Deranged zealot loses in court-Gawd shunned from public school system.

[SLCPUNK]

Ga. judge: Keep Potter books in school

2 hours, 52 minutes ago

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - The adventures of boy wizard
Harry Potter can stay in Gwinnett County school libraries, despite a mother's objections, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Laura Mallory, who argued the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft, said she still wants the best-selling books removed and may take her case to federal court.

"I maybe need a whole new case from the ground up," said Mallory, who was not represented by an attorney at the hearing.

Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor's ruling upheld a decision by the Georgia Board of Education, which had supported local school officials.

County school board members have said the books are good tools to encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination.

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, published by London-based Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, tell stories of children with magic powers. They have been challenged numerous times since 2000, making them the most challenged texts of the 21st century, according to the American Library Association.

At Tuesday's hearing, Mallory argued in part that witchcraft is a religion practiced by some people and, therefore, the books should be banned because reading them in school violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

"I have a dream that God will be welcomed back in our schools again," Mallory said. "I think we need him."

[Skeba]

Wow...

Kinda makes you speechless... Nice to see that the judge had some sense and didn't go along with this bullshit..

[TAP]

"I have a dream that God will be welcomed back in our schools again," Mallory said. "I think we need him."

I doubt her kids can even read.

[freedom78]

I'm sorry, but I have to agree with this woman!  Witchcraft is an abomination unto God, and our children are very impressionable!  When a teacher reads such a book from a position of authority, children are likely to perceive the themes therein as being representative of what society, their parents, and, most importantly, God wants of them!  We should not be teaching our children that a reliance on magical powers will save them from worldly problems, or eternal damnation.  Rather, we should be teaching them to love God, and explain to them how loving God comes through what I like to call the three little commandments: hate gays, kill A-rabs, and support Dubya! 

If all we have to sacrifice is the desire of America's youth to be literate, then that's a small price to pay to ensure that our impressionable sons and daughters close their minds to all that is un-holy, and focus on doing God's work while listening to a Books-on-Tape Bible!

[Grouse]

^^ you're post scares me, I hope that's sarcasm....

If you want your children to learn about god sent them to catholic school or something...

[freedom78]

^^ you're post scares me, I hope that's sarcasm....

If you want your children to learn about god sent them to a catholic school or something...

Sarcasm?  I keep a shiv in the spine of my Bible, so that after church I can gut the first liberal I see!

[TAP]

^^ you're post scares me, I hope that's sarcasm....

^^ you're post scares me, I hope that's sarcasm....

[Grouse]

^^ you're post scares me, I hope that's sarcasm....

If you want your children to learn about god sent them to a catholic school or something...

Sarcasm?? I keep a shiv in the spine of my Bible, so that after church I can gut the first liberal I see!

Don't see anything wrong with that...

[Lisa]

^^ you're post scares me, I hope that's sarcasm....

If you want your children to learn about god sent them to a catholic school or something...

Sarcasm?? I keep a shiv in the spine of my Bible, so that after church I can gut the first liberal I see!

sorry, I don't know you well enough to know if that is sarcasm or not..but seriously?

"rely on magical powers to save them from worldly problems"?? alot of people follow the bible blindly and rely on its 'magical powers' to solve their problems of their world.


witchcraft/magical powers= bible magical powers...one man preformed miracles,healed the sick,made lame men walk and rose from the dead...which is more unbelievable?

[freedom78]

Alright, just to clarify, I'm completely kidding!

I thought "hate gays, kill A-rabs, and support Dubya" was a dead giveaway (notice the way I turn Arabs into two hard syllables, for example).

And the idea of keeping a shiv in my Bible for the sake of killing liberals after church...come on people!

At least tap1996 seems to have gotten my joke...

[Lisa]

some of us are slow today...namely myself....haha! carry on

[Grouse]

Alright, just to clarify, I'm completely kidding!

I thought "hate gays, kill A-rabs, and support Dubya" was a dead giveaway (notice the way I turn Arabs into two hard syllables, for example).

And the idea of keeping a shiv in my Bible for the sake of killing liberals after church...come on people!

At least tap1996 seems to have gotten my joke...

Yeah I pretty much got it after that post, Think it's time to hit the sac hehe 

[TAP]

At least tap1996 seems to have gotten my joke...

Which may be scary for both of us 

[fuckin crazy]

If all we have to sacrifice is the desire of America's youth to be literate

The goal also is sacrifice critical thinking skills ... for if one uses their mind , one will see that myth for the lie that it is .

[25]

If all we have to sacrifice is the desire of America's youth to be literate

The goal also is sacrifice critical thinking skills ... for if one uses their mind , one will see that myth for the lie that it is .

How can a myth be a lie? The Iliad isn't a lie, The Aeneid isn't a lie, they're mythological stories. But I'm sure we could indoctrinate some gullible types to take them as pure historical fact handed down by all-powerful invisible men who live in the sky and who want you to take up arms and slay the heretic Harry Potter readers. And a religion is born!

[fuckin crazy]

How can a myth be a lie?

I'm sure I'll take some heat for this , but so what : Quite simply , religion . A myth is a lie if it is repeated .

[25]

How can a myth be a lie?

I'm sure I'll take some heat for this , but so what : Quite simply , religion . A myth is a lie if it is repeated .

So myths have a one-time use policy? If I tell someone a mythological story and they tell it to someone else it becomes a lie? Did you think that through at all (because it sounds pretty silly)?

The problem is people willing to cling to ignorance and belief in fairy tales, not stories running around being liars.

[fuckin crazy]

Ok , let me put this another way since obviously you did not grasp the meaning of my first post .

Religion is a myth ; religion is a lie .

EDIT: If you require further elaboration , I will be happy to enlighten you .

EDIT: Most myths are not preached as truth . That is when it becomes a lie . It seems you want to argue symantics and not substance .

[Ellroy]

Ok , let me put this another way since obviously you did not grasp the meaning of my first post .

Religion is a myth ; religion is a lie .

EDIT: If you require further elaboration , I will be happy to enlighten you .

EDIT: Most myths are not preached as truth . That is when it becomes a lie . It seems you want to argue symantics and not substance .

I think the confusion was with your statement "a myth is a lie if it is repeated" which doesn't really make literal sense. However, I understand what you meant and you are certainly correct. When myths are preached as true that is when they become lies. Though I will argue that most (or at least a good percent of) myths are preached as true, but not forever. I mean, the Greek myths we study today were once taught and believed by some amount of the people. Looking back on them now we see them as myths. I'm sure in a few hundred years people will look back on the story of Jesus rising from the dead in much the same way that we look back on the story of Horace rising from the dead, or Heracles traveling to the underworld for some task, or any other myth we study. What are today's religions but the myths of tomorrow?

[25]

It seems you want to argue symantics and not substance .

No, I'm arguing intent over content. Or, to simplify, context. You seem to have both nailed the idea and completely failed to grasp it; Obviously it is disingenuous to preach myths and parables as fact but the lie is in the preaching, not in the myth. If that's not the substance of the argument against fundamentalism and literalist interpretations of religious texts. . . .

I do require further elaboration, enlightenment if you will, as I obviously do not grasp the complexities of your "religion is a lie" argument. From the viewpoint that any given religion is a framework of social ethics and personal morals usually illustrated through narrative storytelling, I fail to see how the combined content of the major religions is inherently good, bad, true or lies. On the other hand, I do enjoy the idea that some Jewish preacher would dedicate his life to encouraging personal interpretation of religious texts and personal devotion to spirituality rather than devotion to monolithic religious institutions and yet managed to become the poster child for the most monolithic and dogmatic  religious bodies of the following two millennia. It's basic irony but I like it.