Post by AuntieSocial on Feb 3, 2004 22:55:34 GMT -5
Drop 'Christian' from Constitution?
Click here to read the article on the original site
By DAVID GRAM
Published: January 31, 2004
Publishing Agency: Associated Press
Publiation: Bennington Banner
MONTPELIER – Vermont's state Constitution says that "every sect or denomination of Christians ought to observe Sabbath or Lord's Day, and keep up some sort of religious worship, which, to them, will seem most agreeable to the revealed will of God."
Ninth-graders Sylvie Daley and Dosia Sanford from the Twinfield Union School in Marshfield went before the Senate Government Operations Committee on Friday and said it's time to amend the founding document to remove the reference to a specific religion.
The constitutional provision is "anachronistic," Daley said. "We just think it's time to bring it up to date so that it's fair to all religions.
"We're not anti-Christian," she added. "We don't want to get God out of the Constitution. We just want to remove all the references to 'Christian' because Vermont is so much more diverse now."
The students would change Article 3 of Chapter 1 of the Vermont Constitution to begin, "That all persons have a natural and unalienable right to worship any deity, god, religious entity or supreme being in any way that that they see fit" so long as it doesn't interfere with the "good order, peace or safety of the state."
The seed for the students' activism was planted last year when they were eighth-graders participating in Project Citizen, a program aimed at enhancing the teaching of civics in Vermont's schools in part by applying what is learned to real-life situations.
The same program launched a successful national campaign to get tobacco ads removed from student editions of Newsweek and other national news magazines.
The students got interested enough in their eighth-grade project to continue it this year under their own steam, said Twinfield civics teacher Dale Newton.
Newton, who attended the hearing, said the course was designed to teach students "to navigate through the public policy process," and sharpen their use of language.
Committee members were universally impressed with the students' presentation. But they said they doubted such an amendment would be acted on this year.
Rev. Neal Laybourne, pastor of the Barre Evangelical Free Church, said in a later telephone interview that he would not like to see the Constitution changed.
"The Judeo-Christian foundation that we have is something that permeates much of our society and simply cannot be overlooked," he said. "It is not being discriminatory when we make that recognition from our history.
"If we were denying somebody something, then we could debate that subject," Laybourne added. The Constitution merely asks Christians to live up to their obligation to worship. "It's not a privilege; it's a responsibility," he said.
Click here to read the article on the original site
By DAVID GRAM
Published: January 31, 2004
Publishing Agency: Associated Press
Publiation: Bennington Banner
MONTPELIER – Vermont's state Constitution says that "every sect or denomination of Christians ought to observe Sabbath or Lord's Day, and keep up some sort of religious worship, which, to them, will seem most agreeable to the revealed will of God."
Ninth-graders Sylvie Daley and Dosia Sanford from the Twinfield Union School in Marshfield went before the Senate Government Operations Committee on Friday and said it's time to amend the founding document to remove the reference to a specific religion.
The constitutional provision is "anachronistic," Daley said. "We just think it's time to bring it up to date so that it's fair to all religions.
"We're not anti-Christian," she added. "We don't want to get God out of the Constitution. We just want to remove all the references to 'Christian' because Vermont is so much more diverse now."
The students would change Article 3 of Chapter 1 of the Vermont Constitution to begin, "That all persons have a natural and unalienable right to worship any deity, god, religious entity or supreme being in any way that that they see fit" so long as it doesn't interfere with the "good order, peace or safety of the state."
The seed for the students' activism was planted last year when they were eighth-graders participating in Project Citizen, a program aimed at enhancing the teaching of civics in Vermont's schools in part by applying what is learned to real-life situations.
The same program launched a successful national campaign to get tobacco ads removed from student editions of Newsweek and other national news magazines.
The students got interested enough in their eighth-grade project to continue it this year under their own steam, said Twinfield civics teacher Dale Newton.
Newton, who attended the hearing, said the course was designed to teach students "to navigate through the public policy process," and sharpen their use of language.
Committee members were universally impressed with the students' presentation. But they said they doubted such an amendment would be acted on this year.
Rev. Neal Laybourne, pastor of the Barre Evangelical Free Church, said in a later telephone interview that he would not like to see the Constitution changed.
"The Judeo-Christian foundation that we have is something that permeates much of our society and simply cannot be overlooked," he said. "It is not being discriminatory when we make that recognition from our history.
"If we were denying somebody something, then we could debate that subject," Laybourne added. The Constitution merely asks Christians to live up to their obligation to worship. "It's not a privilege; it's a responsibility," he said.
