School Bus Driver Fired for Praying on Bus

[Tom_Wescott]

My mom listened to the oldies station, so I used to hear it every other day or so.

Tom: Are you really younger than me? I mean I am still clearly juvenile in behavior and manner (I totally just bought a new Play Doh set) but I thought I have been at the kid's table on here for awhile. Not in the ignored by adults kind of way, more in the forgiving the occasional mashed potato ball being launched across the room kind of way.

I figure I must be. I'm 39.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Errata]

I figure I must be. I'm 39.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

haHA! Suck it Wescott! I'm 35.

I don't know why that made me competitive.

[Tom_Wescott]

haHA! Suck it Wescott! I'm 35.

I don't know why that made me competitive.

Enjoy it while you can. In 4 more years we'll be the same age!

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Errata]

Enjoy it while you can. In 4 more years we'll be the same age!

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Are you soccer momming your age? Celebrating turning 40 3 years in a row?


My oldest friend is a leapling. She recently turned 9. That's always disconcerting.

[Tom_Wescott]

I'm not yet, but definitely thinking about it.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Limehouse]

Back when kids were taught to pray they killed a lot less people, did a lot less drugs, and didn't get pregnant so young. Hopefully he made a positive impression on at least one of those kids before he was fired for being a positive role model.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Bravo.

[Fleetwood Mac]

And if the driver had handed out prayer mats, had the kids face East and pray to Allah, how would those who support his actions feel about it?

c.d.

A bit disingenuous isn't it? The US is a Christian country.

I'm personally not religious but I'd like England to remain a Christian country because those principles have played a huge role in our development, and actually I quite like many of those principles and this country.

It really is ridiculous that some bloke can't pray or even beckon others to pray just because he's 'in the public service'. The Western world is becoming at the beck and call of the left-wing secularists and that is a shame because those people are dangerous. They'd have you believe that they're leading the world into the coming enlightenment with their ability to reason and remain objective, but through the back door they're ramming their agenda down people's throats. Take Dawkins as a point in case - the word 'militant' could quite easily have been coined specifically for him.

[c.d.]

Hello Mac,

Sorry, but the U.S. is not a Christian country. It is a secular country. There is no mention of Christianity in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.

The Constitution was designed to protect all religions. If you favor one over another, that protection is threatened.

The bus driver is free to pray all he wants just not when he is representing the school.

And for the record, I like Dawkins. He is a bit arrogant but I like him still.

c.d.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Not the same thing. England might have traded their history and chose to become a Muslim country, but America has always been a Christian country. People of other religions have never had a problem with that, only that athiests, and they shouldn't have a say. But I'll say your analogy was far more appropriate than Magpie's bizarre contraception comparison. I don't recall any point in our nation's history where it was okay to give children condoms.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

Tom,

Give over, man.

England has not traded its history. It remains a Christian country. In fact, we are one of the few countries who still have an established religion/church; and it isn't Islam.

England is widely recognised in Europe as the most patriotic country in Europe (although we feel we are not Europeans at all - only by geography, but certainly not by ideas), and that means a country whose people have no problem with minorities (unless they're killing our soldiers on our streets) but celebrating that this country is built upon Christian ideals.

The biggest issue in this country is not the minorities at all; it is our home grown left-wing types who adore all things French including their ideals, which to my mind are the exact opposite of English ideals, and they have attempted to bring French standards of holier-than-thou secularism while attempting to ban everything in sight.

The French ban women wearing muslim attire; we don't and never will. Not because we're a muslim country but because of freedom of expression. The French lurch from one extreme idea to another; we don't , we're a moderate country. The French are obsessed with left-wing ideals; we're not.

But, inevitably the European Union means more and more of these European ideals are seeping into England. Most of us want out of the European Union whatever the economic consequences for that very reason.

England remains what it always was but we are under threat due to geography and the misfortune of being in close proximity to a continent that traditionally doesn't think like us.

[Limehouse]

Tom,

Give over, man.

England has not traded its history. It remains a Christian country. In fact, we are one of the few countries who still have an established religion/church; and it isn't Islam.

England is widely recognised in Europe as the most patriotic country in Europe (although we feel we are not Europeans at all - only by geography, but certainly not by ideas), and that means a country whose people have no problem with minorities (unless they're killing our soldiers on our streets) but celebrating that this country is built upon Christian ideals.

The biggest issue in this country is not the minorities at all; it is our home grown left-wing types who adore all things French including their ideals, which to my mind are the exact opposite of English ideals, and they have attempted to bring French standards of holier-than-thou secularism while attempting to ban everything in sight.

The French ban women wearing muslim attire; we don't and never will. Not because we're a muslim country but because of freedom of expression. The French lurch from one extreme idea to another; we don't , we're a moderate country. The French are obsessed with left-wing ideals; we're not.

But, inevitably the European Union means more and more of these European ideals are seeping into England. Most of us want out of the European Union whatever the economic consequences for that very reason.

England remains what it always was but we are under threat due to geography and the misfortune of being in close proximity to a continent that traditionally doesn't think like us.

Are you for real? I think you've completely lost the plot pal. I've never heard such a lot of contradictory, incoherent hogwash in my life!

I think you must be a troll.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Hello Mac,

Sorry, but the U.S. is not a Christian country. It is a secular country. There is no mention of Christianity in the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.

The Constitution was designed to protect all religions. If you favor one over another, that protection is threatened.

The bus driver is free to pray all he wants just not when he is representing the school.

And for the record, I like Dawkins. He is a bit arrogant but I like him still.

c.d.

Hello c.d.,

Dawkins is a fool. Highly educated, but arrogant to the extent that he feels his education as a biologist qualifies him to take up arms against people who believe in God. He went as far as to have a slogan placed upon a bus which beckoned people to forget God. As far as he's concerned only idiots could believe in God and all reasoned people will follow his path. Ironic eh.

And, you may have more and more people at odds with religion, but make no mistake that certain countries operate under the principles of Christian teachings. From where do you think the Rule of Law hails? John Locke's teachings that people have a duty to God to not harm the person or property of one another.

In England, the Church of England has made us what we are, whether we choose to follow religion or not. It's a peculiarly English religion and the people of this country are peculiar because of it. We like cricket, drink warm ale, are obsessively sceptical of grand ideas and will say we're not political when what we really mean is we know politicians can't achieve much so we don't get too excited about it but threaten our privacy and there'll be a backlash of sorts. You may not instantly recognise the connection but a dig a little deeper and it becomes obvious that the Church of England has shaped the people of this country.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Are you for real? I think you've completely lost the plot pal. I've never heard such a lot of contradictory, incoherent hogwash in my life!

I think you must be a troll.

Take a point and argue the case. Who would have thought it eh? The self-proclaimed rational left-wing types full of love and charity resorting to petty squabbling.

Julie, you're not exactly winning hearts and minds here.

[c.d.]

Hello Mac,

Dawkins is not the point here nor is England or the Church of England.

The founding fathers in America were smart enough to realize that ALL religions need to be protected. If you favor one over the other, then ALL are threatened INCLUDING Christianity. The bus driver wasn't fired because these were Christian prayers. The same thing would have happened if he were leading prayers from the Koran or the Torah.

c.d.

[Fleetwood Mac]

Hello Mac,

Dawkins is not the point here nor is England or the Church of England.

The founding fathers in America were smart enough to realize that ALL religions need to be protected. If you favor one over the other, then ALL are threatened INCLUDING Christianity. The bus driver wasn't fired because these were Christian prayers. The same thing would have happened if he were leading prayers from the Koran or the Torah.

c.d.

Hello c.d.,

Hmmm, still a little disingenuous regarding the founding fathers maybe? They were Christian men as far as I can tell, and certainly from what I've read about the South and the civil war (admittedly only a couple of books so I'm hardly an expert on this), the South felt they were defending the true ideals of the United States and that certainly included Christianity. I could quite easily be wrong here, though, so perhaps you could correct me?

[c.d.]

Hello Mac,

I am not going to get into an argument about the founding fathers. Some have argued that they were indeed Christians but others argue that they were in fact Deists. But the fact remains, that they did not include Christianity in the founding documents of the U.S.

You are correct that during the Civil War the South did believe that they were defending U.S. ideals. But lets not forget that they were slaveholders and that they defended the practice by turning to the Bible. So much for Christian ideals.

And as for Dawkins, look how ugly this thread has turned. Why? Simply because of religion.

Last year where I live (Washington, D.C.) a group put up posters in the subway system at Christmas time saying that there might not be a God so be good to your neighbors for goodness sake. And some religious people got all jacked out of shape. Imagine being kind to your neighbors without being ordered to do so by God. What a concept.

c.d.