Woman Escorted off Bus for Reading Bible Aloud

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I'm quite looking forward to being in Hell. At least it'll keep my feet warm.

Last edited by Tequila on 01 Jan 2008, 7:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

zendell, you need to stop speaking for all sects and denominations of Christianity. As if it's all part of the same belief system. There are very different sets of beliefs within what we call Christianity. Some are more tolerant than others. Part of your confusion is probably due to the very contradictory nature of many bible quotes, picked out of context. A common problem with organized religion in general and why there are so many different denominations.

But it's not a universal law that Christians must preach in public to unbelievers. There are many who believe such behavior is uncalled for.

Practicing one's religion is generally seen as a constitutional right in this country. Unless one's religion is so "wierd" that the practioner is persecuted by the court system. A follower of the Subgenius lost custody of her child-because the "religion" was portrayed as indecent.

With that right is the right to be free from religion as well. If a public institution (city bus) condones preaching on its premises, that can be viewed as government sanctioned establishment of religion.

Also the right to practice religion shouldn't supercede other established civil laws. I mean, if you're going to quote the bible, "render onto Caesar. . . .". Not that the Bible is any definitive source on Constitutional law.

I realize some people who call themselves "Christians" don't evangelize. My point is that proselytizing is part of some peoples religions and should be respected.

There is no right to be free from religion. The US Congress used to pray before meeting and I don't think anyone objected to it. The town square, sidewalks, and streets are public land and anyone is allowed to preach there. Maybe not in China but in America we have freedom of religion. Why is religion so hard to tolerate?

Well, I'm familiar enough with the Constitution and its amendments to know that we do have the separation of Church and State.

Shooting women in the head for showing too much hair, hanging a teenager to death for premarital sex and forcing conversion through torture is also part of some people's religions. Should we respect and tolerate that too? Just because someone claims their rude and obnoxious behavior is part of their religious beliefs doesn't mean it's A-Okay. There are some nutty people who will watch their kids die, in this country of ours, because it's God's Will not to heal them without medicine!! !

And you keep placing the fault of intolerance of religion when this case isn't about that at all. It's about a belligerent woman who wouldn't keep quiet on a public bus. Some people here claim that their buses are noisy and they can't complain about it. But that doesn't change the fact that many buses do enforce noise pollution rules.

Amendment I
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.

People often leave out the "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"

She had the right. She was discriminated against.

Because it is so obviously a bunch of BS.

Kitsy:
First, Congress didn't pass the law.
Second, they are not prohibiting her the right to exercise her religion. They are simply denying her a service if she does so. Oh wait, she already paid for that service with her tax dollars. Don't want the government to do that kind of crap? Don't let them have control of industries in the first place. Vote libertarian

If they allowed her to continue preaching, there would be preachers on all the buses, reading their holy books to a captive audience. Rival sects would compete for attention, and no one would want to ride the bus anymore.

They were correct to kick her off, you can get kicked off for all sorts of reasons, I don't think it was discrimination. You couldn't do this on an airplane either.

Hopefully you wouldn't get kicked off the plane... could be painful

IMO, I think the results would have been the same if she'd been reading a book of fairy tales out loud, and then refused to stop when asked to do so. There is always somebody in an unwilling captive audience who is going to complain. It's human nature.

Think it is good that she wasnt allowed to countiue.

I woudent want to have to listen to somone preacing from the koran or the bibel evry time i am on a bus.

seriously religion is a private thing and shud not be forced upon folks that do not want it.

There is a difference between force and reading the bible to kids. I love how you use a strong word like "force" when she was not forcing anyone at least the article didn't describe her as a screaming frantic woman.

She was however forced to get off the bus. Remind me of other incidences of prejudism and buses.

People have the right to religion and it seems to me that people are really trying to silence those they don't agree with and that is a form of oppression or trying to make people feel ashamed for what they believe.

As long as the person isn't jumping up and down on the bus, shoving books in people's faces and screaming outloud or acting rude and obnoxious then they have the right to read a book outloud. Just because you or someone else doesn't agree with it doesn't give you the right to trample on others rights.

Would people rather she have read Hustler to her kids outloud? Maybe people would have rather she just didn't mutter a word and her kids ended up throwing fits instead. Maybe that was her way of having her kids calm down for the bus ride.

I swear. This tolerance thing. One minute people are standing up for the rights of one group and then when that group gets the tolerance they have been looking for, they then belittle and try to oppress and suppress the group that is the opposite.

It makes no sense but at the same time it makes perfect sense.

End of pissed off injustice rant.

P.S I am not a christian. I'm just not intolerant of those that are.

Yes, please explain how it would allow them to break laws and the rules of society and decency? Does practicing religion allow one to harm people, or kill them? No. This is no different, practice your religion within rules of society. Or leave.



What does ignorance have to do with it? I don't need to be lectured when on the bus, just like I don't need to listen to music. Tolerating behaviour is completely different from tolerating other people as they are.



They ain't doing it but for themselves.

Since when do busdrivers equal Congress? I do not thing that amendment applies to busdrivers.



Well, obviously not. There would have be discrimination if she were allowed to distract the driver from his job while others are not.

Apparently she was rather loud while doing it, loud enough for people to complain or distract the driver. She was asked to be more quiet which she refused.



Don't be ludicrous, you don't have to shove books in someones face to force oneself onto them. One can talk just loud enough for the person next to you to hear it, or one can talk loud enough for people on the other side of the bus to hear it, and anything in between. If she talked loud enough to be heard throughout the bus, she intended to do so and was just as much forcing herself onto others as when she had shoved books into their faces.



Perhaps they just wanted to be left in peace.

After watching the video, it sheds more light than just the article.

http://cbs11tv.com/local/woman.bible.get.2.620431.html

She could have been too loud. There are also signs on the bus.