Monday School: Religious loophole for bullying?

Time for Monday School! Our doors are always open, just like our minds.

Bullying in school is something that has become (finally) a hot topic as teenagers are committing suicide to get away from it. Right now there is a law that is being passed through the Tennessee legislature that is drawing a lot of fire from political opponents. While everyone is against bullying of any kind, there is language in this law that creates exemptions which is seriously fucked up. There should be no exceptions to bullying, all of it is bad and should not be tolerated.

Here is a small snippet concerning the controversial bill:

A proposed bill in Tennessee would create a loophole in the state’s anti-bullying laws to protect those expressing religious, philosophical or political beliefs, which one proponent says would ensure that people can still express their “views on homosexuality.”

The proposed bill would amend the state’s current anti-bullying laws to specify that the anti-bully policy should “not be construed or interpreted to infringe upon the First Amendment rights of students and shall not prohibit their expression of religious, philosophical, or political views” as long as there’s no physical threat or threat to another student’s property.

David Fowler, a former Republican state Senator and current Christian activist, is pushing for the legislature to take up the bill in the new year after it stalled before the end of the last session. According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Fowler sent out a newsletter for his group the Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT) in December that said he wants “to make sure [the law] protects the religious liberty and free speech rights of students who want to express their views on homosexuality.”

“The purpose is to stop bullying, not create special classes of people who are more important than others,” Fowler told the Times Free Press.

Gay rights activists in the state say the new bill would create a “license to bully” gay teens, and point to the suicide of a teenager named Jacob Rogers, who had reportedly been repeatedly bullied for being gay.

“This kind of legislation can send a message that it’s OK to hate and we’ll even give you religious sanction for it. You can say what you want. As long as you say it’s for religious reasons, you’ve got backup,” Chris Sanders, of the Tennessee Equality Project, told WSMV4.

FACT said on its radio show of Rogers’ death: “It is wrong to bully people because of their sexual practices. But it’s wrong to bully people period. The larger lesson here is that these tragedies are often the rotten fruit of the all-about-me individualistic culture that comes when we deny the existence of God and his image in us. When life and people become cheap, tragedy is the result.”

Tennessee’s legislature previously considered a “don’t say gay” bill — which prevented teachers from discussing gays and lesbians with students in grades K-8 — but it also stalled in the last session.

A spokesman for state Sen. Jim Tracy (R), who sponsored the bill in the last session, said Tracy is “reviewing the legislation” and will probably “narrow” the “very broad” language.

In November, Michigan’s Republican-led state Senate approved a bill with similar language that carved out a “moral convictions” loophole for bullies, but they backed off and compromised in the resultant controversy.

Source: Tennessee Bill Would Give Anti-Bullying Laws A ‘Religious And Political Beliefs’ Loophole

I recently wrote a Monday school entry where I stated that someone right to religion does have limits. People are not allowed to sacrfice or kill people in the name of religion if it contracts the laws of a moral society, so why should people who are expressing religious hate be given a free pass to bully anyone they want?

Here’s the thing though, this loop hole is actually a lot bigger than politicians assume. This people supporting the loop hole in this bill claim it’s to protect “religious liberty”, but does what they are really trying to protect is “Christian Liberty”. But if the law says ‘religious’ rather than ‘Christian’, that means this loop hole will be open for people of all faiths, (Jewish and even Muslim) to use and bully people they do not agree with in accordance to their faith… even Christians. Do you really want to give anyone of any religious background that kind of power to promote their own version of hatred?

Also, many faiths consider women to be inferior so this law would open the flood gates and make it legal for high school kids to discriminate against women. The Quaran specifically states that all women are only worth half a man (2:282), so this would give them grounds to say whatever discriminating thing they want to any girl in high school because it would be protected by this religious loop hole. Ditto for Christians who state that women are not to be allowed a voice in any position of power and always remain silent (Timothy 2:9). This law basically strips away all the progress women’s right have made all in the name of promoting religious hate. Don’t even get me started on the kind of hate and bullying atheists would suffer if this law passes as it is right now.

If this law passes, I know what exactly will happen and it’s not pretty. People will use their faith to ram their hate down people’s throats and this loop hole will give them free licence to bully people as often as they want. Then one day someone is going to snap and the next big ‘Columbine’ like school shooting will occur in Tennessee.

Is that really what these politicians want? I’m sure their intentions are good, but more suicides and a lot more shootings is what they’re setting themselves up for if they let this loophole to stand. More people will be picked and the result will be more suicides and more students relying on their 2nd amendment rights to resolve the issue rather that going to their teacher who can’t help them because bullies are entitled to their ‘religious liberty’.

So let’s recap: hate is hate, regardless of who says it and for whatever reason. Religion should never get a free pass from this law because free speech has never been unlimited; it has rules and regulations we have to follow. Nobody should be given a free pass to pick on anyone in school for being different, and anyone who believes that this is all right needs to have their heads examined.

There shouldn’t be any loop holes in any anti-bullying laws. Making laws like this is pretty similar to circumcision and nuclear proliferation: either you go all the way or don’t fucking bother doing it in the first place…

Peter