BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Current Events Student punished for spaghetti beliefs

Is this weird?

BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Nothing surprises me any more....people are resorting to more and more ridiculous means as a way of simply exercising their 'democratic Rights' to think, say and do what they want, in direct response to what they view as the noisy minority gaining an edge over the silent Majority....It happens everywhere....
people in the UK are very divided, for example, as to whether we should actually be financially compensating descendants of those taken into slavery 200 years ago....! *rolleyes*!!

Is this really a religion?

Listen, enough people put the fact that they were Jedi warriors on our Poll Census forms that came round a few years ago...if just a few more thousand declare that, Jedi will have to be considered a separate Religion in the UK. So anything's possible!!

Pastafarianism, which is the worship of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is basically a religion invented by evolutionists to ridicule creationists who want intelligent design to be given equal time in science classrooms. It's doubtful that anyone truly believes in it, but if he declares it as his belief, there's not really any way you can truly force him to deny it.

Not that that matters one way or another. This is actually a free speech issue, not a freedom of religion issue (unless it can be proven that the school allows people of other religions to wear equally disruptive garb on a regular basis, which is doubtful.) Nevertheless, students in public schools do not have the same first amendment rights that extend to adults in the general public. Since public schools have to maintain some degree of order in the classroom, they are allowed to set forth their own rules on appropriate dress. Thus, the decision as to whether this boy's free speech rights were violated or not depends upon whether there is any language in the dress code which prohibits clothing that is disruptive in any manner, or any other code by which his outfit might have violated.

I know that at my own son's school, headgear of any kind is forbidden. Thus, if this young pastafarian were wearing a pirate's headscarf or hat, that would be prohibited. Likewise, anything resembling weaponry would be prohibited, as well. As for poofy poet's shirts and black boots, these are probably acceptable individually, if not as part of the entire ensemble.

In general, I think that the rule of thumb is that students can express their private religious beliefs if it does not interfere with learning. Inasmuch as his pirate's outfit may have interfered with learning for one reason or another, it's probably completely within the school's rights to prohibit him from wearing it.

What is defined as a religion?
If tomorrow i start a group, give it a name and set dress code etc, manage to get about 100,000 followers, and call that religion as
abcxyz123or any other name. will that become a religion?

Is there anything like list of recognized religions in the west? In India we have that.

Putting together a list of "legitimate religions" sounds like a good idea, but who decides what's a real religion and what's not? If it's based on number of followers, that might leave out a lot of really ancient, legitimate religions, such as some of those practiced by Native American tribes. Basing it on age doesn't quite seem fair, either. For example, although pagans and Wiccans pray to deities that have been known to mankind for thousands of years, Wicca itself (as well as some pagan religions) is a fairly new religion. Is it fair to tell these people they're religion isn't real just because it's old?

In general, the best policy to follow in public schools (and other public arenas) is to allow self-expression, but only up to a point. When it becomes disruptive or oppressive, then it's time to cut it off and get back to learning. Students can worship their individual gods and express themselves to their hearts desire once they get home.

How do you define a religion?

I might be missing something here, but is it really that disruptive for a kid to wear pirate clothes to school? I've seen kids wear some pretty weird clothes in general.

Do they wear those clothes in name of religion?