The Texas Supreme Court on Friday threw out a jury award over injuries a 17-year-old girl suffered in an exorcism conducted by members of her old church, ruling that the case unconstitutionally entangled the court in religious matters.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices found that a lower court erred when it said the Pleasant Glade Assembly of God's First Amendment rights regarding freedom of religion did not prevent the church from being held liable for mental distress triggered by a "hyper-spiritualistic environment."
Laura Schubert testified in 2002 that she was cut and bruised and later experienced hallucinations after the church members' actions in 1996, when she was 17. Schubert said she was pinned to the floor for hours and received carpet burns during the exorcism, the Austin American-Statesman reported. She also said the incident led her to mutilate herself and attempt suicide. She eventually sought psychiatric help.
Read more here.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
re Public Opinion v California homeschooling
Drop by Principled Discovery to read re Public Opinion v California homeschooling.
Scientists unearth key fossil of primitive creature
Scientists unearthed a skull of the most primitive four-legged creature in Earth's history, which should help them better understand the evolution of fish to advanced animals that walk on land.
The 365 million-year-old fossil skull, shoulders and part of the pelvis of the water-dweller Ventastega curonica were found in Latvia, researchers report in a study published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
HT: HERP&ES
Dr. William Bainbridge is full of baloney
After watching the FOX discussion between Laura Ingraham and education expert, Dr. William Bainbridge regarding the California ruling, I couldn't help thinking what a condescending jerk Dr. Bainbridge is.
The statement that really got my blood boiling was "If they are so smart they can work hard and afford to put their children in private or charter schools". This may come as a huge surprise to him but even parents who can afford to send their children to private schools may opt to homeschool. In my area the only private schools are Catholic. While I don't have anything against Catholics, not being Catholic, why would I choose to send my children to a Catholic school to be indoctrinated with a religion different from my own? There are no charter schools in my area. So my choices were limited to a public school system that couldn't meet my children's needs, a Catholic private school or homeschooling.
I was also enraged when he compared homeschooling to parents smoking in a car with their children in the car. What an outrageous statement and I dare say more public school parents are guilty of smoking in the car with their children in it then homeschool parents ever will be.
I got a laugh when he choose to use teaching Japanese as an example of why parents couldn't homeschool highschool. Knowing that colleges require a foreign language I asked my eldest son what language he would like to take and he choose Japanese. I got online and did some research and ordered Japanese Ultimate, and we learned Japanese together. Funnily enough IF he had still been stuck in public school he wouldn't have been able to learn Japanese as the public school in our school district doesn't offer it. We reinforced our language studies with a trip to Oahu, where we were able to converse with the Japanese tourist.
He went on to say children have the right to choose? OK, what IF they choose to be homeschooled? Mine did as they readily saw the advantages. At 16 my eldest son had earned early admission into college and had started working on a computer science degree. At 19 he is a senior in college.
Before Dr. Brainbridge sets himself up as an expert on homeschooling, perhaps he should do some research and discover all the advantages homeschooling has to offer, even to high school students.
HT: Spunky
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