Students Religious Liberties Act
On July 10, 2009, the Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has given public school students of Arizona new rights under a signed bill known as, the Students Religious Liberties Act, which in all intents and purposes prohibits the discrimination against the students or parents’ on the justification of their doctrine or exhibition of religious rights. But the bill still requires that the schools cannot penalize or reward students for their religious views in the classroom. Under this bill students are permitted to “ pray or engage in religious activities or religious expression before, during and after the school day in the same manner and to the same extent that students may engage in nonreligious activities or expression.” The legislation came after the Center for Arizona confronted Rep. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, who sponsored the bill because of Deborah Chambers a seventh-grader was told by the principle of the Chandler Arizona School, not to bring her image of Jesus back to the school because of a complaint from another student. The bill was amended by Crandall after being provoked from the noncompliance of the Arizona School Boards Association. As long as the state and federal laws are conformed by the schools, regulation of students’ speech was allowed in schools under the amendment. The bill was opposed by the Arizona’s American Civil Liberties Union on the rationale that it supported religious speech over other student declarations. Do I support this bill? With my strong Spiritual background and beliefs, I can support this bill because I feel there is nothing wrong with it, it just reinforces the rights that we already have. The passing of this act just makes it now recognized legally and that discrimination cannot be held against you for your religious views, at least not by the schools. In my opinion, this has been misinterpreted and blown way out of proportion by those that are keenly discriminating of religion. No, I don’t...