I thought we had a thread on this somewhere, but I can’t find anything by searching on her name. Jessica Ahlquist’s fight to get a religious prayer taken down from her public high school, and the threats she’s received as recompense, in the NYTimes today. Front page photo in the print edition as well. Good for her.
Student Faces Town’s Wrath in Protest Against a Prayer
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: January 26, 2012
CRANSTON, R.I. — She is 16, the daughter of a firefighter and a nurse, a self-proclaimed nerd who loves Harry Potter and Facebook. But Jessica Ahlquist is also an outspoken atheist who has incensed this heavily Roman Catholic city with a successful lawsuit to get a prayer removed from the wall of her high school auditorium, where it has hung for 49 years.
A federal judge ruled this month that the prayer’s presence at Cranston High School West was unconstitutional, concluding that it violated the principle of government neutrality in religion. In the weeks since, residents have crowded school board meetings to demand an appeal, Jessica has received online threats and the police have escorted her at school, and Cranston, a dense city of 80,000 just south of Providence, has throbbed with raw emotion.
State Representative Peter G. Palumbo, a Democrat from Cranston, called Jessica “an evil little thing” on a popular talk radio show. Three separate florists refused to deliver her roses sent from a national atheist group. ...
CFI must be helping Jessica, right? We need about a gazillion more like her! When I hear a story like this I worry about some lunatic hurting her. I also have a small amount of fear about attending the Reason Rally, but I’ll be right up front!
I don’t understand how a politician and an adult can vilify a student who courageously stands up for a Constitutional ideal. You’d think that the guy would be applauding her efforts in exercising her first amedment rights! That was a gutsy move for Jessica and all the best to her cause. Hopefully she won’t have to face the school board when they insist on including creationism in the classroom! Maybe they’ll put the prayer where it belongs, on the wall of a local catholic school.
I don’t understand how a politician and an adult can vilify a student who courageously stands up for a Constitutional ideal. You’d think that the guy would be applauding her efforts in exercising her first amedment rights! That was a gutsy move for Jessica and all the best to her cause. Hopefully she won’t have to face the school board when they insist on including creationism in the classroom! Maybe they’ll put the prayer where it belongs, on the wall of a local catholic school.
Cap’t Jack
I agree. Another politician pandering to the lowest common denominator and putting his mouth in drive before putting his brain in gear. I just sent him a little note. You may all want to do the same.
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Good idea Mac. Maybe then he’ll know that she’s not alone in her cause. I hate hypocracy in politicians. I can barely stand to watch the rep. debates where the crowd fawns all over the bibles and babyshoes statements meant to generate instant applause and cheers! I’m sending an email out him today.
This is taking place in Rhode Island of all places. Rhode Island was founded by Rev. Roger Williams, to be apart from the crazy Massachusetts Puritan theocracy. It was the beginning of separation of church and state in North America. I would think that of all places in the USA that would have a strong respect for this, it would be Rhode Island. I would expect everyone in Rhode Island to start learning about it in elementary school just like we did in Missouri. (At least Missourians learned that back in the early 1970’s).
Representative Peter G. Palumbo is a disgrace to the Democratic Party and disgrace to the state of Rhode Island.
I am going to wait a while before sending him an email. I need to empty my head of the obscenities first.
This is taking place in Rhode Island of all places. Rhode Island was founded by Rev. Roger Williams, to be apart from the crazy Massachusetts Puritan theocracy. It was the beginning of separation of church and state in North America. I would think that of all places in the USA that would have a strong respect for this, it would be Rhode Island. I would expect everyone in Rhode Island to start learning about it in elementary school just like we did in Missouri. (At least Missourians learned that back in the early 1970’s).
Indeed. Roger Williams probably is one of the most influential people that no one has ever heard of, because of his idea of the separation between church and state. Many people think that this idea came from Thomas Jefferson. Nope.
I admire her, but I also recall being led in the lord’s prayer in the second grade in 1937 at an elementary school in Pawtucket, R.I. So, apparently they’ve been doing it there for quite a while.
Indeed. Roger Williams probably is one of the most influential people that no one has ever heard of, because of his idea of the separation between church and state. Many people think that this idea came from Thomas Jefferson. Nope.
. . . Roger Williams being the first to implement it in North America. The idea had been around earlier, in Europe, as I understand. I read somewhere that at some earlier time some Polish Roman Catholic priest actually proposed that idea to the Vatican once, and the idea was rejected, and he was reassigned. In a Wikipedia article, it says that James Madison credited Martin Luther for being the origin of that idea, but I am not ready to bet on that. If Madison did credit Luther, then I am not sure I am ready to commit to agreement with Madison. I’ll have to read whatever he wrote, and see if he makes a good case.
Anyway, I’d rather see people credit Jefferson than claim that the idea was fabricated by communists in the 20th century or that Madeline Murray O’Hare was responsible, or claim that Jefferson never intended what he wrote. Let’s not forget Christine [That’s in the Constitution???] O’Donnell. At least the people of Delaware voted against her. Too bad the people of Oklahoma elected James Inhofe.
Of course we can expect that from the Republican Party, but when this happens in the Democratic party it almost makes me want to emigrate. We had a state senator, a Democrat, named Kimberly Lightford, who is responsible for introducing the laws that require prayer Illinois public schools. I was determined to vote against her in the last primary, but she was unopposed, and then she was unopposed again in the general election. I guess I should have tried to run against her myself as a protest candidate, or find someone who else would. She still has that state senate seat, but the district map has been redrawn, so now, I’m represented by Harmon (yes, Irish Catholic), who is one of the few who voted against that theocratic legislation. That is something funny about the Chicago area—there are a lot of Roman Catholics who strongly support the Separation of Church and state, and some, like my wife, actually learned about it in Catholic schools.
[edited to include the fact that Lightford is a Democrat]
[edited again, to mention that O’Donnell was in Delaware]
I thought we had a thread on this somewhere, but I can’t find anything by searching on her name. Jessica Ahlquist’s fight to get a religious prayer taken down from her public high school, and the threats she’s received as recompense, in the NYTimes today. Front page photo in the print edition as well. Good for her.
Jessica Ahlquist, our hero. I hope that her and her family are for
the heat they are receiving, unfairly so it should be a simple matter.
Actually I think that banner prayer sounded very pleasant, but it was
a prayer none-the-less.
Yeah Tradition, in my experience with Catholics church/state separation
is taught in schools as good for the religious people, and has been
supported by left and right-wing Catholics both. But the Northeastern
politics that I’ve seen don’t divide along the national political lines
very well, right and left support workers and moderate religion from
what I’ve seen in working class social circles. Perhaps RI is similar.
But Representative Peter G. Palumbo, a Democrat calling Jessica “an
evil little thing”, I don’t quite get? A religious extremist running
as a Democrat in RI?
The religious extremists will say that there is a movement in this
country against Christianity… but beware their distortions, they
typically only tell half the story. The Constitutional separation
of church and state isn’t against Christianity, it broadly limits all
religions from being established in law, while still protecting their
freedom outside the law.
I hope that her and her family are for
