I just re-read the article. I think others should do so as well:
Wednesday, December 26, 2001
McKinley High School student code
preaches "Love for God."
Teacher's complaint triggers HCSSC demand for immediate removal.
Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church (HCSSC) has filed a formal complaint with the Department of Education after receiving a complaint from a teacher employed at McKinley High School. The teacher's complaint alleges that the school's Code of Honor promotes "Love for God" and is posted in classrooms and published in the student handbook.
McKinley High School student Code of Honor
As a student of McKinley, I stand
For Honesty
In all I do and say;
For Industry
In study, work, and play;
For Purity
In spirit, thought and deed;
For Courage
To meet life's every need;
For Brotherhood
Of races all combined;
And Love
For God and all Mankind.
By including the phrase "Love for God" in its Code of Honor for students, McKinley High School has violated the constitutions of the United States and the State of Hawaii, as well as HAR §8-41-1 which reads in part: "It is the policy of the board of education that there shall be no discrimination in any program, activity, or service of the public school system on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin…."
McKinley High School is a public school and thus it may neither promote nor endorse any form of religious ideology by any means. The Code of Honor amounts to religious coercion and discriminates against students who are atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, or those who follow non-monotheistic religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Shintoism.
In cases such as Abington v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963), Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971), Stone v. Graham, 449 U.S. 39 (1980), and Santa Fe v. Doe, 168 F.3d 806 (2000), the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly affirmed that students in public schools must remain free from any school-sanctioned religious activity, coercion, or discrimination.
The three-pronged "Lemon Test," established in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971), requires that all government activity must: 1) serve a principally secular purpose; 2) not in effect advance religion over non-religion; or 3) not involve excessive entanglement with religion.
By including "Love for God," the Code of Honor fails all three prongs of the Lemon Test. There is not a secular purpose for including the religious edict; the effect is coercive and discriminatory and clearly involves excessive entanglement.
Setting aside the legal argument, there are serious ethical implications of allowing state-sanctioned religious edicts in Hawaii public schools.
According to figures published in the 2000 State of Hawaii Data Book, only 29% of Hawaii residents belong to any of the Christian sects, while the combined Jewish and Muslim population is less than 1%. Thus only 30% of Hawaii residents hold any form of belief in "God" (i.e., monotheism).
Minority non-monotheist faiths in Hawaii account for approximately 10% of the population; these include followers of Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Shintoism, Hawaiian, Polynesian, Native American, Wiccan, Zoroastrian, and others.
However the vast majority of Hawaii residents -- approximately 60% -- can be described as atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, and/or indifferent.
The McKinley High School Code of Honor is similar to the Ten Commandants. It could in fact be argued that the phrase "Love for God" is a paraphrase of the First Commandment: "I am the LORD your God.... You shall have no other gods before me."
The fact that this purely monotheistic religious edict is ascribed to all students ("As a student of McKinley, I stand...for Love for God") makes this civil rights violation particularly egregious and serious.
By publishing the Code of Honor in the student handbook (i.e., official rules for students) and posting it in classrooms or hallways, the school officially sanctions and endorses this particular religious ideology at the expense of all others.
According to one teacher, "...the [Code of Honor] is now sung by the school choir and recited at different ceremonies." No student should ever be compelled to sing, recite, read or listen to any religious edict in a public school.
The Code of Honor sends a clear message that "honorable" students "believe in" and "Love God," while students who do NOT believe in "God" are somehow dishonorable.
Religious belief is never a requirement for honor, ethics or morality. Public school administrators and teachers should never impose their religious ideologies on students for any reason and by any means.
Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson wrote: "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."
The legal arguments and precedence in this matter support the absolute separation of state and church in public schools. Title 8, Chapter 41 prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion.
In letters to Principal Milton Shishido and Superintendent Pat Hamamoto, HCSSC has demanded the immediate removal of the Code of Honor from all public property and materials at McKinley High School.
For more information, please write to HCSSC President Mitchell Kahle at
hcssc@lava.net.
Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church
Email:
hcssc@lava.netWebsite:
http://www.lava.net/~hcssc_____________________________
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"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason
is like administering medicine to the dead."
-- Thomas Paine, in "The Age of Reason"
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