Jessica Ahlquist's RI ACLU Press Conference January 12, 2012

On January 11, 2012, Senior U.S. District Court Judge Ronald R. Lagueux ruled that the "Prayer Banner" at Cranston West High School violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment and ordered it to be removed immediately.

Jessica Ahlquist, a sixteen year old atheist, had won her case.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Jessica Ahlquist
• Rhode Island
• ACLU
• Mark Ahlquist
• Lynette Labinger
• Steve Brown
• Cranston West High School
• First Amendment
• Establishment Clause
• Separation of Church and State

[alive4ever1]

Wonderful amazing person.

[kissahh1]

GO Constitution! Great job Jessica !

[ClumsyRoot]

@ChestonORChezszun

Technically speaking, "church" is a Christian term. But in the CONTEXT of the "church and state" issue, it is understood to refer to any religious sect. The wall of separation that Jefferson spoke of also applies to Islam, Judaism, and all other faiths.

At one time, "man" or "mankind" was used to refer humans of either gender, a bias that has been mostly corrected. Of course, at the time of our founding, "all men" included landed white men only. :)

[ChestonORChezszun]

@ClumsyRoot No, I've studied religion. People may use "church" to mean that, but they are wrong to do so. Church is ONLY a Christian term. You will never hear it in reference to any other religion unless spoken by an uneducated person. Just curious, how do you know that women were in mind?

[ChestonORChezszun]

@Moonawrathic 1) "Church" is a term that is exclusive to Christianity. I think what you meant to say is that "religion" and state should be separate, not merely church.

2) God is not bound by whether or not we take him into our schools or not. He does what He wills no matter what we preference. God will continue to be God. He is loving yes. But, don't forget that He is also terrifying. He reigns and glory that He does and not ourselves.

[ChestonORChezszun]

@ClumsyRoot "Church" is a term that is exclusive for Christianity. It does not apply to any other religion. Thus, by her saying that she doesn't want church and state mixed, she leaves the door open for other religious influences on our government apart. By her ignorance of the term, she implies that religious influences are welcomed in our government's system so long as they are not Christian influences.

[ClumsyRoot]

@ChestonORChezszun

What are you talking about?

[Noxictyz]

Ahlquist is a Swedish surname :D She might be of swedish heritage, go Ahlquist!!

[Live2Win200]

@Moonawrathic So you "KNOW" that this country without a fictional being will be destroyed? How do you "Know" this? Actually the more this country overcomes it religious problem the better it will be. To have religious people stop trying to pin this country into an unproven belief sytem and into the denial of logic would be a giant leap forward for Americans.