Photo of the flyer sent home with Brandon Middle School 7th Grade Baseball Team in Rankin County Mississippi that was sent to Mississippi Gulf Coast Rainbow Center on Thursday, January 29th.
After a judgement for violations of the First Amendment was made against them in Federal court, Rankin County School District's has continually laughed in the face of the Judge Carlton Reeves' decision. Doing everything from passing out Bibles to students to having local church pastors as guest speakers leading them in school prayer it is clear that the district simply gives no fucks.
Dianne Herman Ellis, a Mississippi attorney who is working with the American Humanist Association on the Federal case against the Central Mississippi school district says, "Rankin County just can't act right, no matter what they are told. They are teaching students that you can break the law if you want to, because of your beliefs, and that is not the lesson that we need for the future leaders of our state."
One would think that RCSD would have scaled back on the Central Mississippi craziness; but no, they just keep on going with a printed flyer that was distributed by the baseball coach to students at Brandon Middle School today. A mother of one of the students found it in his bag, understandably furious she sent it to Mississippi Gulf Coast Rainbow Center soon after reading it. Parents and students alike have grown weary over the constant religious pressure from this school district. Last year, students were forced to attend a mandatory group hosted by local pastors, in which they were asked to turn from sin and follow Christ. While only a few weeks ago, they made national headlines for refusing a student request for a Gay-Straight-Alliance, then opting to simply change school policy to require parental consent for all student groups-- clearly targeting and halting the ability for LGBT students in this Central Mississippi town to seek private solace in this very important school group.
Titled, "Points to Judge You By", this list of ten commandments so to speak, was not only filled with misspellings, but stated that students would be judged by a "Belief That All Things Good or Bad Are God's Work". It goes without saying that this is, you know, illegal as hell and yet one more in a long list of violations, but for those children who may not believe in God-- or are only 12 and don't really have a belief on the Creator of the Universe, they now know that their baseball skills will be judged by their belief in God and his works instead of whether or not they can hit a home run. The need for practice is now released, while personal responsibility for one's own failures becomes a thing of the past, because Jesus. And, if you don't win, it is because God hates you or you don't love him enough.
This takes me back to my soccer days back at that Baptist cult where I went to high school, "You don't have to play hard. You have to pray hard."
