" Actually, that is not true. Religion belongs wherever one chooses to express it. It is known as a concept called Freedom of Expression. "

" Then again, don't forget about the Christians who tried, convicted, and killed women for witchcraft in Salem--based on the false stories of young girls and the need of those same puritanical Christians to be right and be boss. I believe you Christians would call that persecution. Get off your high and mighty, self-righteous kick and get over yourselves. If there is a God, I'm guessing he's ashamed. "

" RELIGION DOES NOT BELONG ANYWHERE BUT IN THE HOME OR THE CHURCH. THAT SHOULD BE THE LAW. LOOK AT HOW MUCH PRESS THIS CRAP IS GETTING THAT LITTLE PISS-ANT IS PROBLY SITTING AT HOME WITH A HUGE SMILE ON HIS FACE WHILE HIS TEACHER IS GETTING ALL THE CRAP FOR THIS. WHY DO YOU THINK THE TEACHER HAD THE SIGN UP IN THE CLASSROOM AT ALL, TO KEEP THIS VERY THING FROM HAPPENING. BUT INSTEAD THE LITTLE S**T HAD TO THROW A FIT AND IGNORE THE RULES. THE RULES WERE POSTED IN CLASS FOR A REASON THEREFORE THEY SHOULD BE OBEYED. -NUFF SAID- "

" If the child was not treated fairly then I say GOOD FOR THE PARENTS! Its about time people start standing up for themselves and their kids against the Tomah Schools. Do you expect people to just sit on their problems and not do anything about them? "

" Most of you remind me of the types of "good" christians that burned Joan of Ark at the atake. "

" Our legal system needs to be revamped to include a "loser pays" stipulation. Then those people filing frivolous lawsuits won't take the risk just to get in some deep pockets. This of course will never happen though, because one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington DC are the trial lawyers. "

" Rumors today that another parent has threatened another law siuit this time about a child not being treated fairly.CAN OF WORMS is now open.ENJOY the fruits of your actions. "

" Florida teacher may have to pull an unemployment check out of his hat after performing magic in front of students, according to reports.

Jim Piculas said he made a toothpick disappear and reappear in front of students at the Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes, Fla., Local6.com reported. He said he later got a call from the supervisor of teachers, saying he had been accused of wizardry.

"I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue. You can't take any more assignments. You need to come in right away,'" he told Local6.com.

Piculas said hes concerned the incident may prevent him from being considered for future jobs.

"

" Define for us all what satanic flare is and who gets to define it because what you have said is a perpetuation of the lies in the original documents of this case and there were many. "

" Spoken like a blinded member of the local cult. You and your ilk do christianity a great disservive. "

" I've read some excellent and thought-provoking coments from both sides on this issue. What's good for the Goose stated "The Christian right consider this a victory, it is in fact, a defeat. The Tomah School District must now accept Christian views, as well as Muslum, Satanism, and other extreme religious views. A lawsuit that started out to protect religious views, actually will now perpetuate the very views we want isolated from public students."
Good point. However, as a member of the "Christian Right" I would be remiss in my duties not to point out the fact that the art work on display already has a Satanic flair, thus promoting that religion which is diametrically opposed to Christianity. "

" "One small step for justice, one giant leap against the tyranny."?? Boy, you must live in a small world to see this as a giant leap against the tyranny. I see it as a small town unable to afford lawsuits brought on by big organized tyranny.....you all just opened a can of worms, opening the door to other's as we can not discriminate. The whole story saddens me as even the news was bias based on the information given to them by the Allied group, which was inflamed by so called Christians. Dishonest in my opinion for Christians to do. Isn't one of the Commandments thou shall not lie?? Well, this is a perfect example of the very thing they preach. They inflamed the story by using other students art projects, and not from the "landscape assignment" to justify their cause, oh, and let's not forget that the sky now has floating bible verses, but only seen by the "true believer's". Attacking a small town financially to get their way. Wonder if all the schools have to do that now too??? In the big cities like Chicago, everywhere......after all, the "Christians won" by opening up a can of worms to be spilled upon the earth, to create religious battle against each other. I just don't see this as a "win for Christians". I see it as a loss.
I support Mrs. Millin and her entire family. I am disappointed with the school boards decision. I understand the cost involved in such a battle with such a large organization. This is just an example of dishonesty displayed by a so called "Christian" to disrespect rules/policies in the "name of religion". Next the other religions will bring in their big guns too. Communities are to "work together" not against each other and you see it more and more every day. This whole incident has caused a lot of hurt feelings and a lot of "excited feelings", it has caused the community to wonder. No policy, then anything goes, big win for everyone, way to go!! "

" Nobody has bothered to look at this issue with the idea in mind that the school board reversed its policy because they knew it was unconstitutional in the first place! All this talk about opening doors that are better left shut is simply stupid. The board simply reversed the policy regarding religious expression (protected by the first amendment,) but the policy regarding violent or sexual content (not constitutionally protected) are still disallowed! (Strangely enough, I'm now defending the school board?!) I've said it before, and I will say it again, I am aware that we live in a fallen and disgusting world. While I am somewhat concerned about what my child may be exposed to in government schools, as long as the Gospel of Christ and the Christian point of view are not disallowed there is not much more than can be done. People need to relax. All I have seen is the school board reverse a single class room policy, and everyone's talking about how this teacher was "thrown under the bus." Again, absurd. I haven't seen anyone denigrate this teacher like they have AP and his parents. Finally, "let's chalk one up for the local cult." Yes, ladies and gentleman there are people in this community that now consider those that adhere to and are willing to fight for the ideals in the Constitution of the United States are considered a cult. Wow, what an amazingly ridiculous and spiritually blind time we live in! "

" THEY ARE THE ENEMIES WITHIN!

It is interesting though, that they said that 200 years ago and were considered pioneers, great patriots, the founding fathers of our country, and champions of our democracy.

People say that sort of thing today and they're anti-religious fanatics and evil villians who threaten our religious freedoms and the very fabric of our democracy.

Maybe it is possible to believe that the seperation of church and state really is a mechanism to protect our religious freedoms. "

" You are correct, the phrase "seperation of church and state" does not appear anywhere in the constitution. It does simply say:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"

However, the phrase does appear in dozens of Supreme Court decisions, starting in 1878 when the Court denied Mormons the ability to practice polygamy, in spite of their claim that it was an expression of their religious beliefs, stating in part:

"Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious beliefs and opinions, they may with practices." Reynolds v. US (1879) if you'd like to look it up.

There are dozens of other cases included an important one from this state, Wisconsin v. Yoder which exempted the Amish from the compulsory school law because compelling Amish children to attend school past the 8th grade significantly interfered with the parents ability to direct their children's religious upbringing and would "endanger their own salvation and that of their children." In this incident, directing the student to produce and art project of a non-religious nature certainly would not endanger their chances of making it into heaven, or whatever it is that they believe.

The "strict scrutiny" standard applied to free expression cases typically revolves around whether or not the government has stepped on a "cardinal principle" of a person's religious faith. In this instance, no one is telling the student that she cannot believe whatever it is that she chooses to believe, the policy simply established a standard of what an acceptable art project is, which in my opinion, is a reasonable limitation on "practices" and in no way limits the students right to free religious belief and opinion.

The phrase itself comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson in which he states:

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State."

Additionally, James Madison, the person primarily responsible for the authoring of the Constitution has also made numerous comments on the subject including:

"Strongly guarded as is the separation between religion and & Gov't in the Constitution of the United States the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history"

"Every new and successful example, therefore, of a perfect separation between the ecclesiastical and civil matters, is of importance; and I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together."

"Having always regarded the practical distinction between Religion and Civil Government as essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, I could not have otherwise discharged my duty on the occasion which presented itself." (Regarding a decision he made to oppose the granting of public lands to the Baptist Church)

So yes, you are correct, the phrase in question is not specifically written into the Constitution, but it was a deeply held belief of those people who founded the democracy that you seem to think grants the the right to espouse your beliefs without regard to those beliefs held by others. You should also keep in mind that it is also a deeply held belief by those who wrote the Constitution, and the courts that have interpreted it since, that the rights granted to you can be practiced in any way you see fit so long as it does not interfere with the same rights afforded to everyone else. Maybe there will be an art teacher, or an english teacher, or a speech teacher somewhere who will not agree with whatever religious beliefs are being handed in as homework by their students. Should their exercise of whatever their religious beliefs are be infringed upon by forcing them to deal with that type of situation?

What if a student is given a lower grade because a teacher doesn't agree with their religious beliefs? Obviously, you can't punish the teacher for failing to grade objectively, because you would then be limiting their free practice of their religious beliefs. Or if a student turns in a religion related project and receives a grade lower than they feel they deserve. Can they then claim that they were given the lower grade because the teacher disagreed with them?

I just got back from a vacation to Italy and Vatican City (by the way, if you've never been, you really should go) and I can tell you, that they have some of the most beautiful artwork there in the entire world, but a great deal of it is extremely violent and graphic.(i.e. a really striking painting of Abraham sacrificing Isaac and numerous other paintings of adults stabbing young children, battle scenes with beheaded people, etc.) Now, certainly the quality of the paintings and the skill of the painters would be A+ quality, but are those really the things that students should be handing in as homework? The point of the "seperation of church and state" idea is so that all students can go to school and have an environment condusive to learning where they don't to deal with these religious dilemmas. Maybe a student is working on a religious based art project in class and makes the other students around them uncomfortable, or a million other possibilities. The point is that religious beliefs should stay at home, church, Sunday School, anywhere but public school to avoid these problems. As Madison said "both exist in greater purity the less they are mixed together." "

" I can not believe that the School Board would allow one of the nicest and most student centered teachers that they have be dragged throught the mud like this. I am sure that now that they have thrown in the towel and given up this will be yet another case of lets just forget about it and we will pretend like it never happened. This school district has a hard enought time landing good new teachers lets see how this most recent show of support for the staff helps the cause.

What type of message does this send to the students and the staff? If the policy violated the rights of student then by all means it should be changed, but at what cost? The teachers involed here will never be able to remove this stain from their name, they never will be able to have their side heard. Fox news and the rest of the story hungry press will only report that "the district admitts that they were wrong". These teachers, all teachers, deserve to have their names cleared. After all they were just following the rules. "

" is good for the gander. What most people don't understand is the ramifications and implications of this "lawsuit." The teachers had expectations for an assignment. The student ignored the assignment. A high powered special interest group backed the student against a poor district with responsibilities to taxpayers. This is not about right or wrong. This is about money ( the Allied Christian defense fund) against a public institution with limited resourses. The Tomah School district must refrain from spending thousands of dollars against such attacks. What is really ironic is the Tomah School District was trying to protect ALL students from inappropriate material. With the new ruling, we must now tolerate ALL material, whether it be accepted religion or extreme religion. The Christian right consider this a victory, it is in fact, a defeat. The Tomah School District must now accept Christian views, as well as Muslum, Satanism, and other extreme religious views. A lawsuit that started out to protect religious views, actually will now perpetuate the very views we want isolated from public students. Way to go, you have now provided an avenue for all extreme positions disguised under the protection of "religion" to be propagated to innocent and impressionable students. The Tomah District must now accept any art work under the disguise of "religion". That includes any violence, demonic, and sexual content that falls under the umbrella of an extreme religious group or cult. A google search of "extreme religions" will bring up 98 pages of obscene and offensive material that was previously censored from art class in Tomah that is now welcome under the full protection of A.P. and the Allied Christain Defense Fund. That includes sexual, demonic, and violent images. Thanks for making our schools a better place to learn. "

" Not the first time the upstanding people of the administration and school board throw a high quality teacher and family under the big yellow bus. Coaches are leaving and after this It would not shock me if teachers follow. "

" Well chalk one up for the local cult.The next thing they want is to install a boys basketball coach from their group.Time for halftime prayers I guess. "

" I suggest you sit down and read the constitution before posting your socialistic psycho-babble. Nowhere in the Constitution of the United States of America, is the phrase "Seperation of Church and State" written. However, It is written in Marx's Communist Manifesto. Are we a democracy or are we socialists? Last time I checked we are still a democracy. The Constitution does state, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, (which means the government itself can not establish a church and force you to practice its beliefs, like the Church of England had done, Our country was founded by people fleeing religious persecution from the Crown) or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; (which means that everybody can practice their chosen religion without fear of retribution by the government) I don't know how you people get so confused over that, or could it be we have the enemy within? "

" I agree 100% with you, but you have to remember this is Tomah Area School District. The goal of the school board, and superintendent is to cover thy rear at all costs. Show me the last time the school board or the superintendent, (hey, isn't this the guy who was tapped by the previous superintendent, but was rejected by the community?) stood up and did what was right. It does not happen in this district and never will!! Talk to anyone with experience in another district and you will see what makes the Tomah administration and school board such a laughingstock for the area and state. Nepotism, cronyism, dishonesty, lack of morals, and downright ignorance seem to be the qualities valued by this school board and the incompetent principals and superintendent.

Yes, apologizing publicly to the Millin family would be the morally acceptable, and responsible thing to do. That is exactly why the Tomah School Board and superintendent will not even consider it.

God save the children of Tomah with idiots like this running the asylum!!!

"

" I would hate to believe that in my workplace if I were asked to enforce rules and regulations, and some employees didn't care for them, that management would turn it's back and allow me to bear the brunt of the criticism. Whether anyone agrees with the policy or not, the administration was fully aware of it, and all along have stepped to the side and allowed Julie to get lambasted. You make rules, you stand behind the people who enforce them!!! The administration should be ashamed of themselves, and they owe the WHOLE Millin family a huge apology!!!!! "

" I understand the financial part for not pursuing this issue as far as the school board is concerned. It would cost a lot of money, tax payer's money as lawyer's are great for making ton's of money off other people's woe's and you can find one for just about ANY reason. If I were the parents of the other students art project's that they used to pick as examples of demon's or demonic are finding their own lawyer, as I would be upset they they used my child's art as an example of satanic. It should go both ways.....not just one way. By the way, I still have not seen any landscape with floating scriptures...... "

" Wow, this just proves that a insolent whiner will get his way as long as it means the school doesn't have to actually do any work to fight for what's right. I guess we might as well just throw the Constitution right out the window. No, better yet, burn it. The Religious Right is pretty good at burning documents they don't believe in. Way to go! This is what it feels like returning to the middle ages where theocracy ruled the world. I am so sick of the way both religious nutjobs and aethiests alike can just ignore the system. Separation of Church and State? Not anymore in the U.S. "

" Gutless "

" Who do you think you are?You tell the good people of Tomah to move to Sparta,we are tired of you and that carp pond you keep yaping about.Get a life and get some help for your drinking problem! "

" The intellectual level exhibited by the school district and by most people in Tomah is glib and only slightly above what you would expect of an idiot.The tax dollars this mess is going to cost us could have been better spent on the lake project.I wish all of you liberals would move to Sparta. "

" Now, was that really so painful? "

" Pathetic. Way to cave in. "

" This means all religious art is okay.That will include Satanic and art that perhaps demeans what most of you hold sacred. Jesus as a woman or Mohammed with a bomb for a turbin etc... "

" One small step for justice, one giant leap against the tyranny. "

" Regardless of the rationale for the change in the district's position, this in no way opens the door to unchecked adolescent expression. Teachers have the ability to limit what is displayed in classrooms. The vast majority of students will not creat a vulgar or obscene project just to be adolescent. And when this happens, tell the student "no." And let her/him sue. It won't happen. Although not a tax payer, I am glad the district decided not to spend precious educational dollars on this suit.

I appreciate the sincere concerns expressed in other blog exchanges about the concern for loss of authority of the teacher. Teachers do not need to force students into compliance with rules just to prove authority. Students understand authority; they will respond to a clear explanation of expectations and a clear explanation of consequences when these expectations are challenged.

Lastly, the teacher Julie and the student AP are not the issue here. It is much bigger. From what I can decipher, this is an issue of school and/or district administration. I allueded to this in a previous email, but is it possible the school and/or district administration is leary of allowing teachers and hence students from expressing their views because it will force the administration to explain their point of view. It is always easy for an administrator to just so "this is the way it is." But do we ever require the administration to explain their rationale?

Time to move on to bigger and better things. AP, don't let this go to your head. You made a good point, but it does not make you God. TASD, open your eyes and mind. There are few absolutes. Enjoy the ride.

Regards. "