Michigan Senate passes anti-bullying law that allows bullying....

I wonder if an Islamic kid picks on a christian and calls him an infidel constantly will get a free pass?

of course not. Islam isnt a real religion.

(cough)

A Detroit News article on the subject.

From the article: "The law includes a section noting it doesn't abridge First Amendment free speech rights or prohibit expression of religious or moral viewpoints — a provision Democrats fear could be used to justify harassment of gay, lesbian or transgender students...

...Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, the bill's sponsor, said the intent of the bill is to get each district to write an anti-bullying policy within six months. Asked if he thinks the religious provision could, for example, be used to exempt a student who tells a gay classmate he is going to go to hell, Jones said, "I don't believe for one minute that is the intent of this legislation."

Intent rarely matters compared to whether it allows it. So basiclaly, he's evading the question.

brb, facepalming forever.

They need to simply kill this law. It's stupid. As mentioned, the loophole is so huge, you can drive a tractor-trailer rig through it. This will not stop anything. What it will do, is paint people who have religious views as trolls who can get a free pass.

The WBC will love it, though, as it basically makes their actions completely legitimate in that state.

There is a very good chance it will not survive a judicial challenge.

Why would it not survive a judicial challenge? Seems like the law can't actually be used to do anything anyway.

It probably falls short of several Federal safe schools regulations.

Any law that indirectly legalises bullying will struggle to get through the courts, as it basically guarantees that it will be abused sooner or later.

The Meme to Spread: Fred Phelps Thanks the Michigan Republicans for Their Support!

Well I just don't think it'll ever go to court since our current problem is that bullying isn't illegal in the first place anyway. So very few people are punished for bullying.

However, I don't think the justice hammer need to be dropped for something like this. The point is to make schools safer. Michigan should be focusing on disciplinary response to bullying, not this (if we pretend for a moment the law was banning bullying instead of legalising religious bullying).

It's not just the religious pass that's worrying. "Moral conviction" can mean anything if you can rub two brain cells together.

In theory, someones morals can be "white people are better than black people, who are actually just gorillas" or even "you have a disability, you shouldn't have been born, and you shouldn't breed because you have faulty genetics."

The sheer scope of that damn loophole is terrifying.

At its very front, this is a stupid law. I actually just wrote an essay mentioning that Christianity is always getting free passes, this would have been perfect to include.

But looking more into it, I see this less as "give Christians the right to bully non-Christians" and more as a poorly worded way of saying "if you have religious beliefs, they shouldn't be oppressed." A school district can specify and say that all religious conversation is to only come up when relevant to the topic, and not to be used to bully or taunt another student.

Basically it's just another law that should have been written out to be a lot clearer. The second anyone who supports this law realizes this could vaguely be used to taunt Christians, it won't pass.

Yeah this law is so open to loophole abuse you'd think Matt Ward wrote it.

Pretty much all have been said, but let me give ym two cents:

This is law with loophole in it, this is a loophole with a law in it.

The funny part is the loophole effectively renders the law useless.

Stay classy, Michigan.

Really, now, I don't think this would make it through the Supreme Court, but you never know...

edited 3rd Nov '11 5:16:34 PM by USAF713

What a travesty.

I should move over there, beat up some bullies and say "Oh yes, my religion says I should beat up bigots."

Michigan is, as usual, positively wretched.

Hey, Michigan...

Secede NOW! We want you to genocide yourselves for being stupid!

I'm going to hold my anger for if the bill gets passed, which is a long shot to say the least.

And why all the hate for Michigan? It's not like the state itself did anything wrong.

Michigan has been passing and/or considering some stupid legislation recently...

Yea, that's hardly the fault of everyone who lives there.

I didn't say it was.

Although Michigan has become the Face Palm State of the Great Lakes region, and I live in Wisconsin, so that's kind of sad...

So true.

It's fucking Snyder. The man is a full-on inbred retard.

I take back all the bad things I said about Granholm.