I don't know, but all things 'public' for some reason don't seem that classy to me:
'public transportation, public lavatory, public school.'
 

IDEAtor

Senior Member
Aug 15, 2012
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#6
I'm a public school teacher. A lot of my friends are public school teachers. We are all Christians and we all love God. Please don't bash an entire profession of people by saying that we "hate God".
Thank you for your service to God and helping children and parents
.
 

IDEAtor

Senior Member
Aug 15, 2012
827
19
18
#7
[video=youtube;zrHqC6CikBU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrHqC6CikBU[/video]
 
Dec 18, 2013
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#8
You know I hear about this stuff a lot anymore. It wasn't long ago that I was in school and none of this kind of stuff ever happened. People were allowed to pray, read whatever book, wear whatever religious clothing, etc. and no one ever got in trouble and none of this ever became a problem.

When I was in elementary school even they had all sorts of religious books on all sorts of religions in the library, including The Bible.

What changed so fast? Or is this more of a regional issue?
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#9
It took only one person to stop offical Bible reading in schools. Madalyn Murry O'Hair who founded the American Atheists.Oddly enough according to reports it was a fellow atheist that murdered her and her children.She met her end in a gruesome way.Her son William J wrote a book "A Plea for Prayer in Schools" and is a Baptist minister.

After her death her diaries were found and reportedly the following comments were made...."Somebody, somewhere, love me," and also a New Year's resolution that included a yearning to "humiliate Billy Graham on television, for money." Also: "I want money and power and I am going to get it. By age 50, I want a $60,000 home, a Cadillac car, a mink coat, a cook, a housekeeper. In 1974, I will run for the governor of Texas and in 1976, the president of the United States."
In 1959-
"The whole idiotic hopelessness of human relations descends upon me. Tonight, I cried and cried, but even then feeling nothing."

I wonder if she could have known the way her life would go would she have changed her mind? Maybe she wouldn't have had such hatred for the Bible and Bibles would still be in school today.
 

crossnote

Senior Member
Nov 24, 2012
30,706
3,650
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#10
The 1st amendment only applies to the school staff, not the students. I feel many teachers fail to understand this and react inappropriately.

That said, I'm still a bit skeptical of the story since we only heard from the kid and his parent's points of view. It's possible the teacher told the kid to stop reading while they were trying to teach class, and the kid is twisting his story around. Or maybe the teacher really is misinformed or intentionally unlawful. Hopefully we get to hear the teacher's side of the story.
That's baloney. Similar cases have been won in public schools supporting the rights of the students.
 
Mar 22, 2013
4,718
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Indiana
#11
I'm a public school teacher. A lot of my friends are public school teachers. We are all Christians and we all love God. Please don't bash an entire profession of people by saying that we "hate God".
say you love God and Jesus in the class you teach. dollars to doughnuts if you do you wouldn't be a public school teacher anymore!
 

Oncefallen

Idiot in Chief
Staff member
Jan 15, 2011
6,031
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#12
The 1st amendment only applies to the school staff, not the students. I feel many teachers fail to understand this and react inappropriately.
That's baloney. Similar cases have been won in public schools supporting the rights of the students.
When referencing the 1st amendment I'm pretty sure he was talking about this part

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,...

Not this part

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Based on numerous court cases albeit teachers may not in any way promote their faith in the classroom (unless specifically asked), they also may not prohibit a student's free exercise thereof (unless it's a disruption to the classroom).
 
Feb 16, 2014
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#13
When referencing the 1st amendment I'm pretty sure he was talking about this part

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,...

Not this part

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Based on numerous court cases albeit teachers may not in any way promote their faith in the classroom (unless specifically asked), they also may not prohibit a student's free exercise thereof (unless it's a disruption to the classroom).


I think he was referring to my statement in which I said the 1st Amendment only applies to teachers. I can see why he misunderstood my post, it was very poorly worded.

That's baloney. Similar cases have been won in public schools supporting the rights of the students.
Sorry, bad wording on my part. The Constitution is a list of rules the government must abide by, not the people. When I said the 1st Amendment only applies to teachers and school staff, I'm referring to the fact that only teachers and school staff have to follow the rule in which they can't encourage religion. The 1st Amendment does apply to the students in that they're protected by it, but it doesn't apply to them when it comes to who has to abide by the rule. Does that make sense?

If that didn't make sense, essentially: I meant to say only teachers and school staff are limited by the 1st Amendment, students are protected by it. I could have worded that better.
 
Feb 16, 2014
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#14
Based on numerous court cases albeit teachers may not in any way promote their faith in the classroom (unless specifically asked), they also may not prohibit a student's free exercise thereof (unless it's a disruption to the classroom).
By the way, this is wonderfully worded. I couldn't have been more clear myself.
 
1

1still_waters

Guest
#16
When referencing the 1st amendment I'm pretty sure he was talking about this part

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,...

Not this part

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Based on numerous court cases albeit teachers may not in any way promote their faith in the classroom (unless specifically asked), they also may not prohibit a student's free exercise thereof (unless it's a disruption to the classroom).
Well respected sources such as..

www.OnceFallenHasNoClue.net suggest that anything OnceFallen says is...







*runs*

 
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skipp

Senior Member
Mar 6, 2014
654
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0
#17
You know I hear about this stuff a lot anymore. It wasn't long ago that I was in school and none of this kind of stuff ever happened. People were allowed to pray, read whatever book, wear whatever religious clothing, etc. and no one ever got in trouble and none of this ever became a problem.

When I was in elementary school even they had all sorts of religious books on all sorts of religions in the library, including The Bible.

What changed so fast? Or is this more of a regional issue?
Students can still pray, read the Bible, wear religious clothing, etc. The teacher in this article was wrong and was infringing on the rights of the student.
 
Feb 16, 2014
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#20
Students can still pray, read the Bible, wear religious clothing, etc. The teacher in this article was wrong and was infringing on the rights of the student.
Pretty much.

However, we should keep in mind that it's possible the kid is lying or keeping out key details. The father is going soley by what his son said. In fact...

Did the father ever talk to the teacher about what happened? Regardless as to whether or not he did, the school is still looking into what happened. So why did the father bring this to media attention so soon? That's quite irresponsible if you ask me. He should try to get all the details he can first before making a huge deal out of the situation.

Despite my opinion that the father is reacting irresponsibly by being to rash, I'll side with him on this issue if it turns out the teacher did step out of line.