Is it just irresponsible ignorance or arrogant secularism that causes Blue River (Oregon) school administrator Sally Storm to refuse to allow the motto chosen by a graduating class because it is derived from (gasp!) the Bible? Here's the deal as reported by The Oregonian:Despite the connection to the school mascot, a rural school district has banned a proposed motto for a graduating high school class because it contains a religious reference.
Some of the 90 seniors at McKenzie High School had been inspired by a Bible verse quoted at the August funeral of a classmate killed in an all-terrain vehicle accident. The entire verse was: "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles." It was read at the memorial service for Ryan Snapp, who died Aug. 10 after hitting a tree in the alcohol-related crash.
The students deleted any references to God in the proposed motto based on the verse and the school mascot name, the Eagles. But McKenzie School District officials rejected the motto as too religious: "They that believe shall mount up with wings as eagles."
Brianna Rux, 17, one of the seniors, disagreed with the decision and wrote a guest opinion in The Register-Guard protesting it. She said the verse seemed particularly fitting, given the mascot name and that class members have pulled together to rise above their grief. "Ourselves being Eagles, it seemed a good way to describe who we are that no matter what we believe in, we can overcome," she told the Eugene newspaper on Friday...
But after talking to a lawyer who knew (inexplicably) that the phrase came from the Old Testament, school superintendent Storm said, she had "no choice" but to ban the motto. Indeed, Ms. Storm further underscored her abysmal ignorance (and, quite likely, her coercive prejudice) by telling reporters how she justified her interference, "My duty is to follow the law in this case -- the U.S. Constitution -- which doesn't allow public schools to either interfere with the practice of religion or establish a religious practice."
