Imagine the reaction to a public school's decision to pull students from classes to attend an assembly where they would observe a Catholic priest conduct a Latin mass. The priest would wear his robes and conduct the entire ritual for the children. An altar would be on stage. The priest would say prayers and burn incense. Rosary beads and religious tracts would be on sale in the lobby where Catholic monks would be creating works of art devoted to Jesus and Mary. In honor of the event, arts students would create prayer flags and other devotional works. No other religions or non-religions would take part in the activities.
It could never happen under present court rulings restricting the endorsement of religion in public schools.
Yet, public schools continue to ignore the law in sponsoring Tantric Buddhist monks in communities where double standards are unlawfully applied. These monks perform devotional dances around an altar. They create devotional sand paintings. They pray. They sing devotional chants. They sell prayer beads and religous tracts -- in public schools where the unlawful double standard proclaims that Tantric Buddist religion is "culture" where Roman Catholicism is "religion."
This problem has been documented on this site for several years. [Report] [Park City] Here are some more recent incidents of violations of the separation of religion and government:
Florida: http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/7737459.htm
Alaska:
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/100104/loc_20041001001.shtml
http://www.homernews.com/stories/102104/news_1021new01001.shtml
Hats off to the parents in Alaska who challenged the double standard.
Utah hasn't seen these activities repeated in its public schools since the Jefferson 21st Century Institute challenged them in 1998 and 2000. Although this has meant that Utah students haven't been able to dance in a "conga line" with Tantric monks at school, everyone has benefitted from learning to respect the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.
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