Do your remember that story from a few weeks ago in which a boy was suspended for wearing a rosary around his neck? The school viewed as a gang symbol but the boy wore it becuase his brother died clutching it after a bicycle accident.
A judge has ordered Raymond Hosier reinstated pending a hearing into whether the suspension violated his civil rights.
The The American Center for Law and Justice came to Raymond’s defense and said:
The center took on the case for free, saying it was “deeply offensive” for the school district to call all rosary beads gang symbols. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Hosier and his mother, Chantell Hosier, against the Schenectady City School District and school officials, including the middle school’s principal.
A district spokeswoman did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Tuesday.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the school’s dress code and Hosier’s suspension unconstitutional. It requests a jury trial.
Hosier received a one-week suspension for refusing to take off his prayer beads or hide them under his shirt two weeks ago. Hosier, saying he won’t go to school without the rosary, was suspended again last week when he returned to school with it.
Judge Lawrence Kahn ordered Hosier reinstated pending the June 11 hearing.
June 2, 2010 at 1:50 pm
I'm never comfortable about these types of suits where one party claims another party's actions are "deeply offensive." Being deeply offended doesn't mean anything, the question is the intent of the school district. Is a rosary worn around the neck really a gang symbol in Schenectady? Is the school district's intent truly to keep gang violence out of the schools? If so, I think their decision can be justified.
June 2, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I'm with you Brian. The part that jumped out to me is that they are trying to call the school dress code unconstitutional. If the school is trying to keep gang violence out of the school and they have to be strict about their code, then they should be justified in making this determination. I don't understand how it would be a problem for the teen to wear the rosary under his clothes. Not sure how that would change the meaning for the boy.
June 2, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Since the school district has declared that wearing a rosary is related to gang culture, I think it is incumbent upon them to say which gang? Crips? Bloods? Folk? Jugalos? Suranos? I have been defending gang members in criminal cases, and have not seen the wearing of rosary beads related to any gang. Smells like religious persecution (which, unfortunately, is alive and well in the United States).
June 2, 2010 at 3:50 pm
According to a school spokesperson, the child violated an unwritten rule. How can he be suspended when the rule is not identified?
June 2, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Keep rolling over and let the persecutions continue. Progressives erode liberties a bit at a time. If Schenectady has a problem with gangs it is not the symbols but maybe the culture?
Typical attempt to cure the symptoms but sidestep the root of the problem. It won't stop with rosaries but apparently there are enough 'Catholics' to rationalize why they should lose some of their religious freedoms.
June 2, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Brian, being "deeply offended" is why the American Center for Law and Justice took on the case for free. Being offended is not the basis for their court case.
The school should, as Stephen suggests, identify the gang that uses rosaries as a symbol.
June 2, 2010 at 5:27 pm
I think lumping the rosary in with "gang symbols" was yet another way for secularist liberals can smirkingly put religious symbols in the taboo list.
June 2, 2010 at 6:22 pm
I don't know, back in 50's & 60's Sister Mary Tarantula and her "crew" all wore rosaries. That particular gang had everyone in Our Lady of Perpetual Payments Elementary School terrified. Some of my former classmates still break out in a sweat when they see a ruler on a school desk.
So maybe we're talking about traumatized former Catholic school students subconsciously acting out against their oppressors. If so they should sue their diocese for damages.
Yes, I'm joking. These days that final statement needs to be added.
What a world!
June 2, 2010 at 8:03 pm
They have no right to tell the kid what he can and cannot wear. – and what if i am offended by them calling a Rosary a "gang symbol"?
June 2, 2010 at 8:15 pm
If you google "rosary" "gang symbol" you can find stories about it going back several years.
I think a good rule of thumb is that rosaries are NOT necklaces and should not be worn around the neck. If it's actually being put to devotional use, a rosary will be in a pocket or (in the case of some religous)worn around the waist.
So there's a huge difference between forbidding kids to WEAR a rosary as a necklace and forbidding them to HAVE a rosary.
June 2, 2010 at 8:26 pm
"The Supreme Court has been very clear that students DO NOT SURRENDER their CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS to RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION when they go to school."
that came from Jay Alan Sekulow, he is recognized as one of the top lawyers for religious freedom in the United States.
J.M.J
June 2, 2010 at 9:03 pm
"I think a good rule of thumb is that rosaries are NOT necklaces and should not be worn around the neck. If it's actually being put to devotional use, a rosary will be in a pocket or (in the case of some religous)worn around the waist."
That may be true, but it isn't the place of the school to regulate religious items in that way. It might not be kosher to wear a rosary as a necklace, but that's not a judgment the school has a right to make (unless, of course, it's a Catholic school). Which is besides the point, because the school didn't suspend him for wearing a religious item in the wrong way, but for having a "gang symbol."
June 2, 2010 at 9:20 pm
Dierdre – while agree with your sentiment, rosaries ARE worn around the neck, as well as around the hand, or in the pocket (I would NEVER put my rosary in my pants pocket out of respect. That's just me). It may be a cultural thing you are unaware of. But now you are.
That being said, I think you meant that a rosary is an object of devotion and not a fashion statemen, wherever and however you wear/keep it. I can't tell you how much I used to cringe when I'd see Madonna wearing 4+ rosaries during the 80's. Distasteful is too mild a term for it.
June 2, 2010 at 9:45 pm
Why doesn't the child pray the rosary, and wear a miraculous medal? He can keep the rosary in his pocket. I don't think rosaries should be hanging off car mirrors either…
June 2, 2010 at 11:34 pm
I think rosaries SHOULD hang on more car mirrors. It reminds me many times to behave as a Christian, especially when I feel like cutting off someone or honking at them. It is a sacramental, the point is to remind us to behave like Jesus and Mary.
The child wants to be reminded constantly of his dead brother, perhaps to pray for his soul? In my book that is a good thing.
June 3, 2010 at 1:53 am
Anonymous – I'm with Kat. Both the wife and I have rosaries hanging from our carview mirrors. And many's a time I have wanted to react less than charitably when I've been cut-off or stopped at a green light by someone putting on their lip-stick in front of me. But that rosary always reminds me to keep my cool as I do NOT want to be remembered as "that guy with the rosary hanging in his mirror who flipped me off".
Sidenote: on a particularly happy day I read the bumper-sticker of the car in front of me that said "honk if you love Jesus!" So, I did just that and gave the driver a "thumbs-up" sign, and got the middle-finger in return. Those wacky fundies!
June 3, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Early riser– it must be a cultural thing, since when I was in 2nd grade the nuns (and my mom) drummed into me that you never EVER wear a rosary around your neck–that it's disrespectful (you can't pray it if it's on your neck!) Instead, we were supposed to have rosary pouches. (And my DH is a big fan of those 'credit card rosaries' that slip in your pocket.)
Maybe it's a European v. Hispanic thing?
As for car mirrors— I don't mind them on car mirrors when they're PARKED, but I've found them distracting while driving…I'm pretty much opposed to ANYTHING hanging around near the windshield.
Many of the families I know actually take them down and PRAY them while driving though (when there're more than one person in the car….)
For me? I just use my fingers in a pinch… God gave us 10 for a reason!
June 3, 2010 at 4:27 pm
To me the rosary on the car mirror does not seem respectful. That is no the place for it. There are car badges like the very POWERFUL St. Benedict medal. In this evil world I prfer this on my car visor. The rosary beads swinging around are a distraction to most drivers.. who are already on their cell phones.
June 3, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Deirdre – I am European. Europeans have been wearing rosaries around our necks for centuries. You were misinformed.
Lastly, anyone who is "distracted" by a Rosary hanging from a mirror in their car are mostly likely also distracted by shiny objects and multi-syllabic words.
June 3, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Early riser–why do you condemn and belittle those that do not have a rosary on their car mirror? It is no sin either way. I just wonder how many pray it every day or if they just have it on their car mirror. I have rosaries on several tables at home as a reminder to pray it-but not on the car mirror. Are we not allowed to differ on where the sacramental is placed?