Ten people were killed and three injured during a mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket Saturday afternoon, according to the city’s police commissioner. The manifesto left by the perpetrator of the hate crime appeared to get his talking points straight from Tucker Carlson, Fox News, and the Republican Party Video by Francis Maxwell.
Prayer in school has been a recent debate in the Supreme Court.
The case involves Joe Kennedy, a former high school football coach who was fired for allegedly pressuring students to perform Christian prayers.
Back in 1962, the Supreme Court ruled that New York state public schools could not begin school days with a state-composed prayer.
The court’s opinion was that the practice violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause since it amounted to government-sponsored religious instruction.
The Supreme Court now leads with more conservative judges and seems to be searching April 25 to rule in favor of a former coach who was fired for praying.
In the United States, Pew research shows a recent sharp decline in Christianity.
65 percent of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade.
Americans now describe their religion as “nothing in particular,” up from 12 percent in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population
So what’s next for the Wylie ISD teacher? She has since refused to resign and says this can go on her record.
It was also expressed that one Wylie teacher retired early because of a threatened lawsuit.
“We need to stand firm in our principles and faith,” Parrish said.
Since news broke of her firing, Parrish said she feels “blessed” by the response she’s gotten in the following statement:
“Thank you so much to everyone who has reached out. You have no idea how much it means to me and my family. Being a teacher and coach is one of my greatest blessings. I’m so thankful to God for the special amazing students and athletes that he placed in my life. You all have blessed me more than you’ll ever know. Our family appreciates your continued prayers. Blessings to you.”
Nellie Parrish
The Wylie ISD superintendent has since responded, disputing her claims:
“Nellie Parrish’s contract termination was not because of prayer or Christianity,” said Light.
“This is false information and district personnel matters will not be discussed due to privacy,
Parrish said the school would play Christian music in the cafeteria alongside holding a prayer before football games, adding that Joey Light, the district’s superintendent, is known to lead a prayer on the first day of school.
Her claims are bullshit. They can’t just terminate her for no clear reason. If she was new to that district and still probationary status, they could non-renew her contract. That would make me wonder if she had been released from other districts for similar reasons. Something is missing from this story.
A gentle reminder: Not all Christians proselytize.
I’m married to a devout Christian man. He’s never – in the 48 years we’ve been together – proselytized in any way to me. Like all good and compassionate people of faith, he keeps his personally-held religious beliefs to himself, with no desire to “convert” anyone to anything.
He’s far from alone.
There are many many good and compassionate people of faith.
A Louisiana pastor and headmaster of a Christian school who is also a member of the sate Republican Party governing board has been arrested for a second time on juvenile cruelty charges. John Raymond, 60, pastor of New Horizon Church in Slidell and founder of Lakeside Christian Academy, is an elected member of the Louisiana Republican Party State Central Committee.
Police said the new allegations include Raymond holding a 4-year-old boy upside down by his ankles and “whipping his buttocks” and in a separate incident covering the same child’s mouth and nose with his hand to stop a “tantrum.” Witnesses reported Raymond’s actions prevented the child from breathing “to the point of him going limp.” A staff member said the child was “out of it and lethargic” and “unable to stand.”
Raymond unsuccessfully ran for the Slidell-based 90th District seat in the state House of Representatives in 2018. His campaign played heavily on his support of President Donald Trump and his opposition to gay marriage, and Raymond touted himself as the most conservative Republican in a race that featured several other GOP candidates. He lost that race in a runoff to Mary DuBuisson, another Republican.
Raymond was a “Survivor” contestant in 2002; he was the voted off the island in Thailand. A story published about his exit from “Survivor” in 2002 described him as “bossy, dominating and (who) irritated his tribemates.” He has been active in state Republican politics as a member of the Louisiana Republican Party State Central Committee as credentials committee chair who determines if there is a quorum during meetings.
Story: Louisiana pastor, school headmaster and Republican Party official arrested again on new juvenile cruelty charge, accused of holding 4yo upside down by ankles and whipping him. John Raymond has bonded out of jail #lagov#lalegehttps://t.co/WEHF2bCz13 via @theadvertiser
Raymond had previous been arrested by Slidell Police on April 7 and charged with three counts of cruelty to a juvenile after allegedly taping three 13-year-old students’ mouths shut with packing tape for talking too much in class.
Raymond said the students were offered a choice between calling their parents to say that they were suspended or having Raymond tape their mouths. He blamed the students for upsetting a teacher.
I am the youngest public plaintiff in the “Don’t Say Gay” lawsuit. I am my Florida high school’s first openly-gay Class President. I am being silenced, and I need your help. 🧵
A few days ago, my principal called me into his office and informed me that if my graduation speech referenced my activism or role as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, school administration had a signal to cut off my microphone, end my speech, and halt the ceremony. (2/8)
I am the first openly-gay Class President in my school’s history–this censorship seems to show that they want me to be the last. This threat is not the first that I have received from administration about my queer rights. (3/8)
When administration discovered that I was organizing a Say Gay walkout, they had all our posters ripped from the walls and told me to shut down the protest. They said they would send school security if I did not listen. (4/8)
I held the walkout anyways, and it became our county’s largest protest. I won’t give into threats and I won’t be silenced. I have a plan to fight back again, and this time, I need your help. (5/8)
The SEE Initiative has secured 10,000 Say Gay stickers that we’re prepared to ship to high school seniors across Florida. We want you to wear them on your gowns as you cross the graduation stage, reminding underclassmen that we’re done with highschool, not the fight. (6/8)
I like this video blogger. A vlogger is someone who uses an avatar instead of their face while they do their videos. The avatar is female, but the blogger is male, happily male. Cis Male. Also is happily polysexual, but that is beside the point. He uses a female avatar to make the point that it doesn’t matter to him, he doesn’t get upset over it. I preferred it when he used his own face and body to do his videos, but I understand his point.
His content covers a lot of subjects and I recommend you check out his other videos. He is a staunch supporter of LGBTQ+ rights despite having been raised a highly evangelical conservative Christian forced to attend church schools. He admits he believed the crap forced on him and treated the LGBTQ+ very badly as a teen and young adult. He even drove away a friend he had for years because the friend was gay. Even though Chris tried to apologize that friend never forgave his treatment by Chris and that is something Chris understands and regrets to this day. Suris / Chris claims it took getting away from his highly religious parents and that community living on his own in the real world that he had his eyes opened. When he tried to push the religious views he had been taught to be normal and the way things should be he found himself at odds with all the people he wanted to be friends with. Talking to them and listening to who they really were, he found he couldn’t reconcile that with what he had been taught. So he started to open his eyes and change his views. Unfortunately, as he says he can never make it up to those he hurt and bullied for his god because he was taught that was what his god wanted. At least he is honest and will admit the damage his highly religious upbringing did to him and the people he encountered.
At the very beginning there is some blog stuff he does with his followers, I usually ignore it as I am also doing other things. It is not very long but if it bothers you please fast forward to the real subject of the video, a Florida teacher got fired for answering a question by her students over her family / sexual partner relationships. Spoiler she was not graphic nor explicit, but she simply was not cis heterosexual one woman one man. How dare she let kids know that all people don’t follow that religious dictate! Watch the video to what life in the US under Republican rabid right religious wing is going to be like. Remember these are not little kids these are middle schoolers what was called JR high in my schooling years. This was not about teens drawing sexual pictures of their orientations but about the flags they drew representing their orientations. Colored flags are now so offensive that you can be fired in Florida if they do not represent the republican religious heterosexual normative one man / one woman only nature of sexual expression. I hate this so much! The right wing media really misrepresented this story.
Channel 9 is learning more about an alleged “cult-like” secret society operating within Leesburg High School involving both faculty and students. Records show it was started as some kind of religious group by two school employees and a few former students.
Gabriel Fielder has requested a chance to resign in lieu of termination after a report was made to Leesburg police by a former student who said he was “a member of a secret society at Leesburg High School called the Elder Council.”
State records show Fielder and a guidance counselor named Leonardo Finelli started a nonprofit group in 2019 named Elder Council, Inc. It’s described in part as setup for “not-for-profit missions and teaching activities for the greatest evangelical Christian church globally.”
The former student also told police that the guidance counselor once sent sexual text messages to him and asked to “meet up.”
The man told police that he did not meet up with Finello. Once he graduated, however, he told police the two were in a romantic relationship for about three months, the report stated.
While the text messages were “romantic” in nature, they did not contain sexually explicit or pornographic images, the report stated. Because the alleged sexual activity was between two consenting adults, no criminal charges were filed.
The number of members of the group, which has now reportedly disbanded, is not yet clear. The incorporation papers for the nonprofit list a 13-acre Marion County property owned by Felder as its address.
Scottie's Playtime 