While I usually agree with you Joel, this time I cannot. This "fight" is against freedom "of" religion, not freedom "from" religion. The term you used, "separation of Church and State" is not in the constitution at all. It is a term coined in a letter Jefferson wrote about establishing "a wall of separation". I believe it is the distinction of "from" and "of" religion. The Pilgrims originally came to America to gain freedom "of" religion. We all know what the "State" religion in England did for centuries to those that opposed (or practiced) a different religion... heads rolled. Roger Williams came to the lands of Rhode Island to escape the Puritan's and their reality of a "State" religion. In other words, the problem is the government telling us, or forcing us into one particular religion;
I had more to say, but was limited to fewer words. In a nutshell, I agree that the abuse the Cranston student endured was wrong, I believe that Christians, (or any faith group) has a right to protect their Constitutional right of Freedom "of" Religion. Look at the 10 Commandments on the Supreme Court wall, the "In God We Trust" on our money... I could go on! It's just sad that this comes down to whomever has the biggest boat-load of $$.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Humbly submitted, J. Harker

That John McCrae poem is beautiful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields

And there are many other beautiful ones on the Arlington poetry website. Some speak of God & some do not:

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/poetry.htm

Pam,
I don't agree, but unfortunately we won't ever recover the true words of the Constitution because it costs too much to litigate.

To me it's a bit hypocritical, the Washington monument says "'LAUS DEO' (a Latin phrase meaning "Praise be to God" or "God be praised") on top, our money says in God we trust, Congress starts each session with a prayer said by a preacher paid for with tax $. Our military cemeteries are full of religious symbols, And, this could be decided by the Supreme Court..."As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door. As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall right above where the Supreme Court judges sit a display of the Ten Commandments! "

So, it's my opinion that making an issue about a monument that has been there almost 100 years because it has a cross on it and forcing a community to either move it or litigate it is foolish and a waste of assets as well as energy.

First I am not a Christian and belong to no religion or religious organization. Maybe I argue this because all the vibrations from the Churches in this State.
These arguments of being Offended or it is the Government supporting one religion over another are insanity. Intelligent people know the difference and can easily read the exact words of the Constitution.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”

Notice the Comma between establishment and prohibiting. Obviously they are referring to The government mandating the people to adhere to a religion, not freedom from religion. On almost every Memorial to Veterens you will find a religious sysmbol or a line of religious text. This is out of the respect for the beliefs of those who have fallen, not an endorsement of those faiths by Government. I find it amazing people do not realize that these fallen were Government Employees!!!!

Many monuments are on Government land, because they worked for the taxpayer and died for the taxpayer and payed the ultimate price for land that they also owned. That is the argument the Courts should look at. The Government is merely allowing them a piece of their own land. By the way the people own every thing that is so called State or Federal property.

Joel I think you are just still upset about the few people who picked on the girl in the banner thing. Also insane in my opinion on the picking and the removing. Waste yet again of my money tying up the Court system. Main Problem being the SCOTUS not settling this all once and for all as they re cowardly in not doing it, also my opinion.

I would just once like to see all these people who supposidy are offended and so fearful that a cross may have the power to make them fall on the ground and be invaded by religion suddenly. If atheist believe in nothing, then by their belief in nothing, how can something offend them of another belief? Should it not mean nothing to them?

So many people forget that the Founding Fathers almost all of them were Masons or “horrors!!!” Christians, whose first requirement to be in the organization is the belief of a “Universal Being” God or a Creator. (No atheist allowed by the way). This was the basis for “Freedom of Religion” not from it.

In this State the first Colony to be Founded on total “Freedom of Religion” because of what Roger Williams became disgusted with in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, is it not very despicable that it now has an some WI group, ironically called “Freedom from Religion” that has one mandate, find religious symbols in area’s that do not have the money to fight in court and go on the attack, that is why you see it so often in R.I. the last decade. Talk about cheese heads geeze.

Jack, like I said it is not a big deal to me, but everyone getting so angry about it does bother me. The courts have made the call and that is how it has come down from prayer in school to the 10 commandments. How many times are we going to fight this and put all of our passion into it? I would like to see people calmer about it rather than as Mr. Kerr stated "Wanting to know the names of the complainer" there is no need to go after anyone. It is not that big an issue.

Thats my whole point Joel, the courts have not made the call. It is coinstantly small cases like this that these nutty groups look for to get publicity.

If the supreme Court would just rule that all eligious sysmbolsmust be hidden from view and closeted, which is the goal of these groups, it really has nothing to do with Seperation clause, which until recently has been interpeted in error as I stated above. It is more about an extreme Minority view being forced on the majority and nothing else.

As for these monuments, that one to me is Historical monument to fallen soldiers. Sorry but it is what it is and obviously those it memorializes were of a Christian Faith, so hense the symbol.

As for the symbol being a sign of death, it actually is that technicly, even before Christianity it was that, as cruxifiction was far from limited to just jesus or christians for that matter.

On historical, The National Registry any any town or city has the limit, that any property over 50 years old can be petitioned to be on the national register, this has applied to home owners and everything else since the inception of the National register. Perhaps that should be what the city should do.

I cannot see this group winning or even getting to court for a historical property. If not, then it is time for States towns and cities to start declaring these so called afronts properties ownership to the planet mars, and let them try suing then. Perfectly legal transfer by the way.

Jack- would Mars plow the snow and pay theproperty taxes? if so i am all for it!

It is not Joel hard to understand why the vast majority of Americans support the right to display religious symbols. If you remembered to stay awake in history class you would have learned that this right was one of the reasons so many flocked to America in the first place. Nice pic too. I finally know what the face of atheism looks like. My impression is that you minority folks just like to try to exercise power over the majority of good, taxpaying, patriotic and religious people. You likely didn't get enough attention as a child. Morons like you can say and believe whatever you like. Despite what the courts say (another major institution helping our society decay from the inside out) you need to learn tolorance and respect for others. If you need a lesson, please feel free to visit central Florida..................

Willard. I am not an athiest. and either we read different history books or read them differntly. this country was founded by people who were escaping the states (countires) tyrannically in Europe making them follow the state chosen religion, Be it Anglican Catholic or different germanic protestant. That is what this country was founded on. Freedom from being coerced into following the states religion. When the state picks winners (ie the cross) then freedom is diminished. I have no problem with people displaying the cross, a crucifix or a crescent and a star. That is religious freedom, But my state, my country should not. That is what the founders were saying. Trying to avoid the religious wars in europe that religion caused.

the above hate filled slander was not posted by me. I will file a police report and sue you for using my likeness

You do realize this is a crime that the Union official got convicted on last year. I will Prosecute enjoy your laugh As your IP adress will give you away

No it is a seperate account using my name. It is not the password. Some one just opened a seperate account using my name and image. It is a crime, And I will follow this person to the end to find him going to the police today. Will find out and file a civil suit also. One cannot use your name to put words in your mouth. Not in any state. If this person owns anything he will lose it and I already suspect I know who it is

Thank you for the advice. i don't believe it is a 15 year old, I don't think it is a Rhode Islander. there was a case 2 years ago where a Union official in RI used the identity of a representative to make him look bad in an election. High ranking union official convicted of a felony. I am sure he thought it was a hoot also. If it is a 15 year old or an 18 year old like last time I will again get their IP address, like last time but this time if it is a kid i will find out what college they plan on going to and I will write the dean a letter suggesting that that person is not right for the college. I will keep track of the person and contact every employment he gets for the rest of his life to inform potential employers not to hire them.
But I suspect it is not a kid, but an adult. I am talking to a civil attorney to file suit against him.
You see Nard, it is not him I should be worried about offending, It is me he should worry about offending. I tolerate a lot of things, but when i have been wronged like this, I have a long memory, and when I have been crossed I am vindictive as hell and i never forget. I have a list of people I will get even with, and trust me I will.

Thank you you just made my day

Joel this is what I have sent. I suggest you do the same and demand an answer. Good luck in your quest.

patrick.luce@patch.com

Patrick I have an issue that needs to be addressed right away by the Patch.

I just ran a test, and was able to create more accounts, all with the same exact name, with different e mails. We should not be able to do that at all. Our accounts and names are unique and are not suppose to be able to have the same monikers.

Either the patch has been itself has been hacked or something is wrong in the patch software. This is very dangerous to privacy and is currently being used against a Barrington patch user (Joel Hellmann) with some one using his exact name and spelling and his picture, making very racist posts in his name.
Please respond to what you or the company intends to do about this. These sites cannot function with out people being able to be unique in their monikers.

Thanks Jack. I appreciate it. It has never happened before. I have a call into the attorney. And Rchard I have 20 employees now and have had thousands in my life If i was told that any employee of any age 9 and I don't think the person is young) were doing this i would terminate on the spot. Youthful or other wise. as to your amateur Phsyc work it is not the taunts to me but to the children I work with that I never get over. People come after me all the time. That is fine. It comes with the territory. Come after any of my kids,my foster kids, the kids I work with and I will come after whoever does that. now I ad pretending to be someone to the list. Are you actually defending someone who has put hate speech into my mouth and out for the world to believe? do you think you want this person working for you? I think speaking employer to employer I can show someone that they don't want that person working for them as it will reflect bad on their company or organization. The last time people went after my daughtercalling her names and making threats and she had nothing to do with what I was writing about. All this is cyber harrassment under RI state law. Jack is right this is a real violation of privacy and free speech itself. Richard, If I claimed to be you and said you advocated violence on someone would it be a JOKE? Would you ever consider doing this to someone else ? This is not a joke It is a crime and will be treated as such.

Time will tell The attorney says it's illegal in every state. I will play the hand to the end

And "Richard" since it was you who used the picture posted all the comments and I have all the comments saved just changing the picture didn't help. I guess the "young man "isn't as tech savy as he thought. I am sure we will meet soon in a court of law

solved

Thanks again Jack. When we get to court the attorney may want to talk to you

I remember a similar incident from many years ago on a Usenet Newsgroup. One thing the perpetrator had to do was publicly apologize as himself in the online community where he committed his crime. There were other conditions of his conviction as well.

Looking forward to the non-anonymous apology here!

I think until Schools stop having holidays on Christmas etc. we are a Christian Nation. If it has been a Muslim symbol then maybe it wouldn't have been removed. Christian symbols/holidays seem to be under constant attack these days.

Barrington has stopped, Dan.

The school calendar has more than one "Jewish Holy Day" as days off, but 12/25 is "vacation".

http://www.barringtonschools.org/Document%20Library/2012-13%20Calendar.pdf

What a shame! What should be a source for public discussion has come down to sand box squabbles. People calling lawyers. People caling each other names. People running to the managers of the website. People generally behaving like five year olds. I suppose I should not be surprised - It is, after all, how the government in Washington has operated for years now. Still, it is sad. No doubt it will soon lead to the shut down of this website, much as the East Bay newspapers discussion section was shut down years ago after certain long winded, self rightous, opinionated people turned it into their own personal battleground much the same as they are doing here. Too bad. This could have been an important, interesting site if only the overly verbose and self centered had not taken it over. To those of you who have so much to say about everything: Why not start your own sites? If you are convinced that everyone is so interested in your opinions why not give them your content 24/7, uninturrupted by contradictory comments?

Jack - Why don't you tell us how you really feel? Thanks for the civil discourse.

RIGL “§ 16-20-1 School holidays enumerated. –

The first day of January (as New Year's Day),

the third Monday of January (as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day),

the twenty-second day of February (as Washington's Birthday),

the thirtieth day of May (as Memorial Day),

the fourth day of July (as Independence Day),

the twelfth day of October (as Columbus Day),

the eleventh day of November (as Veterans Day),

the twenty-fifth day of December (as Christmas Day),

and each of these days in every year,

or when any of the days falls on a Sunday, then the day following it,

the first Monday of September (as Labor Day),

and any other days that the governor or general assembly of this state or the president or the congress of the United States shall appoint as holidays for any purpose, days of thanksgiving, or days of solemn fast,

shall be school holidays

and no session of any school,

except as provided in this section,

in this state shall be held on any one of these days.

Independent schools shall not be required to observe as a holiday the third Monday of January (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day).”

Sorry about your dog, Jack. I have had pets all my life - currently five cats and a dog - all rescues. I know what it is like to lose one as I have done it many times. Yes, I have had tragedies in my life. Who hasn't? I will probably have more. To wish tragedy on someone, to call them a moron and a coward, to say they live a sick and sad life, to call them a little scum bag with a big mouth - an "abortion mouth" no less - Well, it only proves what this site has devolved into at the hands of a few individuals. Again, though sympathies on the loss of your buddy.

OK, fine Jack - Whatever you say. This is, after all, your site and I was wrong to even consider posting anything here. OK?? Now calm down. Go take whatever it is you are taking and relax. Just hope for your sake and the sake of those around you it is pretty potent stuff. No idea what you are talking about with two years of harrassment, but if that is what you need to believe, its fine with me.