You'll recall that Jessica is the 16 year-old who successfully sued to have a prayer banner removed from her school. Following her victory, she has been subjected to hatred, intimidation, and even threats of violence from some Christians. Unfortunately, this appears to be a fairly common occurrence in the aftermath of successful church-state suits.
If there was ever a case of bullying due to religious beliefs, this is it. It is situations like Ahlquist’s — and unfortunately so many more—that make comprehensive bullying legislation so important.She noted that a proposed anti-bullying law in Michigan was abandoned after it was diluted to exempt religiously-motivated bullying but that a similar piece of legislation is under development in Tennessee. This one would also exempt religiously-motivated bullying. Kind of misses the point, doesn't it?
It seems that states are unwilling to enact meaningful anti-bullying legislation unless it explicitly exempts Christian students who want to bully LGBT students or non-Christian students. It will be interesting to see how federal efforts fare. Youngblood noted that both the Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act of 2011 and the Safe Schools Improvement Act of 2011 would prohibit bullying on the basis of religion.
Subscribe to Atheist Revolution