Re: ACLU Threatens High School over graduation at Christian-owned Auditorium - ACLU is looking ridiculous over this one

never forget who runs the ACLU and who they represent

On May 17, 1:44 pm, dick thompson <rhomp2...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Quote
> A New Jersey high school with a 70-year tradition of hosting graduation
> ceremonies in a historic auditorium is standing firm against legal
> threats from the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims the event
> violates the separation of church and state because of the
> Christian-owned site's religious displays.
>
> For generations, graduates of Neptune High School have walked down the
> aisle of the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, where the impressive
> 6,500-seat venue dominates the landscape of one of the area s most
> historic beach towns. Built in 1894, the auditorium is owned and
> operated by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group
> that owns not just the building, but all of the land beneath every home
> and structure in town.
>
> The ACLU of New Jersey threatened legal action against the Neptune
> school district after an attendee at last year s graduation ceremony
> took offense to the building s religious symbols and Christian-based
> references -- among them a 20-foot white cross above the auditorium s
> entrance. The ACLU asked the school to remove or cover up the cross and
> three other religious signs, arguing their visibility during a public
> school event is a First Amendment violation.
>
> School officials responded by agreeing to change the graduation program
> to remove the student-led invocation and two hymns -- one titled Onward
> Christian Soldiers -- to rid the ceremony of any religious references.
>
> The program was not of a religious nature -- it was more tradition than
> anything else, said Neptune Public Schools Superintendent David Mooij.
> But we decided we would change the program and delete the things this
> individual found offensive.
>
> Removing or covering up the cross was another matter. The Camp
> Association said it could not cover the cross, said to have been a gift
> from movie director Woody Allen, who used the auditorium during shooting
> for the 1980 film "Stardust Memories." Nor would they cover up the two
> illuminated indoor signs Holiest to the Lord and So Be Ye Holy
> which are said to be the oldest operating electric signs in America.
>
> Read more:http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/17/aclu-threatens-legal-action-nj-h...

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