"Bong Hits For Jesus" Do Students Have Free Speech?

www.educationunlimited.com
Read More: The Supreme Court is currently considering the case of an Alaska student who was expelled for 10 days for hanging a sign that read "Bong Hits For Jesus"at school gathering off campus for the school to see the Olympic Torch pass by. Matt Fraser, a litigant in the precedent setting students rights case Bethel v. Fraser, discusses the current case and the impact on education. Fraser defended his first ammendment rights against the Bethel School Distric when the school suspended Fraser after for making this speech at a school wide assembly for student body elections:

"I know a man who is firm - he's firm in his pants, he's firm in his shirt, his character is firm - but most [of] all, his belief in you the students of Bethel, is firm. Jeff Kuhlman is a man who takes his point and pounds it in. If necessary, he'll take an issue and nail it to the wall. He doesn't attack things in spurts - he drives hard, pushing and pushing until finally - he succeeds. Jeff is a man who will go to the very end - even the climax, for each and every one of you."

Do you think the "Bong Hits" student has a constitutional right to express himself by hanging the sign? Why would the constitution treat the student's First Ammendment protection any different from that of an adult? Is there a compelling state interest that overrides even first ammendment protections for students? What are the long term impacts of the Court allowing a government office to restrict the First Ammendment rights of students whenever they deem a disruption to have? occurred?

The opening sentence of Chapter II in J.S. Mill's classic On Liberty is telling: "The time, it is to be hoped, is gone by when any defense would be necessary of the "liberty of the press" as one of the securities against corrupt or tyrannical government. even if the received opinion be not only true, but the whole truth; unless it is suffered to be, and actually is, vigorously and earnestly contested, it will, by most of those who receive it, be held in the manner of a prejudice, with little comprehension or feeling of its rational grounds. And not only this, but the meaning of the doctrine itself will be in danger of being lost, or enfeebled, and deprived of its vital effect on the character and conduct: the dogma becoming a mere formal profession, inefficacious for good, but cumbering the ground, and preventing the growth of any real and heartfelt conviction, from reason or personal experience."

Well put! Please express yourself freely in a comment to this tape. The recording quality is not perfect and the very beggining was not captured, but there are a lot of important issues hanging in the balance of this court case for students all over this country.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Bong
• Hits
• Jesus
• Supreme
• Court
• Free
• Speech
• Students
• Rights
• Philosophy
• Education
• Law

[DRcaprice]

true, people always think bongs = weed.

[nickwankel]

and how do they know that jesus didnt smoke? Were they around back then... I think not.. so you have no proof that he did or didnt. Plus weed is just that, a weed, it grows naturally in nature... so if you do believe in God and the whole 'creation' thing, then pretty much God created weed. So why wouldnt his son smoke the good smoke.... "I know.. we'll call it 'Holy Smoke'" - Ralphie May, comedian

[MrLonelyStoner]

@nickwankel They have the proof of the Bible. Read up or have a conversation with someone before trying to make points like that. In the Bible it says one should always be in there right mind. So that means don't use drugs that make you lose control of yourself. They drink alcohol but not to the point where they are drunk. Psychedelic Marijuana, the weed you know today, would not be how it is without human modification. Industrial hemp and how impotent it is, is how all marijuana is "naturally".

[64TbirdLandau]

BoNg HiTs FoR JeSuS

[hollowtube76]

@nickwankel Exactly and he probably did smoke weed since he went to India and learned from the holy men there and a lot of the holy men in India smoke weed and see it as a way to connect to God. There was no stigma about it back then and Jesus definitely wasn't a conservative.

[Btroisi13]

Some people learn better after a few 'bong hits.' Some not. Everyone is different. And the ONLY reason schools are anti-drug, is because it's a government institution. If they decided to NOT spread propaganda, then they'd lose their federal funding.

[InfidelSlaughter]

I think we need to be more supportive of the Messiah in his ongoing struggle with marijuana addiction. These kids should be jailed, Christs struggle with the Devil weed is an inspiration to all.

[ruma17]

BONG HITS 4 JESUS

[tekkenfan155]

good on them, everyone should have the freedom of voice no matter what it is.

[rooflee]

@angolahot lol, I think he's kidding! (well, I hope so lol)

[chinchillawrangler]

being that i live in alaska, plus the fact that im a teenager, i would assume thats what they meant. 100 percent. but in a court case idk. they were just tryin to stir up trouble