> You misunderstand the First Ammendment. The government does not at any time say that it can't limit your right to say anything anywhere. for example, you can be arrested for yelling fire in a crowded area. People working for various government agencies aren't allowed to divulge various facts about their jobs (top secret, classified, need-to-know, etc), and government-funded shools aren't supposed to be used to force the students to sit through a prayer.

I think this is the crux of the arguments here. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This clearly states that the government does not have the authority to regulate religion. This does not apply towards existing laws; Mormons, at one point, were told they had to follow the same laws as everyone else and thus could not legally practice polygamy. Under freedom of speech, obscenity is not protected because it's not actually communication.

The divergent opinions expressed in this thread, so far, haven't been about the same issue. The one I quoted above shows in the last part of the last sentence what that person believes about government forcing religion down unwilling throats. I, too, believe this should not be legal, and most readers will at the least understand this position.

However, being as the school was ignorant of student's intended speech, the school cannot be held accountable. They could have stopped her if she were using profanity, inciting riots, or slandering individuals, none of which are protected, but religion is protected, and so the school's hands were tied.

The Constitution provides only for this. (When it was written, only Congress could make laws. Ever since the Supreme Court decided it could too, things have gotten more complicated. Committees and beaurocracies also make the sky murkier. "Congress" in the amendments, therefore, should be applied toward all government bodies.) They can't ***actively*** endorse any religious group in any way. They're supposed to completely overlook the subject.

gab"I had to pare a whole bunch of stuff out of my response for clarity. I actually wrote about five times this much, which is why this took so long."by