Date: Tue Oct 19 10:01:34 1999 From: Gofreemind@aol.com Subject: The Texas Atheist # 34 To: Gofreemind@aol.com
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THE TEXAS ATHEIST
October 19, 1999 # 34 Copyright © 1999 by Howard Thompson
=========[ An independent, free e-mail newsletter ]=========
SANTA FE PRO-CONSTITUTION DEMONSTRATION ISSUE
1. Background on Santa Fe football prayer controvers 2. Santa Fe demonstration report 3. "Thank you" from a Santa Fe Baptist grandmother "... stare hate right down ..." 4. Commentary: Positive demonstrations work
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This special issue of The Texas Atheist reports on the pro-constitutional demonstration against government prayers at the Santa Fe, Texas. The demonstration was organized by Will Ellsworth <willpe@swbell.net> of Houston for the high school's homecoming game on October 8, 1999 There was major participation from the Humanists of Houston and Houstonians for Secular Humanism. Any subscribers in Lincoln, Nebraska who would like to meet for a beer before the end of November should contact me, since that's where I'm visiting until then. The next regular issue of The Texas Atheist will be sent out in about a week.
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BACKGROUND ON SANTA FE PRAYER CONTROVERSY
The Santa Fe, Texas Independent School District has been in a legal fight for over five years to conduct Christian prayers at school events. The dispute has centered on two anonymous Santa Fe families, one Mormon, the other Catholic. These families got help from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for a lawsuit against school prayers. The legal battle has spawned several rounds of counter-suits and appeals.
The Santa Fe school board clearly wants to promote Christianity. In an e-mail to your editor, former Santa Fe school board member Mike Lopez described the school district's 1995 case as, "the original suit concerning SFISD advocating Christianity."
An early lower court ruling allowed "student-led" religious messages by a student elected by the student body. This ruling was mostly upheld by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, with an exception. Football games were judged as not "solemn" enough events for god worship. "Non-sectarian" prayers at other school events are allowed by the ruling.
The Fifth Circuit's upholding of lower court approved student-led prayers appears to be a reversal of prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings against school districts conducting, sponsoring or facilitating religious activities.
The religious right legal gambit of "student-led" prayers establishes a majority power to force religion onto others. From reading prior Supreme Court decisions, this should be unconstitutional. Religious right lawyers have been successful because some Christian judges think the Constitution should be re-interpreted to allow religious majorities to use government to impose their religion on everyone.
In the most recent phase of the controversy, the Santa Fe school district developed rules to punish any student that delivered a religious message at football games in violation of the Fifth Circuit Court's ruling.
Last May, 59 out of 1,208 students at the Santa Fe high school voted 58 to 1 to have a student-led message at school events. This vote was for a "message" instead of a "prayer" becausethe Fifth Circuit had ruled a few months earlier against prayers at football games.
In a second vote by 91 students, a student with 61 votes was selected to deliver the message. This student later said she would not deliver a prayer in order to avoid school district punishment. She then resigned her position. The second in line of three students receiving votes was Marion Ward, daughter of a local minister of an independent Baptist church. Ward had less than 30 out of the 91 votes cast.
Marion Ward's father sought an injunction in federal court to prevent the school district from punishing his daughter if she delivered a religious message at football games. Houston federal judge Sim Lake granted the injunction, saying a prohibition on prayers was the same as the school district promoting "atheism." There are no news reports that the school district opposed Ward's effort to get an injunction to prevent the school district from enforcing the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals' ban on football game prayers.
With the injunction, Marion Ward has been delivering religious messages at Santa Fe high school football games.
The pro-constitution demonstration on October 8th was organized to protest this violation of constitutional separation of religion and government, and, the civil rights violation of minority beliefs by the Christian majority in Santa Fe.
SANTA FE DEMONSTRATION REPORT
As you drive into Santa Fe, Texas you pass a church with the sign, "God is in control in Santa Fe." While imaginary beings can't control anything, Santa Fe is controlled by angry people who believe in a god that tells them to bully their neighbors.
Demonstrator's cars began pulling into the Santa Fe Junior High School parking lot before 6:00 PM. The mood was upbeat and eager. We talked and showed off our signs about state-church separation, constitutional rights, Matthew's quote from Jesus against hypocrites prayig in public, and others. I got to renew acquaintances with many I've met at conventions and gatherings around Texas.
Organizations represented (apologies to those I may have missed) included the Atheist Community of Austin, (Jeff & Manda Dee and Dennis Loubet), Freethinkers Union of the University of Houston (Stacey Irwin), Agnostic & Atheist Student Group from Texas A&M (Jason Romero), Houston Secular Humanists (Daniel Strain), American Humanist Association - Southwest Regional Coordinator (Frank Prahl), umanists of Houston (Jim Ashmore), American Atheists (Randall Gorman) and the Jewish Anti Defense League.
Also present were "Deb," a leading Santa Fe Baptist opponent of school prayer, with her daughters, two Santa Fe high school students, and some Baptist and Catholic ladies.
Over 50 people eventually joined the demonstration. We held signs and walked the sidewalks on both side of the street near the entry to the football stadium. We responded to comments. Some spectators stopped to argue briefly.
A few counter demonstrators showed up, one with a "KEEP THE DEVIL OUT OF SANTA FE" sign. Another sign asked people to honk their horns for god, which they did only very occasionally.
There were some negative comments and hostile gestures, especially before we got down to the area where the police were. My favorite was the pick-up truck, big Stetson "cowboy" who angrily disagreed with us, even after admitting he didn't read the bible or go to church. He drove off with a shouted F___ You as his last word. My next favorite was the elegantly hair-dooed, middle-aged lady on a cell phone in an expensive SUV who took her other hand off the steering wheel to flip us off.
Proportionally very few people were openly hostile, but there were few friendly faces. The vast majority walked by eyeing our signs long enough to read them. A few cute pre-teen girls paraded among us with their hastily hand-made "We (heart) Prayer" signs. We got a few "we'll pray for you" nsults.
The hostile atmosphere was strong enough to let you know that people in the area are afraid to oppose their angry evangelical neighbors. Some people gestured agreement from the privacy of their cars. One young man stood very close to my "Forced Prayer is UnAmerican" sign and barely whispered, "I Agree." You could feel that Santa Fe residents opposing government prayers were intimidated.
News coverage was good. KRPC Houston channel 2 had a cameraman and on-air reporter. The Houston Chronicle, Galveston Daily News, Texas State Network TV, Austin-American Statesman, and the Temple newspaper were there. San Antonio residents told me the story made TV there. We got a front-page picture and story by religion reporter Kim Sue Lia-Perkes in the Austin American-Statesman.
The front page of the Houston Chronicle "City & State" section had a picture of the Santa Fe cheerleaders, me with my "Respect our Constitution" sign and another man's Matthew quote about hypocrites praying in public. Yes, that IS me, despite my face being covered by the sign -- so much for my 15 seconds of fame.
The most unfavorable coverage I saw was an article by Washington Post staff writer Paul Duggan. It focused entirely on the views and opinions of Santa Fe evangelicals with our demonstration barely mentioned at the end of the article.
"Deb" from Santa Fe has reported favorable news coverage following initial reports. The Galveston Daily News had a good editorial on Amanda Bruce, a high school junior who opposes forced prayers and demonstrated with us. Deb was interviewed for a Sunday (Oct. 17th) Houston Chronicle story. The Texas City Sun also ran another favorable article on the controversy.
The demonstration ended at 7:30 PM. Local police seemed relieved that there had been no trouble. Clearly, they had been expecting something from hostile local Christians or the demonstrators.
Santa Fe School Superintendent Richard Ownby had told our organizer Will Ellsworth that he would discuss the demonstration with local ministers and that, "I cannot guarantee that they won't take your signs and burn them." We can't know what would have happened without police present. We do know Christianity has a long history of justifying violence against dissenters.
All considered, this was another successful event for non-theistic Texans in opposing the religious right's campaign to convert their political power into social and cultural religious conformity. There may not have been many of us, but we presented a positive, pro-constitutional message and got good publicity. We proved we can speak-out and be heard.
"THANK YOU" FROM A SANTA FE BAPTIST GRANDMOTHER
What follows is a thank you e-mail for the demonstration from "Debbie." She e-mailed it originally to Will Elsworth to pass on to those who participated in the demonstration. Additional paragraphs from her other e-mails to me have been added in when they gave additional information.
Debbie is a Santa Fe grandmother and American Baptist who supports the "Doe" families in the ACLU lawsuit. Her words give us invaluable insight into how this kind of controversy looks from the inside. You can see how difficult it is to stand-up for your Constitutional rights an evangelical Texas town.
-------------------------------- From DebAstra@aol.com - "Debbie"
I do not know if any of you know how I became a part of your email group? I had read an editorial in the Galveston Daily News and was ecstatic I guess you could say. And this person even left an email address. I e-mailed him and he respond back to me. I had explained I lived in Santa Fe, and wanted to thank him for writing what he did.
We have had good letters in the past, but it had been awhile since there had been any. When the 5th circuit court ruled against prayer at football games, everyone here it seemed went nuts. I think this bothered them more then when Judge Kent ruled against them on certain issues. I guess prayer at a game was more important then prayer in school. Or so it seemed. So here came the letters to the editors, etc. So it was real nice to see Go Free Minds letter. And I thank him once again. And there have been many others, who have written good letters against this issue. This is how I came to Know Will. He was kind enough to email me, and has also been a support to us down here, with his calls and e-mails to make sure we were o.k.
I have been here from the beginning until now on this whole lawsuit. As many of you know I was a witness in the suit between the Does and SFISD. So I have seen a lot and heard a lot. And sat in the courtroom while it took place. I have, and still am being accused as being the Does in the suit. In fact I was accused of it last night in front of some of the police force that was at the protest. And by a friend no less. I told her what if I was. Then I told her no I was not. And it was no ones business who they were, until they and the court felt they could talk. And I was not speaking softly about it either. So I think many got a good dose of me last night on that issue.
When I was asked to be a witness I did not really even think about not doing it. I knew it was the right thing to do. There have been others who have stood up for them down here. They did not know who the plaintiffs were. And wrote letters in the paper saying they had the right to do what they believed in. But Friday was the best. This really showed them that there were people who really understood their right to do this, and their right not to have their children hurt any more by this school. Some of them cried when I told them. This made me know everything we did Friday was worth it. They have always believed in this, and will always believe they have done the right thing. This to me is a true person. I will give them the pictures of the protest, and a copy of the video that was taken of the protest will be given to them. I know they would really love to see them. And they want all of you to know how much it meant to them.
I saw alot when I volunteered in the schools and also what some did to my own children when they would not accept the Gideons bibles or refused to follow the pack. That's what I call them, a pack. Thank goodness my children are not followers. They have very strong beliefs and they stand up for them. The girl on channel 2 news, the one telling what she went through, is my daughter. And she is not a plaintiff. I had children in school when this all took place. I watched the ACLU come down and ask the school to please stop. I sat in the board room and heard the ACLU ask them. To no avail.
When Go Free Mind read my email, he sent me an email with your link. And from there, we all became one, on a great Constitutional adventure. No one here knew that I had any contact with all of you. When I called the school and asked about the paper work for Will you could have heard a pin drop, and the same when I called the police chief. I bet it did not take 5 minutes for word to spread through my town. And I bet they think I contacted you to come down. Little do they know, I had no idea who any of you were. Karma I say. I had told the police chief I wanted to let him know people from Santa Fe would be taking part in this, as well as many of you. And it would not only be Atheists, that I personally was a Baptist, "American Baptist," and there would be Catholics and other religions represented there as well as non-religions. He was also very quiet when I said this.
None of them in this town who feel that prayer needs to be in school and at school sponsored events can understand how I could protest and stand with Atheists or Wiccans, etc. LOL. It was very easy. Someone put his hand on my shoulder and said go for it. How could I not do it.
I told him I wanted no trouble, and did not foresee any on our part. That all of you were visitors to our town, and I expected them to be treated as such. And he said he would do everything he could to help us.
When I saw the media down here was not printing that we from SF would be there also, I called them and informed them we would be there. See I know my town too well. And I am glad I do. I had already heard the rumors. The Atheists are coming, the Atheists are coming. By the bus loads. Some people are just so ignorant they do not even understand your way of thinking about your belief. And do not take the time to find out. Ignorance is no excuse, on their part. We do have computers that would have taken them to a site to explain your belief as well as many others.
I wanted to be there at 5-5:30 yesterday to meet all of you. And it did not work out that way. As I explained to Will last night on the phone. I was doing signs, on the phone, getting dressed, and 100 other things. If you only could have been here, LOL. It was like I was the 3 stooges rolled into one. And I felt like them. Even my family was laughing. Glad the grandchildren were not here. I would never live that down.
So to each of you who came, I tried to meet all of you. And did not get to. I wanted to personally shake your hands and look into your face and introduce myself, and thank all of you for coming. It meant a great deal to my family, the plaintiffs and many other people, whom we don't even know. Because there were many behind us and just would not speak out, because they were afraid to. Maybe now they won't be afraid to. Maybe we gave them courage to speak out.
And I am sorry about the ones who swore at you and treated you not very nicely. It was all uncalled for by them. I was never so proud to be with a group of people in all my life. Not one of us got out of line or was rude and nasty like they were. And they said they were the Christians. I think I would strongly disagree with them. I would gladly tell anyone your were true Americans and my friends. I would gladly walk your walk any day. At least you know how to walk it and talk it. And that is more then I can say for some of my community. I was totally embarrassed by their actions and attitudes. These were adults, not children. And some of the teens were not nice, but they were put up to it.
My daughters were so proud to be there with all of you who came to help protect their freedoms. And all of you taught them good lessons on how to be adults and good citizens. They said they would be proud to call all of you their friends.
The ladies that were there the other day. All I have meet through this religious thing. I meet two of them in the board room when, some citizens in that room told them they were not Christian, because they were Catholic. Ms Bruce and her mom I had never meet before. Until Friday. And we all hugged. Oh I hope someone got a picture of us hugging. See they think we all knew each other and stick together. LOL. They are ignorant people. Nope did not know any of them. And they can not understand how total strangers can pull together. The two ladies at the protest and I have become very good friends, in fact best friends. We had to. In this town we had to for sanity sake. So in essence fate brought us together and we formed a friendship.
The young teen girl and her mother were very happy all of you came here. The two who were protesting with us. Amanda and her mom. Did any of you see her letter to the editor? I have it if you have not seen it. She said all of you showed this town how to act. And she was very proud of all of you. They said all of you set a fine example for all to see. And they were not for one minute embarrassed to be seen standing with you.
The other two ladies said the same thing. They were very proud of all of you. None of them could believe all of you would come all the way down here to protest this, and were kind enough to ask us to join you. And not once did any of you do anything to make the other side act the way they did. We all were embarrassed how some in the town reacted to you. All of you made us proud to know all of you. And to join together as Christians and Atheist, Wiccans, etc to fight to keep our rights. We joined together as people, and our religion, sex, or color did not matter. And this is the way it should be. I think a lot of people could learn this lesson. And none of us down here knew any of you, until yesterday. And I think we all stood as one.
And for those who could not come, and sent well wishes, I want to thank all of you. Because you were just as important to us. You were in our thoughts as we protested. And I am proud of each of you. We were up until one AM talking about the protest, and how well we all did. We showed them how to "Walk The Walk And Talk The Talk" and do both at the same time.
I want to thank all of you for asking us down here to join you in your protest. I know all of you were more than kind to us. Even when it came to what you put on your signs and the papers you handed out. You were more then thoughtful of all of our feelings down here. And not just to us who joined all of you, but to the citizens in our town. You all took their feelings into consideration also. Even as the told you to get the F- - - out of Santa Fe. Or told you to get the hell out of Santa Fe, and also that we were going to hell. What goes around comes around 3 fold, I say. And it always does.
And to the younger ones who were there, the young man in the nice black suit and the young men with him, and all the young ones. I want you to know you each just held a place in history yesterday. I don't know if you realize that. But you did, we all did. But I want you younger ones to know this, and write it down, in a journal. This will go into the history books if the Supreme Court hears it. In fact it will just because of the two rulings against them already. You are our new generation, that one day will lead us. And I would gladl be stand by you. Maybe you will be our next presidents or Senators, or the head of the ACLU. Or just a mom like me who wants to try and make sure your rights will be there, like they were for me. A person who never spoke out on anything, never even voted until I was in my middle 30s, was as shy as could be. Until I saw in the schools what some were really doing to the youth. And what so many of my Christian counter parts were doing to the youth. Do not ever think your generation is bad or evil. Its not. With young people like you and my daughters, and the other two young girls from here and even my grand kids, I know there is good in this world, and the world will be a better place with all of you running it. Just by watching all of you yesterday. I was so proud of all of you. And older adults should give you more credit, than you get. Please tell your parents this Christian was prouder of you then she was of her Christian community. And they raised fine young adults that would make any parent proud. And to the young men who had to take that one man's crap who said yeah but you'll take the money that says in God we Trust. He has a higher person to deal with, his inner being. And if he isn't careful those words will haunt him. Like when his religion is lost, because he was to ignorant to see the truth. To see the truth that he was guaranteed the right to pray and have his religion. When he no longer has it.
And some of them people who were across the street screaming at us, worked for the school. I told one of them to remind them who comes up there every year and fights for their raises. Who fights for their medical benefits, and is trying to get them what they need. My Daughters, the ladies that were with me, and I. Not the board or these so called Christians we saw yesterday. When they took away their prescription card it was us who fought for them to get it back. Not the other people. We are the ones who sit in the board rooms and fight for the teachers and staff, not the others in this town. They wouldn't take the time.
I even fight for the cops in this town, when they need something. The daughter of mine that was on channel 2 news, at 6 years old she went to a council meeting and asked why wouldn't they buy the police radios, and flashlights, and things they needed. She asked them how would they tell their families if something happened, because they didn't have a good radio to radio for help. Because of her they got them. And then they would turn around and act the way they did yesterday to her. So I know we have good young people in this world, after watching her and all the others yesterday stare hate right down.
So to each of you I say, thank you. I don't think you will ever know how much you helped us. Not just us in Santa Fe, but across the Nation. And to any that I did not get to meet yesterday, I am really sorry. I was not being rude. I really wanted to meet all of you. And I wanted to keep an eye on the other side. And even on the local high five's! I did not want any of them to start something so you would get arrested. That is what they wanted and prayed for. LOL. Looks like their prayers failed again. Just like their prayer at the game failed. Lost 50 to 0. Guess they are not praying hard enough, or are not strong enough in their faith. Or praying for the right thing. Maybe if they tried it silently it would work.
And would everyone who was there e-mail me, with an address or just your e-mail address. I will not give it out to anyone. We want it for ourselves. As you seen I am not a whacko. And anyone who had things they were handing out could you email me a copy? I really wanted to get it from each of you. I am keeping a book on all of this, with all the articles, news videos, etc. I want to hand it down to my children and grandchildren. So they know the truth, and not this so called Christian lies they are telling, to everyone. And as soon as Jenn gets the pictures developed I will scan them into all of you. I know she got the law-breakers. LOL. And that was not us.
So any of you who were here please e-mail me. And I need to know all the groups that were represented here. So let me know.
Yes, the plaintiffs want to thank each of you personally. They will not be able to sign their name, but one day you will know who they are. So I am not sure how they will do it. Maybe have me send them out, I dont know. But they will let me know.
And yes lets send thank you cards to all o the local police, the school, and even the town. LOL. That would say more then you could ever know. If you want to e-mail them to me I will hand deliver them, or I will get addresses for you. Just let me know.
All of you were very important yesterday, all of you. See what can happen when people are rational and put differences aside? Wonderful things can happen and wonderful friends are made. And for those who were not here, they would of made you proud yesterday. You could not of asked for a better group of people to represent you. They were wonderful.
It took 56 men to sign the Declaration of Independence. I would say we had that many yesterday. See what 56 people can do.
Here's to all of you Debbie Santa Fe Texas DebAstra@aol.com
COMMENTARY: Positive demonstrations work
Atheists, humanists, freethinkers, agnostics, skeptics, and their religious allies organized and conducted a successful pro-constitutional rights demonstration in Santa Fe, Texas. We demonstrated a positive message in a positive way in the face of hostility. We created good publicity for our views. We reminded everyone that our Constitution protects individual rights that the majority may not destroy.
We owe Will Ellsworth of Houston a big THANK YOU for taking the initiative to organize the event.
We owe Debbie of Santa Fe another big THANK YOU for communicating with local authorities and telling Santa Fe's few brave constitutional warriors we welcomed their participation.
We owe the biggest THANK YOU of all to the "Does" in the ACLU Santa Fe case. Thanks to their courage and perseverence, there was an opportunity to stand-up for individual rights. Thanks to them, we had an opportunity to show public school officials that we expect them to honor their oath of office to uphold the Constitution.
We didn't change any minds with our demonstration. We did give a morale boost to those who are fed-up with evangelical posturing and hostility over school prayer. We let Santa Fe's evangelicals know that their legal battles are everyone's business when everyone is affected by court decisions. We let the "Does" in the ACLU case and others who support separation of religion and government know that they are not all alone in their struggle. We let them know that their efforts for Constitutional rights are understood and appreciated across the state of Texas.
We also demonstrated that the non-theistic community in Texas is now big enough, committed enough, and organized enough to generate a noticeable demonstration on a significant public issue. Just as we did with our atheist anti-defamation publicity campaign in the Freethinker Cenotaph controversy, the efforts of a few organizers and few dozens supporters got our views and issues into the public spotlight.
When we pick our message well and do it right, our views can get better media mention than our opponents. The religious right has numbers, dollars, media, cultural inertia and fear on their side. We have valuable principles of freedom that most Americans agree with when they hear the facts. We can have an impact when we plan, organize and speak out with a well defined message.
The struggle for freedom of conscience will continue. Everywhere that religious right evangelicals use public office and employment to force religion on others is a battleground for freedom. Santa Fe is just one publicized struggle. Many, many more situations exist where religion is forced on others in violation of church-state separation and individual rights to be free from religious coercion. Santa Fe is just one we have heard about because someone had the courage to stand against religious bullies and demand that the Constitution be honored.
Atheists and other non-theists should be in the vanguard of those protecting our Constitution's separation of religion from government. We are the ones who have most to lose i the religious right succeeds in again making religion part of government.
Our work will not be done until every American, whatever their beliefs, accepts the wisdom of Constitutional separation of religion from civil government and individual freedom of conscience which the majority may not violate. HT