Jack the Bible Ripper Suspended
 I spoke too soon, seems the school has suspended the heinous Bible ripping student for his atrocities against Zombie Jesus.
 JANESVILLE — A Parker High School student tore pages from a Bible in class earlier this month, raising constitutional and ethical issues for school officials and his classmates.
Some students were upset, while others rallied to the cause of free speech.
The student was suspended, his mother said. She was told he couldn’t return to school until he had undergone a psychological evaluation. He was out of school for a week.
“They wanted to make sure he was safe,†the mother said, but she believes he was never a threat to anyone.
In the wake of the suspension, three students wore T-shirts with words supporting the student’s free speech rights.
Parker officials had the three remove the shirts because they could have caused a disruption, said Principal Dale Carlson.
One student set up an Internet conversation site to discuss the incident, and according to postings on that site, the T-shirts read: “So long as a man thinks, he is free,†“Bring (the student’s name) back†and “Those who mind do not matter, and those who matter do not mind.â€
Carlson said the plea to bring the student back was the objectionable part of the T-shirts’ message.
Officials believed it was likely that the shirts’ reference to the Bible incident would have caused a disruption “with other students that were involved in this incident,†Carlson said.
Go bible ripper! I usually burn bibles after ripping them up but I applaud your efforts nonetheless.
Speaking as an actively practicing Christian: Please do not assume we are all like that. There are those of us that can recognize a metaphor when we read it, and we do not all think the world is 6,000 years old.
Would the administration be acting this way if it were a school text book? Why did the kid want to destroy a bible in school when he knew there would be repercussions?
I would say meet in the middle, and go back to religious freedom. No more forcing and no more trashing. We have enough ways to hate each other.
>Why did the kid want to destroy a bible in school when he knew there would be repercussions?
You answered your own question.
Also, religious freedom means he can rip up a bible if he wants, perhaps it’s his belief that he is supposed to do that..?
Also, Penn & Teller in their magic show, sometimes “burn” the flag in celebration, of the right to burn the flag.
I think this exerpt from the original article is very bad and unbalanced. I agree that if someone actually was suspended only for ripping pages from a bible then that would be a stupid thing. But that is not what happend. If you read the rest of the article it says that he also cursed (which Im guessing was against school rules) and he also made several religious generelizing remarks which I quite understand people reacting too. Expressing your opinion is one thing. Talking shit to your classmates because they believe something else then you and then taunt them on the matter while cursing is is a totally different thing.
>> Speaking as an actively practicing Christian: Please do not assume we are all like that.
No, unless you’re actively working to stop people like that, then you’re encouraging it, supporting it and propegating it. You don’t get to hide behind the “those are the CRAZY people” defense anymore. Do something about it!
That was only part of the story. As an atheist, I have absolutely no problem with him tearing pages out of the Bible. That, however, was not why he was suspended. In his speech he gave prior to ripping the pages out, he repeatedly called Christians idiots and said they had sand up their asses.
>> Speaking as an actively practicing Christian: Please do not assume we are all like that.
>>No, unless you’re actively working to stop people like that, then you’re encouraging it, supporting it and propegating it.
So you’re saying that because the people with vastly different values give themselves the same broad label (christian) as David does, he becomes responsible for the actions of the former by virtue of his inaction? What a crock! People are responsible for their own beliefs and actions.
If I took any label or category that you happen to identify with (eg. ethnicity, gender, Knicks fan), and then gave you the onerous task of actively suppressing all of the extremism within each of those groups, on pain of being held guilty by association, would that seem fair to you?
Are all Americans responsible for the actions of their country?
Speaking as an atheist:
What a jerk of a kid. How rude is that? There are much better ways to get his point across, and if there was no mention of religion within his classroom already it seems almost entirely unprovoked.
This is a country with people of many different beliefs. I ask you to respect mine only after I respect yours.
>>Are all American’s responsible for the actions of their country?
Yes, yes we are. Because we sit by hoping that the ‘system’ will work instead of actively railing against it like in the 60′s.
I don’t care what book is being torn or destroyed, the first thing i would think would be “book burning nazi.”