Officials at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake, Illinois agreed to end all classroom instruction and/or participation of Buddhist transcendental meditation sessions, in response to a legal inquiry by the Rutherford Institute.
This is the same school where students were taught the 'Vagina Dance'
-- From "District officials yank Buddhism from class" by Bob Unruh © 2011 WorldNetDaily 3/24/11
The Prairie Ridge conflict developed after Doug Mann, the parent of a ninth-grade student in the district, reported his child was asked to participate in a Transcendental Meditation exercise in an honors English class.
When the parent voiced objections to these practices as inconsistent with his family's religious beliefs, he was told by the teacher that there was no problem because students were allowed to opt out of the classroom activity.
"Although school officials can teach about religion, they cannot indoctrinate students in specific religious beliefs," said [John Whitehead, President of the Rutherford Institute]. "This is a victory for religious freedom."
Whitehead told WND that he sees these kinds of cases periodically, along with the other side of the issue: the repeated attacks on students who simply want to follow their Christian beliefs.
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From "VICTORY: Illinois Public School Officials Agree to Stop Instructing Students in Buddhist-Based Chants & Meditation Exercises During Class Time" posted at The Rutherford Institute 3/24/11
. . . Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute warned officials at Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake that conducting the transcendental meditation exercises, even if students were allowed to opt out of them, put the school at risk of violating the Establishment Clause's prohibition against the government endorsing a religion. The Rutherford Institute intervened after being contacted by a parent concerned about students being directed to assume the lotus position, conduct meditative chants, and lie on their backs with their palms to the floor in order to "become one with the earth."
. . . as Institute attorneys noted, in the context of student activities, there is an inherent coercion placed upon students to participate in school-sponsored religious activities due to peer pressure.
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