Religious neutrality gone wrong

[Masquerouge]

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2009/08/evolution_shirts_on_trial_in_missouri_town.php

Thanks to complaints from Melby and other parents, the school's assistant superintendent, Brad Pollitt, has asked students to turn in the t-shirts because the district is required by law to remain neutral in religious matters.

also note that

The shirts -- based on the popular illustration above -- were designed to promote the band's fall program, "Brass Evolutions," that explores how brass instruments have changed from the 1960s to today.

Didn't know there was anything in the Bible about the origins of brass intruments

But in any case, the T-shirt in the pic is religiously neutral, as it doesn't even mention religion.


EDIT: Ah shoot. Could a mod please move this to OT? Thanks

 

[Phlegmak]

Since evolution (brass instrument, organic life, and the artwork on the shirt) has nothing to do with religion, and the shirt doesn't mention religion, then it's religion-neutral.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

This could be interesting for the ID movement, which claims to be religiously neutral - how can they protest it?

 

[kulade]

I think parents should be more worried about all the students behind the first line of the band being depicted as subhuman, which is rasist.

 

[Gooblah]

...I think it's a cool shirt.

Yeah, not really religious message here - if anything, it promotes religious neutrality by ignoring religion all together.

 

[bhsup]

Since evolution is not in conflict with religion, how is the t-shirt in conflict with religion?

 

[Bill3000]

I should start a religion which states that the earth is flat in order to remove all globes from all schools.

 

[hossam]

if the t-shirt said jesus rules or something everyone would have their panties in a bunch too.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Heck, the shirt, isn't even saying that the theory of evolution is correct, just using a well known symbol of evolution (which, by the way, has been thoroughly debunked for some time).

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Evolution is religion...how?

 

[MobBoss]

This could be interesting for the ID movement, which claims to be religiously neutral - how can they protest it?

Excellent point Eran. If the theme were some sort of intelligent design thingy, but still religious neutral - who would be complaining then you think?

 

[Bill3000]

Excellent point Eran. If the theme were some sort of intelligent design thingy, but still religious neutral - who would be complaining then you think?

ID isn't religiously neutral, though.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

It claims to be, which will make this a sticky situation for them . . .

 

[.Shane.]

Since evolution (brass instrument, organic life, and the artwork on the shirt) has nothing to do with religion, and the shirt doesn't mention religion, then it's religion-neutral.

Exactly.

This could be interesting for the ID movement, which claims to be religiously neutral - how can they protest it?

Not interesting at all. Its been proven, legally, that the ID movement is a religious one.

ID is a fraud and they know it.

Excellent point Eran. If the theme were some sort of intelligent design thingy, but still religious neutral - who would be complaining then you think?

Except that you either missed or it twisted it.

ID is not religiously neutral, as noted above. (See also the cdesign proponentist link in my sig)

How about this: would the creationaists complain if I ask for equal time to teach evolution during Sunday sermon?

 

[MobBoss]

ID isn't religiously neutral, though.

It can be just as neutral as evolution.

 

[ComradeDavo]

Instead of removing the t-shirts, they should just remove religion.

 

[Miles Teg]

It can be just as neutral as evolution.

Except of course that the ID movement isn't religiously neutral, and this is a legal fact. So the question is moot.

 

[.Shane.]

It can be just as neutral as evolution.

Except that it is not.

Some quotes from Kitzmiller v. Dover (decided by a Bush appointee OH NOES THE JUDICIAL ACTIVISM!@#@!!):

A significant aspect of the IDM [intelligent design movement] is that despite Defendants' protestations to the contrary, it describes ID as a religious argument. In that vein, the writings of leading ID proponents reveal that the designer postulated by their argument is the God of Christianity.
...
The evidence at trial demonstrates that ID is nothing less than the progeny of creationism
...
After a searching review of the record and applicable caselaw, we find that while ID arguments may be true, a proposition on which the Court takes no position, ID is not science. We find that ID fails on three different levels, any one of which is sufficient to preclude a determination that ID is science. They are: (1) ID violates the centuries-old ground rules of science by invoking and permitting supernatural causation; (2) the argument of irreducible complexity, central to ID, employs the same flawed and illogical contrived dualism that doomed creation science in the 1980's; and (3) ID's negative attacks on evolution have been refuted by the scientific community

(bold mine)

Lots more where that came from. Source

 

[downtown]

All funny band t-shirts get banned eventually.

 

[.Shane.]

Good point, DT. That said, I do want to see the Intelligent Design designed band t-shirt!