Ethics

Student Stands Up for Constitution in Mississippi

By Ed Brayton

Reading this letter to the editor of a Mississippi newspaper makes me both hopeful and sad. Hopeful because a freshman in high school had the courage and the eloquence to write the letter, which exposes clearly unconstitutional proselytizing by his school administration; sad because I know without a doubt that this brave young man will now be the target of harassment, intimidation and quite possibly death threats and violence.

How do I know that? Because every other person who has stood up like this has had to face those things, from the Gobitis family in the 40s to Ellery Schempp in the 60s to the plaintiffs in Dover in 2005. Every plaintiff that I know of in every major church/state dispute in the last 70 years has been targeted in that manner; I doubt this young man will be any different. One can only hope that school and local officials will do their job and protect him, but in light of the fact that he is exposing their illegal behavior, I'm not holding my breath. Below the fold, the text of the letter:

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on March 08, 2008 (boomark / email).