UCLA Prohibits Student from Saying 'Jesus' in Graduation Speech

I want to contribute my thoughts to this thread.

Valedictorian is a HUGE Honor to achieve.

I think we can ALL agree to that.

I tried to find some statistics that show the number of students who graduated from UCLA this year but came up empty handed.

I did find a statistic from the year 2007 regarding the total number of ENROLLED students at UCLA.

It was over 25,000 students!

That is a HUGE amount of education going on!

What a HONOR it must be to graduate with the HIGHEST test scores of anyone else!

That type of competition is a GOOD THING.

One of the REWARDS for Graduating with the highest GPA of anyone else in the school is that you are entitled to have a period of time to address all of the losers who came in second place and below....errr I mean graduates. (sarcasm)

Let the girl say WHATEVER the damn hell she FEELS LIKE saying! If she feels like saying that UCLA is a pile of crap educational institute and she is disgraced for having spent money there LET HER!

IT IS HER VICTORY SPEECH! Hell is she chose to quote Mein Kampf and praised Adolf Hitler as a guiding factor of her education who the hell is The University to censor her?

I can think of SOME things that might need to be censored like if she was making threats against other students but as far as her reward she should be FREE being the key word FREE to express her FREEDOM of speech that is NOT threatening the other students.

I am a HUGE supporter of Separating Church and State.

My views are what you would call EXTREME on the subject. Possibly more extreme than anyone else who posted in this entire thread.

But the fact remains this girl is NOT a teacher at the school, she is NOT a member of the faculty or even a staff member. She is a STUDENT!

If she wants her speech to be her saying a prayer for the entire length of her speech time allotted all the more power to her.

She won fair and square.

reply to post by falcon

Looks like we got a race going here.

Which goes first, the 1st or 2nd amendment, LOL.

Originally posted by falcon

UCLA Prohibits Student from Saying 'Jesus' in Graduation Speech

www.earnedmedia.org

A professor at the government-funded University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has prohibited a graduating student from saying "I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," in her own graduation speech.

Christina Popa just posted the proof emails on her facebook page, showing how other students are permitted to have their speeches read aloud at a pre-graduation ceremony, and Christina would also be allowed, but only if she didn't mention Jesus.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Fantastic. Way to go UCLA. This is VERY encouraging to see some separation of church and state. Bout friggin time. And why is she complaining?! It is God's will.

Free speech forever!!! If they want to say Jesus let them.....

reply to post by rogue1

Well that's a good thing, Sunday school is no different than a Madrassa - teaching a ridiculous belief in a non existent deity, In short brainwashing the masses. It's going to be big surprise(or probaly not) that when you die there is nothing after

yesh I suppose sunday school is quite a bit of brainwashing. But I also suppose you were brain-washed also. So the balance is there.

We have way more NDE's seeing an afterlife than we do of people seeing nothing. Been there and seen it myself.

The best part of heaven for me, is the comedy section. This is where we all sit around in a big audience watching (atheist)souls leave their bodies at death only to find that they still exist. The looks on their faces in disbelief, especially when they see themselves in front of an ocean of laughing souls!!!! Priceless

Originally posted by falcon

UCLA Prohibits Student from Saying 'Jesus' in Graduation Speech

www.earnedmedia.org

A professor at the government-funded University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) has prohibited a graduating student from saying "I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," in her own graduation speech.

Then just say Jeshua Messiah or find the hebrew name or even learn how to say it in a foreign language that is not comprehendable by most people, then it will be ok.

What a joke.

Really.

I do agree with Annee though...as far fetched as this case is, it truly "doesn't" belong in the speech. I am just surprised that they would actually care this much about it.

Originally posted by Annee
Good!

Her personal religion doesn't belong at a graduation of multi-cultural students of various beliefs.

While it is true that different people have different beliefs, if that would mean that you cannot express your own personal beliefs in front of people that have different beliefs, then that is totally un-American. We should be protecting the rights, freedoms, and liberties of others, whether or not our opinions would agree or disgree with each other, we still have the right to express our beliefs. I mean just merely expressing our own beliefs does not mean that the audience must conform to his/her beliefs, all he is doing is expressing, and there shouldn't be anything wrong with that. I bet you any money that if the person would be saying something like, "We need to hunt down those Islamic people that committ the heinous acts on 9/11.", that they would have no problem saying that, even though many people would be totally against such a statement like that. I mean how much full of pride have we all become in order to stoop so low as to not let a graduating student to express his feeling that God and/or Jesus contributed alot to his/her life, I mean that is just plain ludacris how we could cringe at such a thing when this is the United States Of America, we should be welcoming other people's opinions for the simple fact that our freedom of expression is one of the greatest freedoms in this nation that many other nations do not have.

Aaron

As said - I personally support 100% separation of church and state. (and yes I am fully aware of the whole separation of state argument/debate - - as there are many threads on this site and others) Those who have decided - by some right they gave themselves to declare this thread subject Free Speech - - too bad. My opinion/viewpoint is just as valid whether you agree or not.

Again - I am speaking Government ONLY. This school is declared a public school - - that receives government funding. That puts it under government sanctions whether one wants to accept that or not.

Being from the 50s - I am very aware of the dominance/control/manipulation Christianity has had on this country's government. Why do we have 2 official Federally sanctioned Christian holidays? We shouldn't. Why is God on our Federal currency (yes I know it was political) - but it does not belong on government tender. Anything government should/needs to represent every citizen - - and that sure excludes non-believers.

The original national motto: "E Pluribus Unum"

The original motto of the United States was secular. "E Pluribus Unum" is Latin for "One from many" or "One from many parts." It refers to the welding of a single federal state from a group of individual political units -- originally colonies and now states. It did and does represent every citizen.

"E Pluribus Unum" was replaced by "In God We Trust" on our paper currency in 1956/1957. Many consider Atheism as unpatriotic and un-American as is communism. The new motto was first used on paper money in 1957, when it was added to the one-dollar silver certificate. By 1966, "In God we Trust" was added to all paper money, from $1 to $100 denominations.

So - denying something so simple as thanking Jesus at a government funded school - - - may seem un-sympathetic and petty to you - - - but to me it is a "hole in the dike".

My argument platform is not based on emotion.

forgot link: www.religioustolerance.org...












[edit on 15-6-2009 by Annee]

How disgusting, .... this story is near and dear to my heart, .... it speaks personally to me, as I too, was once ushered off stage for mentioning Jesus at a Boy Scout Rally, the tail end of my speech is as follows:

You know what, I'm not ashamed of god, I love Jesus, Does that make me gay kids ??? Yeah I guess it does, and I dont care, ... I'm gay for god. In fact, If I came across Jesus in a biker bar, and I was a young co-ed in need of some extra cash, .... I would have no problem ......

It was then I was escorted from the building. heathens !