Some parents in a Virginia county are upset about a few books on public school summer reading lists – so much so that they’re calling for censorship.
Chesterfield County, which is just south of Richmond, has been besieged for a second-straight year by a group that is clearly under the influence of the Religious Right.
Yesterday we celebrated the one-year anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court decision that made marriage equality the law of the land. Today we want to remind you that there’s still much work to do.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) in April vetoed a bill that would have created a voucher-like program for disabled students.
In a statement, McAuliffe said that the bill, H.B. 389, would have been in “direct conflict” with a clause in the state constitution that forbids public aid to private, religious schools.
“This bill raises constitutional questions, diverts funds from public schools, and creates an unfair system. Our goal is to support and improve public education across the Commonwealth for all students, not to codify inequality,” he added.
The mayor of Virginia’s capital city stands accused of diverting city resources toward the church he heads, and his defense is unusual: The First Amendment shields him from scrutiny.
In addition to being mayor of Richmond, the Rev. Dwight C. Jones (D) is also senior pastor at First Baptist Church of South Richmond. He was elected mayor in 2008 and since then, city offices have been salted with hires who are also members of First Baptist.
The mayor of Virginia’s capital city stands accused of diverting city resources toward the church he heads, and he seems to think he can violate the First Amendment while simultaneously claiming that the Constitution shields him from punishment.
Augusta County, Va., public schools temporarily closed in December due to public backlash to a World Geography lesson. Riverheads High School teacher Cheryl LaPorte asked students to copy the shahada, or Islamic declaration of faith, as part of a lesson on Arabic calligraphy.
Kimberly Herndon, a local parent, blasted the assignment.
A Virginia public school system is grappling with questions over the proper role of religion.
Last week, a community meeting was held in Spotsylvania County, Va., to discuss plans by a group of Muslims who want to relocate and expand an Islamic center where they have been worshipping for 15 years.
What should have been a routine matter of zoning turned ugly when two men in the audience began hurling insults.
Let’s say a legislator in your state came up with the bright idea to force everyone to pay a special tax to support “teachers of the Christian religion.” What would you do?
You’d probably fire up your computer and use social media and Twitter to mobilize opposition. You might start an online petition or lobby the legislature directly.
But if it were 1785, and you didn’t have any of those tools, you might just have to do what James Madison did – reach for a quill pen and write a broadside so powerful it would sink the idea.
“Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” has become a cliché, but opposition to marriage equality remains rooted in certain religious beliefs. The same-sex marriage bans of four states will be considered next week by the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges. Proponents of these marriage bans framed their arguments in religious terms; legislators even quoted scripture and proclaimed that the ban was necessary “for the stability of society and for the greater glory of God.”
