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Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 Sounds...
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Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 Sounds Innocuous
August 4, 2012
Dear Editor
While, the ballot wording for the proposed Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 sounds innocuous, there are some very troubling words in the actual amendment.
The ballot wording makes it sound like this is needed to protect our religious freedom--but that simply is not true. The US Constitution provides strong protections in this area and, while everyone seems to think the atheists are the only beneficiaries, it also protects people who are deeply religious. An over-zealous administrator is simply not going to get far telling a student they cannot say a silent prayer before eating lunch.
Reading the actual amendment reveals provisions that should alarm everyone. The explicit requirement to allow students to “express their beliefs about religion in written and oral assignments free from discrimination”, for example, could allow students to proselytize in class without restriction on any oral assignment.
Another part, where it states “no student shall be compelled to perform or participate in academic assignments or educational presentations that violate his or her religious beliefs,” raises other serious concerns. For one, it could be abused to allow someone to get out of a difficult assignment by claiming it violates their religious views. But even deeper, it will require schools to graduate students who have chosen to skip learning about biology, geology, ancient civilization, and other major areas of basic education. Indeed, it could possibly be used to compel a university to allow someone to graduate with an advanced degree in biology, geology, etc. even though the student refused to participate in most of the standard curriculum. If someone doesn’t want to learn about evolution or wants to ignore all discussion about things that happened over 6,000 years ago, they can be home-schooled. Indeed, that is often what happens now and that is much more acceptable than creating chaos in the public schools.
Since our religious freedoms are well protected by the US Constitution and the existing Missouri Constitution, at best this amendment is unnecessary. Due to the actual wording and the likely consequences of the amendment, it is actually quite dangerous. For the sake of the state’s reputation and our children’s education, this is not a change Missouri should be making.
Rob Stitt
Lee’s Summit MO
Note: The ballot language can be read by visiting: http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2012ballot/
The actual proposed amendment can be read by visiting: http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/2012ballot/fulltext_1.pdf
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