text:
Konami Showcases New Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Products At American International Toy Fair
February 10, 2016 PPNSteve	2 Comments
Konami Digital Entertainment Showcases New Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game Products At American International Toy Fair
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Feb. 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. (KONAMI) is poised for an exciting and successful 2016 with its deep portfolio of Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME (TCG) products. KONAMI is set to unveil their 2016 first and second quarter products at the American International Toy Fair February 13-16 in booth #4925 at the Javits Center in New York City.
"We are quite excited by the successes of 2015 as our Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME products, combined with our growing fan base, have set the stage for a great year ahead," said Yumi Hoashi, Senior Vice President, Card Business for Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. "Toy Fair gives us the chance to share our product release schedule and promotional plans with our hobby and mass market partners in a fun environment. After having one-on-one meetings at the show, they walk away confident knowing we can satisfy the needs of both new players and competitive Duelists,"
With two new 2016 releases already doing well on store shelves, KONAMI introduces two more this Friday, February 12. The Wing Raiders special booster set contains brand-new Xyz cards and cards from the new Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V series, including several cards to help players power up a current Deck, or build a whole new Deck with new powerful cards like Raidraptor – Satellite Cannon Falcon. Duelists can also try their hand at commanding two new monster themes that'll take their Xyz strategies to the next level – the spectral Phantom Knights and the Super Quantum mecha pilots! The Wing Raiders booster set contains 60 cards; MSRP: $3.99 each 9-card pack.
Duelists who have amassed a collection of new cards during the past few months can now show off their stash in style with Yu-Gi-Oh! Chibi Sleeves also releasing February 12. These glossy, premium quality tournament-legal sleeves feature the iconic Yugi – in all his super-deformed glory! Naturally, the Chibi Sleeves go great with the Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Kingdom Chibi Game Mats and the Yu-Gi-Oh! Chibi Card Case, both released last year – collect all of them to complete an awesome Chibi set. MSRP: $3.99 per 50 card sleeve pack.
KONAMI follows-up its January Breakers of Shadow booster set with Breakers of Shadow Special Edition launching later this month on February 26. Providing excellent value for all Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG players, each box of Breakers of Shadow Special Edition comes with three booster packs of Breakers of Shadow, one of two Super Rare Cards from the upcoming Shining Victories booster set plus one of two Super Rare Cards – all for less than what it would cost to buy three individual booster packs. MSRP: $9.99 per box.
See the details for the above products in their news release here.
Duelists can add a little dazzle to their collections on March 18 with Premium Gold: Infinite Gold. This set has something for everyone, including dozens of upgraded cards to bling out a player's collection plus 21 new cards for a Duelist's Main Deck and Extra Deck, all gleaming in gold foil technology.
Each 5-card Premium Gold: Infinite Gold mini-pack contains two Gold Secrets – each card a brand-new, never-before-seen card and three Gold Rare versions of popular cards. As a special bonus to all players, scores of Gold Rare cards in the set includes former Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series Prize Cards Number 106: Giant Hand and Digvorzhak, King of Heavy Industry, now available for everyone to use. Every $14.99 MSRP box contains three mini-packs.
On April 15, the original Yu-Gi-Oh! TV series takes center stage with Millennium Pack as dozens of old favorites get a whole new look alongside brand new cards from TV that for years players have been clamoring. This 48-card set includes more than 20 variant artwork illustrations for classic cards like Thousand Dragon, Flame Swordsman, Widespread Ruin, Kunai with Chain, and Celtic Guardian. Millennium Pack also offers famous cards from the TV series that have never been in print before, including Kaiba's ultimate card-drawer, the Card of Demise, and the final version of the mightiest Egyptian God Card: The Winged Dragon of Ra – Immortal Phoenix! MSRP: $1.99 per 5-card pack.
In May, the spotlight is on the May 6 release of Shining Victories, the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG core booster set. Appealing to veteran and novice players alike, Shining Victories is a 100-card set with brand-new Deck themes such as Lunalight, Digital Bug, and Amorphage Dragons, support for recent and classic themes, and signals the bold return of a legendary dragon to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG – Blue-Eyes White Dragon – with a plethora of specially crafted "Blue-Eyes" monsters and support cards! MSRP: $3.99 per pack.
May 26 sees the release of the latest Starter Deck for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG*. Designed to teach new Duelists how to Duel, the new Starter Deck is the best place to start a budding Duelist's career! Fans will be entertained with a 40-card ready-to-play Deck, including 9 brand-new Performapal cards, and three special Token cards. MSRP: $9.99 per Deck.
Rounding-out spring, according to the American International Toy Fair announcement, are two new products that'll help Duelists of all skill levels prepare for summer tournaments and beyond. First, it's Shining Victories Special Edition releasing on June 17. Each box of Shining Victories Special Edition comes with three packs of Shining Victories, one of two Super Rares from the upcoming fall booster set, and one of two guaranteed variant cards. MSRP: $9.99 per box.
Then it's Pendulum Domination Structure Deck scheduled for a July 15 release. Pendulum Domination is a complete D/D themed Deck that gives Duelists brand-new Monster and Spell Cards, including new Extra Deck Monsters they'll need to set up a never-ending cycle of domination! MSRP: $9.99 per Deck.
Between conventions, regional tournaments and in-store events, Duelists will have plenty of opportunity to put their skills to the test this summer. For more information on KONAMI's extensive Organized Play programs, including opportunities for aspiring Duelists to learn how-to-play the game, go to www.yugioh-card.com/en/events.
Duelists can watch all-new Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL episodes every Tuesday as well as all of classic Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's on www.yugioh.com in the United States. In Canada, Duelists can watch episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V every Friday and Saturday on Teletoon! For more information on KONAMI or the Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, please visit www.yugioh-card.com or call 310-220-8630 to speak directly with a Yu-Gi-Oh! customer support team member.
* For items marked with an asterisk, please note that title, packaging, contents and price are subject to change.
About The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG
The Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME is the #1 trading card game in the world with over 25 billion cards sold. It is a game of strategy, where players create individual Decks of cards collected from Structure Decks and Booster Packs. Two players engage in a Duel while using cards that represent powerful monsters, magical Spells and surprising Traps. Duelists with well-constructed Decks, dominating monsters, solid strategy and good fortune are the victors in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. is the exclusive licensee and rights holder to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG in North America and Latin America.
About KONAMI
KONAMI is a leading developer, publisher and manufacturer of electronic entertainment properties and traditional trading card games. KONAMI's software titles include the popular franchises Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, DanceDanceRevolution and Castlevania, among other top sellers. KONAMI is also the manufacturer of the wildly popular Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME, which has sold more than 25 billion cards worldwide. The latest information about KONAMI can be found on the Web at www.konami.com. KONAMI HOLDINGS CORPORATION is a publicly traded company based in Tokyo, Japan with subsidiaries, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. in the United States and Konami Digital Entertainment B.V. in Windsor, the United Kingdom. Details of the products published by KONAMI can be found at www.konami.com.
SOURCE Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
http://www.konami.com
Arc-VInfinite Goldnew releasePremium Goldpress releaseTCGtoy fairYu-Gi-Oh!
Previous PostJose Lagunes and Dawson Mcgaha's big win in AtlantaNext PostKonami is ready for New York Toy Fair at Booth 4925
2 thoughts on "Konami Showcases New Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Products At American International Toy Fair"
yugiohfeeds says:
[YuGiOh!Worldnews] Konami Showcases New Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Products At American International Toy Fair https://t.co/bXf13VEl7z
PPNStudio says:
YuGiOh! World: Konami Showcases New Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Products At American International Toy Fair: Konami Digital … https://t.co/zped8nToUn
May Latin American World Championship Qualifiers – Nationals Latin America
June 1 – 2 Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Knoxville, TN Knoxville Convention Center
June 7 – 9 Central America World Championship Qualifier & Dragon Duel World Championship Qualifier Expo Reforma
June 12 – 16 Yu-Gi-Oh! Extravaganza: Origins Game Fair Greater Columbus Convention Center, Columbus, OH
June 14 – 16 South America World Championship Qualifier & Dragon Duel World Championship Qualifier Sala Omnium
June 21 – 23 North America World Championship Qualifier & Dragon Duel World Championship Qualifier David L. Lawrence Convention Center
July 4 – 7 Yu-Gi-Oh! Extravaganza: Anime Expo Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA
August 10 – 11 Yu-Gi-Oh! TRADING CARD GAME and Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links World Championship Berlin, Germany
Aug 24 – 25 Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Portland, OR Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center
Sept 21 – 22 Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Niagara Falls, ON Scotiabank Convention Centre
Niagara Falls, ON
Sept 28 – 29 Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Guadalajara, Mexico Fiesta Guadalajara
Oct 5 – 6 Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Ft. Worth, TX Ft. Worth Convention Center
Ft. Worth, TX


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Beaver Road Primary School
Personal, Social & Health Education
Altius Alliance Teacher Training
Connecting Classrooms
Germany Exchange
British Council - South Africa
Premises Lettings
Extended School Provision
PTA Newsletters
M20 Learning Trust
Members and Trustees Profiles
Beaver Road Primary School became an academy school on 1st November 2013 and is now under the umbrella of the M20 Learning Trust. The Trust is a multi-academy trust and has recently gained recognition as a sponsoring academy. This gives the Trust the capacity to take responsibility for managing other schools should it be asked to and should it choose to do so.
Beaver Road is a converter academy. Schools that want to convert need to demonstrate that they are in a strong enough position to do so. The Department for Education looks at the following criteria to decide if a school is performing well enough to convert:
the last 3 years' exam results, which must be above floor standards, and whether they are above, or moving towards national averages
comparisons with exam performance in similar schools and those in the local are
the most recent Ofsted inspection, which must show that it is an outstanding school or good with outstanding features. The DfE looks in particular at what Ofsted says about the school's capacity to improve and the effectiveness of the leadership team
assurance that the school is in good financial health
any other information the school thinks would help their application and any exceptional circumstances that the DfE should be aware of.
Beaver Road converted as a multi-academy trust (MAT). All academies in a MAT are governed by one trust and a single board of directors. The board of directors is responsible for decisions relating to how each academy is run, from the curriculum to staffing. The MAT can establish a local governing body for each of its academies, to which it can delegate some of its functions and remains accountable for these functions.
The Board of Directors are:
Paul Barker-Matthews
Christopher Atkinson
Andrew Harty
Patricia Holmes
Lynne Allen
Beaver Road Primary School is a single academy school under the governance of the M20 Learning Trust.
Academies are publicly funded independent schools that are not managed by a local authority. Beaver Road is run by the Beaver Road Academy Trust which is a charitable company limited by guarantee.
© Beaver Road Primary School. All Rights Reserved. Website and VLE by School Spider

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Australian Federal Police arrested a 28-year-old Canadian man upon his arrival in Adelaide on Thursday.
The man is accused of performing indecent acts during his flight from Hong Kong to Australia.
He allegedly indecently assaulted a pair of female flight attendants before being restrained by crew and passengers.
They managed to handcuff him for the remainder of the flight.
According to an airline memo, the man pinned one of the flight attendants down, laid on top of her and put his hand up her skirt.
Cathay Pacific said it wouldn't tolerate "any unruly behaviour that puts our people or our passengers in harm's way."
The man had a student visa for Australia but is now in custody on indecency charges that carry a maximum 10 years in jail.
He appeared in court on Friday and a magistrate ordered a psychiatric assessment, reported the Adelaide Advertiser, adding prosecutors opposed bail.
The paper also reported that the man's lawyer urged bail, telling the court his client had accommodation arranged before his arrival in the city.
He's reportedly studying law and had a four-year student visa to Australia.
It's not clear where in Canada he's from, but his bail hearing has been scheduled for later this month.


text:
Hong Kong, conclusion
I didn't want to get up on Sunday morning, but we had to go to Shenzhen. Why, I'm still not entirely sure. In any case, we checked out and walked the nearly empty streets in the morning sun to the MTR station and got on the train to the border, where the immigration officials expressed a little confusion over my Laos visa, as it had no English or Chinese on it describing just what country it signified. After a few small gasps of realization, we were through.
Walking through the station on the other side of the river felt like a different world. Suddenly my instincts were telling me to be extra cautious. I took one snap of some people sitting by the stairs, and one of them got up and made a threatening gesture. It didn't feel very welcoming, and we skipped the walking-around that would usually accompany visiting a new place and negotiated a day's fare with a nearby cabbie, Mr. Chen.
We took the highway past gleaming, tacky hotels and high-rises amid unfinished sidewalks. The traffic moved slow, as if everyone expected to have to stop at any time. We drove along the coast through tunnel after tunnel as Mr. Chen complained how expensive everything was, more expensive even than Hong Kong. Perhaps it was a hint that we weren't paying him enough.
Our destination was Da Peng, an old walled city that is more or less preserved. Only part of it isn't still lived in, the old residence of the local bigshot family, including a general or five. The rest of it is still lived in, mostly by migrant workers from all over China. The original owners, Mr. Chen said, lived outside the old city walls in nicer houses. Mr. Chen seemed to know a lot about the place despite claiming he'd never been there before.
We walked up and down small alleys, chatting with women sewing clothing and shoes, men playing cards, chess or mahjong, and kids playing with soccer balls, yo-yos and fake swords. Women in tradition hats that look like lampshades collected garbage, and an official-looking group walked around looking official. Chenbl bought bags of candy for the kids, but some of them, wisely in my opinion, refused. At least they know not to take candy from strangers, I thought. The villagers kept asking how I spoke such fluent Chinese, and eventually Chenbl took me aside and told me to just tell everyone I was half Chinese so I could get past all the questions.
Laundry was hung up everywhere in the brilliant sun, and women washed their hair in the streets. The water comes from the original wells. We came upon three old ladies who spoke mostly Cantonese. Chenbl can parody the language, but he doesn't speak it. He does know a little Hakka, however, and the matrons knew a bit as well.
I wasn't yelled at once the entire time.
It was 3 p.m. by the time we left, hungry for lunch, which was at a dumpling place where shirtless men were fixing all the chairs so that they didn't collapse under a person's weight. The dumplings were delicious.
The sun was getting low in the sky by the time we made it to our second destination, an old Hakka walled village. Nobody lived there, and it was more than a little spooky. Chenbl followed an old guy around, trying to take his picture, but he was soon trapped by the man's wife, who wanted to show him an exhibition of old furniture in the back rooms. We escaped the couple and wandered about the deserted alleys and dilapidated houses. It felt like, once upon a time, it must have been a really cool, interesting place to live, probably lively with hundreds of families living together, each house a story, but now it just felt sad and empty, left to crumble. I hope they do something with it. At the very least it would make a great backdrop for a war film.
We drove back to Shenzhen as the sun set. Mr. Chen dropped us off at the sauna, and the old feeling of…not anxiety, but heightened alertness, returned. Not without reason. The sauna Victor had warned us against going to was the Queen. He told us his friend had been robbed there, and held until they could extort money from him. Well, that sounded like fun, so of course we went to the Queen.
But first, dinner. There didn't seem to be much in the way of restaurants or even convenience stores in the neighborhood, so we walked around town a bit. I didn't feel like taking pictures, and kept the Invincible Rabbit in my bag. We had dinner at a pseudo-Japanese place with a nice layout and food seasoned with lots of ketchup.
The Queen Sauna is a complex affair; the pre-sauna process is complex. The sauna was…well, it was nice enough, though a bit rundown. The pools were large, a good thing because we needed a bit of space to avoid all the boisterous splashing going on. I cracked my head on the ceiling overhang getting out of one of the pools, and nobody said anything. Bad design+no service=brilliant marketing, apparently.
We got traditional Chinese masseurs, who were surprisingly interested in the upcoming elections in Taiwan. "We wish the KMT ruled China," one of them told us.
"The KMT and the CPP, together," the other rushed to add. The massage was painful at times, but not too bad. We slept in the barracks-like general sleeping section, amid a symphony of snoring featuring Chenbl's resonant solos throughout the night. In the morning, we walked out on the street, disappointed in the lack of theft or even extortion, and promptly decided we'd had enough of Shenzhen.
So it was back to Hong Kong. We had to catch a flight that evening anyway. Entering the station, crossing the river, going through immigration…each stage was an obvious improvement and a step towards the different world of Hong Kong. By now you can probably tell that I don't think much of Shenzhen. I've been to many cities in China, including Guangzhou, Qingdao, Beijing and Shanghai, but Shenzhen left me with the worst impression. I'm still not entirely sure why…perhaps the lack of history, the bad planning, or just the general atmosphere. It's all money, no class. If it weren't for the visit to Da Peng village, I'd say the entire trip was a wash.
Back in Hong Kong, we decided to spend the afternoon riding the trams up and down Hong Kong island, which was a nice way to see stuff without all the walking bits. We did visit the alleys of Central, having a large, noodle-themed lunch on a staircase stall. Say what you like about Hong Kong men, but all that stair-climbing makes for some verrrry nice calves.
Chenbl kept reminding me of the time, but I wanted one last stroll around the streets before taking the airport express, so we circled the block, encountering some film people doing something with a Red camera. Chenbl thought one of them was Chris Doyle, but the fellow looked too young for the part to me. We snapped some shots, and walked back to the terminal, where we got on the train and sped out to the airport in about 20 minutes.
The airport has a Popeye's Chicken, but it was a bit disappointing. The flight back was bumpy, probably thanks to our seats at the very back of the plane, but the view of the city as we flew over Hong Kong island at night, clouds sweeping in from the sea, was amazing.
It was a nice little trip, I guess, though as usual we did too many things, and I didn't get a chance to just wander around, as I usually do. I took a little video but not much; I often found myself wishing I'd had a little Canon to do video with. Oh, well. The photos will have to wait, as I'm still very behind on that front.
posted by Poagao at 11:39 pm
Enjoyed reading your travelogue
Comment by Karen — November 27, 2010 @ 12:37 pm


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Q: Structuring a series of notes in ConTeXt Complete ConTeXt beginner here. I'm trying to set up a project to structure all my course notes for this coming semester. I've already read the page on the wiki and the ConTeXt magazine #1101, but I still have a few questions and a few problems.
I have the following file structure
year1-semester1/
  project_year1-semester1.tex
  environments/
    env_font.tex
  products/
    analysis/
      prd_analysis.tex
      chap1/
        c_chap1.tex

where the files are
% project_year1-semester1.tex
\startproject project_year1-semester1

\usepath[environments]
\environment env_font

\usepath[products]
\product analysis/prd_analysis

\stopproject

% env_font.tex
\startenvironment env_font

\setupbodyfont[pagella]
\setupbodyfont[12pt]

\stopenvironment

% prd_analysis.tex
\startproduct prd_analysis
\project project_year1-semester1
\usepath[chap1]

\component c_chap1

\stopproduct

% c_chap1.tex
\startcomponent c_chap1
\product prd_analysis
\starttext

\startchapter
  [title={A chapter}]

\startformula
  1 + 1 = \mathrm{fish}
\stopformula

\stopchapter

\stoptext
\stopcomponent

The problem is that if I compile either c_chap1.tex or prd_analysis.tex, I'd expect env_font.tex to be called at some point, which would set the font to Tex Gyre Pagella (palatino), but that doesn't happen. What am I doing wrong?
Also:

*

*in prd_analysis.tex if I need to include 10 chapters I'd need to \usepath[chap1,chap2,....,chap10]. Is there a way to use globbing like I would in a shell? Something like \usepath[chap*].

*in prd_analysis.tex and c_chap1.tex, it doesn't matter if I omit \starttext ... \stoptext. Why is that?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


years or the actors selected for different categories. You can also find printable Oscars prediction charts and offer prizes to whoever has the highest number of correct answers. 2. Themed Food If you're throwing an Oscars party, serving some tasty dishes is a must. But why not kick it up a notch and keep your entrees and hors d'oeuvres in line with the blockbuster theme? There are multiple recipes for Oscars-party popcorn online, and you can also use star-shaped cookie cutters for your desserts. For your libations, you can serve cocktails from famous films and make a martini even James Bond would approve of. 3. Tickets Galore!
The ticket price for the first motion picture ever shown at the oldest American movie theater cost 15–25 U.S. cents, depending on the location of your seat. Nowadays, the price of watching a film is astronomical. Fortunately, there are ways for you to create the feeling of watching a film premiere or Oscars ceremony from your own home. Find printable tickets online to distribute to your guests before the showing, and encourage them to dress like they are heading to the red carpet.
I have been here several times with other clients, and I have witnessed firsthand the way you treat your clients. That is the reason I decided to come and try for myself. Hilda is a great person, very friendly, and makes me feel comfortable. Thank you for a nice experience. –Emeterio R.
who cares and provides great customer service. –Angelita G.


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Find Career
Allotment for Hindu Temple in Islamabad by CDA
LINKERS INT
The CDA allocated four Kanals of land to the Hindu community in Islamabad in 2017. This land was allotted to the Hindu community for the construction of temple in Islamabad. The CDA, however, prohibited the community from building a border wall around the site last year due to pressure from right-wing religious organizations. The CDA had terminated the assignment of the temple in Islamabad site in February 2021 because building had not commenced, according to a hearing before the Islamabad High Court on Monday. As a result of the outcry on social media, the CDA was forced to restore the allocation within a few hours.
Around 3,000 Hindus in Islamabad and the surrounding regions may now have a dedicated venue to conduct religious ceremonies and hold festivals as a result of this action. Despite the erratic behavior of the authorities, the pressure among public regarding the matter soared, encouraging the government to stick to the decision to allow Hindu minority their constitutional freedom to practice their faith.
However, if the state is reluctant to take action to safeguard marginalized groups, public pressure alone will not be effective. In this backdrop, Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed's last-week inauguration of a repaired temple in Karak, KP, was a significant show of solidarity for Pakistan's minority populations. A mob headed by members of a far-right religious group desecrated the Teri temple in Islamabad in December of last year.
His visit not only demonstrated the Supreme Court's support for the Hindu community, but also conveyed a message to extreme organizations that the state will not always bow to their demands. These are essential moves, but they won't be adequate until they're accompanied with reformative improvements like those described in Tassaduq Jillani's 2014 Supreme Court judgement.
Source: Dawn
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text:
Christian School Fires Teacher for Not Getting Married Quickly Enough April 12, 2012 Hemant Mehta
Christian School Fires Teacher for Not Getting Married Quickly Enough
Cathy Samford is a middle school science teacher and volleyball coach. She's also in a longterm relationship — engaged — and planned to get married last summer, but there were some delays and the wedding didn't happen as scheduled… Anyway, she's about to give birth to a child.
So her school fired her.
"We had the feeling that because kids on her volleyball team and kids in her classes knew she was pregnant, it really wouldn't have changed anything," the school's headmaster Dr. Ron Taylor told ABCNews.com. "It doesn't change that her behavior was out of wedlock."
Oh, right. This is a Christian school. Where they act like Jesus and throw the unwed pregnant people out of their church school:
"It's not that she's pregnant. The issue here is being an unmarried mother," Taylor said. "Everything that we stand for says that we want our teachers, who we consider to be in the ministry, to model what a Christian man or woman should be."
And what should a Christian woman be like? Should she be a wonderful educator? Apparently, that doesn't matter. Neither does being a successful coach. Or being in a long-term, committed relationship.
Instead, the people running Heritage Christian Academy in Rockwall, Texas adhere to some silly rule about chastity that (I'll bet just about anything) other teachers there probably don't follow either. They just don't have the bellies to show for it.
video management
Samford is planning to sue the school:
Samford's attorney Colin Walsh disagrees.
"It's against the law to fire someone for them taking a pregnancy leave and you can't preventatively fire someone. You can't contract around anti-discrimination laws," Walsh told ABCNews.com. "Just being generally religious or upholding Christian values is not enough to evoke the ministerial exception."
Walsh and Samford have filed a charge of gender and pregnancy discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and are preparing a lawsuit against the school.
I'm not sure how successful the lawsuit will be, but similar cases are being played out elsewhere in the country. The success could hinge on whether or not Samford is considered a "minister" — ministers cannot sue their church employers for anti-discrimination reasons that would be lawsuit-worthy in other settings.
In the meantime, here's what working for a Christian organization has done for Samford:
"I'm very worried about money. I'm just hoping to make it through this month. I've had lots of medical bills. My insurance was dropped so everything I've had to pay is out of pocket," she said. "I'm using my tax return just to live on. It's a big concern. I don't know what next month holds for me."
She said her students, volleyball team members and their parents have been largely supportive and miss her at school.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Samford's students found some way to peacefully protest…? Maybe they can stage a walkout at the school… or their parents could pull their kids from Heritage (along with the tuition payments) and send them to a better school, one where a teacher is valued for what she brings to the classroom instead of fired for something completely unrelated.
(Thanks to Scott for the link)
Jessica Ahlquist Gets Nasty Hatemail
April 12, 2012 High School Student Boycotts Graduation Ceremony at Christian Megachurch
And this is how they support her for deciding to bring it to term? Would it had been acceptable to them for her to keep the situation mute and get a quiet abortion?
A woman is only a reproduction tube, but if she's not married… my god! She's a whore and a bad example to our children!
Rory Barclay
The poor woman, she must be feeling terrible right now! Considering that she's worked there for three years, I think it's fairly safe to say that she's a Christian too, so to go from feeling part of a community like that to feeling betrayed by people so similar to her must be terrible!
I hope she's successful in any legal action about this, the school's behaviour's absolutely disgusting.
Jesus forgives…unless you're a woman, apparently. What a joke. If the church is going to preach about charity to the poor and forgiveness of sins then Christian schools should not be throwing out a teacher just because she got pregnant before she was married.
jdm8
If the recent SCOTUS ruling is any indication, the application of the
term minister will probably stick here. They ruled 9-0 against the
teacher of a religious school, siding with the school on religious
freedom grounds, even though the religion wasn't the issue there.
I don't see where the legislation intended or defined that a teacher is a minister, especially if they aren't ordained or have the kind of education religions generally require to become a minister, but that's the ruling in a very similar situation.
David Cearlock
So if she would have gotten an abortion would she still have a job?
Stev84
Urk. I made the mistake of reading the comments in the original article. The stupid is very strong there
Once again the (im)moral guardians are out in force showing us that teaching children is not as important as their own squeamishness.
Maik Both
I think the 'Christian' reply might be she shouldn't be having sex outside of marriage in the first place.
Tr Dev
I browsed through a few of the comments on the original article and the consensus among believers seemed to be that she's giving christianity a "bad name". I commented and told them that if they really wanted to know what was giving christianity a bad name, they should hang out on the social networks and YouTube and see what kinds of things the "common christian" says. I told them there are plenty of other things to bitch about in that area and they should go at least listen. They probably have no idea because they are believers and wouldn't be hearing things like this from their fellow believers.
Do I hear "fundraiser" in the future? Because that would be a good idea for us atheists to be a part of after her Christian community got rid of her.
Onamission5
I wonder how many male teachers they've fired for becoming unmarried fathers? Or do they honestly think that has never happened?
Aaron Schwab
What WOULD that hypothetical fourth-grade girl think of her caring, attentive, supportive teacher for being pregnant out of wedlock? Oh, right…she'd probably think she's caring, attentive, and supportive.
As soon as a female representative from that school stands up and speaks against Miss Samford, then I'll listen; some ass-backwards, morally-void argument from a male administrator just somehow holds no water in my eyes.
monyNH
The original ABC article mentions that Samford has two children from a previous marriage…so, Christians can conveniently change the rules about divorce, but cling to the edict that sex in a committed relationship is sinful (and only your local notary has the power to sanctify it). Ridiculous and hypocritical.
Will Poire
Trick question: Would they have fired Mary for becoming pregnant with Jesus if she were a teacher?
Answer: She wouldn't have been allowed to teach anyways.
"I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet." – 1 Timothy 2:12
Therein lies the hypocrisy of this school; they simply cherry pick the Bible the vague verses about premarital sex in the Bible (namely 1 Corinthians 7:2) whilst ignoring 1 Timothy 2:12.
This is a terrible injustice and my heart goes out to this woman.
That said, it's possible she is a non-Christian who took the only/best job available. But, if she is a Christian, the injustice to which she has been subjected is one preached by the holy book to which she herself subscribes.
Bill Brink
None if it holds water in my eyes, I don't care what gender the speaker is.
*of it even.
This isn't a matter of biblical "morality" but secular law. Religious schools simply shouldn't be be allowed to do whatever they want just because some ancient book says so
Gunstargreen
So much Christian love. "Pregnant? Need money for the hospital bill and to support the new life you're bringing into the world? You're fired. Good luck."
They bitch and moan about how no one should get an abortion because others will step in and help out but this is the example they set. Pathetic.
Conspirator
Is anybody really surprised by this? Isn't this just the norm? And why should we care? She chose to be oppressed by joining this organization.
I despise organized religion. I think it's detrimental to society. But in this country we respect the rights of religious organizations to act as they feel within their organization. It is not our right to force our moral values on this church. Now if she were working at a public school in a small town and the church leaders urged the school board to fire her, well then we would have cause to be outraged and legal action should be taken. But this is church business, not ours.
This is just like that situation a while back where a kid got suspended from an ultra-conservative Christian school for attending a dance at another school. He knew the rules, he knew the consequences for violating the rules, he then broke the rules and whined to the press. I have very little sympathy for such people.
" Maybe they can stage a walkout at the school… or their parents could
pull their kids from Heritage (along with the tuition payments) and send
them to a better school, one where a teacher is valued for what she
brings to the classroom instead of fired for something completely
unrelated."
They could *start* a new school, and *hire* her.
This was a private Christian school where she most likely signed a morality agreement when she was employed (based upon the lawyer's comment regarding the contract). She obviously breached that agreement. The school has an obligation and the right to uphold it. She violated the moral agreement they all agreed to when she accepted the job and when they hired her. There is nothing in the article that says the school enjoyed making this decision or that it didn't have compassion for her, but they have an obligation to stand up to the moral tenets that they preach. It would be hypocritical for them to do otherwise. And yes if the father of this child worked at the school he should be fired as well.
There might be an argument made for allowing churches some leeway in their employment practices. But religiously affiliated schools, universities and hospitals are NOT churches. They aren't religious organizations. They are secular businesses that fulfill entirely secular functions. As such they need to follow establishes laws and shouldn't be allowed to make up whatever "exemptions" they want. It's the exact same principle that applies when Catholic hospitals refuse to provide contraception in their employee's health plans.
This ridiculous notion that any business that is vaguely affiliated with a religious organization should be above the law is exactly what has allowed the US to become the creeping quasi-theocracy it is. The mechanism has been abused by religious organizations to take over society.
" This is a Christian school. Where they act like Jesus and throw the unwed pregnant people out of their church school"
I see a problem with these statements. Am I the only one? Look, if having sex or getting pregnant outside of wedlock were *actually* immoral, then there might be good reason not to have such people on staff as teachers. To see this, all you have to do is substitute "pregnant out of wedlock" with something we all agree is immoral, like "repeat shoplifter." Now try making a statement like Hemant's again:
'Apparently it doesn't matter if you're a wonderful educator or a successful coach. If you're a thief, then Heritage Christian Academy doesn't want you.'
Well duh. The entire premise of HCA's argument is that "being pregnant out of wedlock is wrong," and the rest follows (more-or-less logically) from that. Hemant's argument is akin to saying that Cathy Samford's good qualities outweigh the bad. But they wouldn't necessarily outweigh the bad if she were a shoplifter, so I see Hemant's argument as fundamentally flawed. If you want to argue that Samford is a good teacher, you have to challenge HCA's premise – that there's something wrong with being pregnant out of wedlock. There fucking isn't. That's the point.
TerranRich
I don't know, a part me wants to say, "Who gives a flying crap about what happens in Christian schools?" But another part of me realizes that this teacher is a human being and is being treated as less than such by an employer. The world sucks.
I'm staying out of the legal debate here since I'm not familiar enough with this specific situation, though I do think it is a societal injustice that a woman can be fired for being pregnant out of wedlock. It's just interesting to me, in a larger context, that people can identify as Christians and then be surprised when other Christians judge them negatively based on the book they should really all have read.
C Peterson
The relationship this woman has with her husband would certainly be considered "marriage" in the Bible, either the Old or New Testaments. And the school's definition- presumably a consensual relationship between the two adults, "sanctified" by some sort of priest, was almost unheard of in biblical times.
Once again, we see Christians operating under arbitrary rules that have little connection to anything actually found in their own scripture.
Please point to a Bible verse where it says that two people living together who do not consider themselves married are married by Biblical standards? Either Old or New Testament would do.
Jonathan Duran
Hemant – Umm, this woman is obviously in need and a victim of religious discrimination…how come there isn't already a pledge drive going for her like we did for Damon and Jessica? Do we only help other atheists in trouble? Can we start a small pledge drive for her to help her through this time and show some atheist love?
You're obviously completely clueless and ignorant. The church didn't get involved in the marriage business until some time around the 12th or 13th century. Before that, common law marriage was the norm for most people. If two people and their families considered themselves married they were.
Marriage as it exists today is relatively new and less than 150 years old.
Wow, a bit alarmist don't you think? And a Christian school is not a completely secular business fulfilling a secular function. Hospitals are a different matter altogether than schools. It's silly to compare the two.
When I went to Catholic school there was religious instruction as well as mandatory mass attendance 2-3 times a week. How secular was that? The school was funded by the church, and if our parents tithed the appropriate amount then our tuition was covered. In what way was that a secular business?
Biblically, two people living together, supporting each other, and having children were considered married. Recognition by any sort of priest was rare. Ceremonies were rare.
Please cite a verse that says that. Culturally at the time of the Bible and as described in the Bible, marriages were highly organized, arranged relationships between the families. There is no evidence that people could just start living together and they were then considered married. In fact, Jesus acknowledges the difference when he talks to the woman at the well telling her that she had been married many times before and that the man she was living with now was not her husband.
sunburned
Not really. You should know this working in a law office and all.
In fact you should know that you *don't know enough* about this situation to even comment in any sort of authoritative fashion.
See: Cline, 206 F.3d ^51 6th Cir. 1999 also Boyd, 88 F. 3d 410, 414 (6th Cir. 1996).
You cannot contract away civil rights or labor law protection.
Savoy47
Was she getting ministerial housing tax exception?
You are completely ignorant of the early church and Jewish culture. With or without a formal ceremony in the church, marriage was an institution that was very structured and organized. It was an elaborate arrangement between the families where there was a ceremony and other requirements. To equate that with two people deciding to live together and thus being considered married is nonsense.
I do understand that but as the Supreme Court says that does not apply to religious institutions.
Jean-Paul Marat
Point to a verse where the Roman or Babylonian government grants marriage licenses to Jews and Christians.
Oh, right — it's not in there!
In fact, some Christian groups (Quakers'/Mennonites) have *self-uniting* marriage licenses where no third party is required to officiate, because they don't believe that the State has any legitimate interest in deciding who should marry whom based on the *complete lack of state recognition of marriage* your silly bible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-uniting_marriage
CelticWhisper
Bingo – gender never matters. Actions matter. And the actions of this school are as wrong as can be, and I hope they get utterly crushed in the ensuing lawsuit.
If Cathy and/or her attorney are reading this: We're behind you 100%. Go for the jugular.
You know, it's a shame cognitive dissonance doesn't ACTUALLY cause people's heads to explode. Methinks it would really help cull the herd of arrogant busybody school administrators.
Explain how this answers the question of pointing to a biblical verse that says that two people living together is considered marriage in the Bible?
Tony Moss
Hemant, please start up some sort of campaign for her to help pay her medical bills. I will gladly donate.
Only when the employee in question actually performs some kind of ministerial function. Which is of course what any allegedly "religious institution" will soon claim
The Other Weirdo
It does too! I saw cognitive dissonance cause heads to explode on Austin Powers, so IT MUST BE TRUE! LOL!
It just *is* — from Adam and Eve to Abraham and Sarah to David and Bathsheba.
Aren't Christians supposed to be separate from the 'world' and not care what the state thinks?
Where do you see a marriage ceremony officiated by a state official in the bible? The burden of proof is on *you*!
See Dias vs. Archdiocese of Cincinnati
It only applies to those in ministerial capacities.
The bar is:
(1) The employer must be a religious institution and (2) the employee must be a ministerial employee.
Cheryl Perich was a ministerial employee and taught religion classes who was issued a "diploma of vocation" and the title of "Minister of Religion, Commissioned".
A religious institution can't just fire someone and then call them a *minister* after the fact.
Actually in that case Cheryl Perich was a ministerial employee. She took classes to become one that earned her a "diploma of vocation" and inferred the title of "Minister of Religion, Commissioned". She also taught religion classes:)
Point to a verse that limits marriage to something sanctified by a priest.
I wrote my thesis for an undergraduate history degree on the history of childhood, which necessarily involved researching family structures. In western and near-eastern cultures, up until a few hundred years ago, almost all marriages were what we'd today call common law. There was no formal recognition in the church, and usually little in the way of ceremony. Most marriages were simply informal arrangements between the partners and their families. When the Bible was written, this defined the vast majority of marriages, and is certainly what "marriage" means in most biblical passages and contexts.
The exception to this was where political control was involved: marriage amongst the rich, the powerful, the nobility. These marriages were usually much more formal, and often involved the church. Of course, in many cases these were forced or polygamous, as well- something that the Bible has no problem with.
Lucilius
According to the various news reports, all Samford's contract said is that she was to be a "Christian role model" – without any definition of what that means. It's the arbitrary and draconian interpretation that shocked her. Ultimately it comes down to what "Christian" means: whether being a Christian means using religion to become more wise and loving, or as an excuse to be a sanctimonious dickhead.
Samford assumed the former; HCA chose the latter.
That vagueness is ripe for abuse as a double standard, too: a male teacher could commit all manner of "sins" in off-hours, including sexual ones, so long as he presented a pious face in the classroom. But for a woman, even in a committed relationship, pregnancy is out because it's visible. Gasp! We might have to explain it to the children! We might have to … (shudder) EDUCATE them about how the world works – and there's just no place for that in a SCHOOL!
As for those saying, essentially, "Oh, she deserves it because she chose to work there" – any of you tried to get a job lately? While pregnant? In a field packed with other applicants? Without uprooting your family? It's just not that simple: choice isn't as free as it looks.
With you on the fact that religious men speak way too often on the topic of female "morality," but religious women can form ass backwards, morally void arguments, too.
Yoav
What else should religious schools be able to do, is it OK for a jewish school to fire an employee who was spotted stopping at McDonald's on the way home for a cheeseburger, Can a JW affiliated school fire an employee for receiving a blood transfusion after being in an accident? Both of these are considered a much more serious infringement by these groups then being unwed mother is in christianity.
This is one more example of how fukced up is the american system of employer provided health insurance. Losing your job sucks anywhere but in no other developed country does losing your job also mean that you and your family no longer can see a doctor unless you just happen to be loaded enough to pay for everything out of pocket.
What do you mean by "at the time of the Bible"? The stories were written over about 1000 years, and many had oral precedents stretching back a couple of thousand years before that. The interpretation of marriage certainly varied over that interval.
Marriage is a cultural institution, with a meaning well understood within any culture. That is why it is undefined in either the Old or New Testaments. Everybody knew what it meant (basically, the recognition by family and society that a couple were entitled to have sex and produce children, and an understanding of property rights). So in scripture, you see the word used, but no definition required. To understand marriage during different biblical times, we need to look to historical references. This is actually pretty easy for Roman Palestine, since good records were kept.
Contrary to your assertion, marriages were NOT particularly formal outside of the aristocracy. Marriage was primarily by consent of the partners, usually with some involvement of their respective families (often, simply the purchase of the female partner from her father).
A family like that of this teacher: a couple, sharing their resources, living under one roof, in a committed relationship, producing a child, with no other marital claimants to either party, would come about as close to traditional as you could get around the time of Jesus.
walkamungus
There are U.S. states that recognize common law marriage today: You live together as man and wife for a given period of time, and the state considers you married. No marriage license or church ceremony necessary.
Jay Arrrr
Yes, she'll probably lose. The church considers her a "minister" in the "Teaching Ministry". The guy who swabs the toilets is in the "Custodial Ministry", and the people who drive the church buses on Wednesday and Sunday are "Bus Ministers".
This didn't hold true when Greg Dixon had the Indianapolis Baptist Temple seized for not paying employee (minister) withholding, but the make-up of the SCOTUS is different now.
LOL. Meanwhile in an alternate universe where google and the internet exists a person motivated to find the truth can do so.
In that universe people are not obliged to perform the ritual of Historical Denouncement where they are compelled to put fingers in their ears and shout "NEENER NEENER I CAN"T HEAR YOU HISTORY".
If somebody signs a moral code when taking a job with a private organization, then intentionally violates that moral code with full knowledge of what the consequences are, so be it. And equating eating at McDonald's to getting pregnant is stupid. Now if a teacher at an Orthodox Jewish school brought bacon chocolate chip cookies to class, well yes, I would expect them to be punished.
A public university football coach was just fired for having an affair, lying about it, and influencing the hiring of the girl he was seeing by the university. Where's the outrage over that? Why should he be fired for that? Unless she's not qualified for the job, then what's the harm?
There's no shortage of women who agree with the actions of the school, unfortunately.
"She chose to be oppressed by joining this organization."
Libertarian idea detected.
If it is a libertarian idea, does that invalidate it? Cause a lot of libertarians think that pot should be legalized. And yet I think there's a lot of people that don't agree much with the libertarians who agree with that idea. I'm not one to disown a particular belief just because some organization or political party that I generally disagree with also accepts that belief.
My thoughts exactly. Does anyone know what we need to do to get something like this started?
Sue Blue
I see a potential atheist in the making here. This is the kind of crap that led to me leaving my church. For many people, being christian is all about the social support and sense of community, not so much the actual belief in God. If they are then rejected or ostracized by that community, it may be the impetus they need to leave religion behind entirely. Atheists should reach out to and support these people.
Personally, I'm not deeply interested in what kinds of ceremonies were held twenty centuries ago. But I'd be curious…
Can you DEFEND what they've done here? I'm sure you'll say they were obeying scripture (though I wonder if scripture says that unwed mothers should be fired, please point to THAT verse), but what I'm really wondering is if you personally think they did the right thing.
Are they all going to be BETTER Christians now that she's gone? Is this how this SHOULD have been handled? It's not as if she was NEVER going to get married, it was just delayed. Presumably, they knew this, and were unwilling to wait.
Does her parental status or marital status have any bearing on her ability to teach or coach? Is it really MORE important that she have a RITUAL at the "proper" place in her timeline, than that she is in love with her fiance and PLANS to spend the rest of her life with him? Is this how a god would WANT her to be treated, stripped of her livelihood, unable to properly care for her coming child, all because her wedding date was pushed back? Is this a desirable Christian policy, that others should model?
Mairianna
The school is just punishing her for not being legally bound to someone she can't stand for all eternity because the church says so, like they all are! ;^P
pagansister
In the Catholic elementary scho0l I taught in, the PE teacher had a 2 year old child, and was living with the father, not married to him. During the 2nd year of her teaching there, she and the father decided to marry, and did so in a huge downtown Cathedral. The 2 year old daughter was in the wedding. The school knew she was unmarried with a child, but hired her, and didn't seem to have a problem. The children were old enough to know the situation too. After her marriage, they had another child. Apparently this Catholic school wasn't passing judgement on her situation or they wouldn't have hired her to begin with. IMO, Catholics can be the first to "condemn" out of wedlock situations, but not in this case. She was a very good PE teacher too! This Christian school apparently hasn't got the same out look as my former employer.
First, let's get clear that this lady did not consider herself to be married. That intent to hold yourself out as man and wife is a requirement for a common law marriage. So the idea that the fact that they lived together and had a child together does not make them common law married.
As for marriage in the time the Bible was written, it really did not change over the course of the years covered by the Bible in the sense that it was a formal arrangement. As you point out, it was an arrangement that involved the families. It was not two people deciding to live together and poof they were married. I asked for scripture to support that assertion and you rightly point out that there isn't any.
Bathsheba was married to someone else, not David. That is why his acts with her constituted adultery.
Nobody in this discussion has been talking about a state marriage just a marriage.
amycas
I was going to email you about this Hemant, but it seems you already have it covered.
My question to the school would be: who is being the worst "Christian" role model?
A. the school administration that is firing a woman who is about to be a new mother and leaving her without a job or health insurance while she's pregnant?
B. the teacher who got pregnant before she was married?
(because these students have never seen or heard of this happening before right?)
I would think, and I'm falling back on what I was taught as a Christian, that the Christian thing to do would be to forgive her for her transgressions ("…and forgive my trespasses, as I forgive those who trespass against me."–part of The Lord's Prayer) and be there for this wonderful teacher in her time of need. I guess teaching the kids that sex is icky and wrong is more important than teaching them to love their fellow humans.
I am a lawyer in one of those states. One of the key elements of a common law marriage is holding yourself out to the public as being married. Clearly this lady and her fiance did not do that. They specifically said that they were not married, thus they could not be considered common law married. Actually, the amount of time to live together is not true. At lest in Texas the amount of time does not matter. It is the intent and the public declaration along with living together.
The "Christian" response should be, everybody sins, we forgive you, and move on. I think that would be a better lessons for the kids then,"Hey kids, don't have sex before you're married, because if you do, we will kick you out and disown you."
But can you DEFEND what they've done here? I'm sure you'll say they were obeying scripture (though I wonder if scripture says that unwed mothers should be fired, please point to THAT verse), but what I'm really wondering is if you personally think they did the right thing.
Are they all going to be BETTER Christians now that she's gone? Is this how this SHOULD have been handled? It's not as if she was NEVER going to get married, it was just delayed. Presumably, they knew this, yet were unwilling to wait.
Does her parental status or marital status have any bearing on her ability to teach or coach? Is it really MORE important that she have a RITUAL at some "proper" place in her timeline, than that she is in love with her fiance and PLANS to spend the rest of her life with him? Is this how a god would WANT her to be treated, stripped of her livelihood, unable to properly care for her coming child, all because her wedding date was pushed back? Is this a desirable Christian policy, that others should model?
I was thinking the exact same thing. She's going to need it if she lost her health insurance and she plans on fighting a legal battle.
You will notice that I specifically said the eating of the cheeseburger was done outside the school, the point is what say does your employer get in what you do outside of work and to what extent. You think the school can tell a teacher she must be married before having children but does the school get to dictate that she get a church wedding with a priest of a denomination approved by the school or would a wedding preformed by a justice of the peace will do? If the latter then can you explain how is a wedding preformed by a judge (or Elvis) different, from a religious point of view, then no wedding.
As for your coach example, that is a completely different issue. I don't know the story but assuming both parties were consenting adults the affair itself shouldn't be an issue but trying to manipulate the hiring process is clearly a work related offense. This example would be comparable if the teacher was fired for, as an example, providing favorite students the answers to exams in advance.
Yes I think that the Church did the right thing. Just as I would think they did the right thing if they fired a man for the same reason. She knowingly violated her morals clause she agreed to follow when she was hired.
As far as the delay, it only takes a few minutes to get married. She can say they were going to get married anyway, so why not abide by her promise to the church, get married and then have sex? Why should the church have to agree to her choice in that regard? If she knows that she could get fired for this type of behavior and she does it anyway why should the church have to agree to that? Doesn't the church get criticized here and other places for not following their beliefs?
Let me give you an example- let's say that there was a policy that two
employees at the same job could not date ( a non fraternization policy)
and a man and a woman violate policy. Should they not be fired? Does it
change just because the woman might be pregnant? She is not being fired
because she is pregnant, she is being fired for violating the policy. In this instance other children might be effected because their parents will lose their employment, but if they knew that going in would you still old the employer at fault? Or should we throw standards out the window and everybody do what they want?
How about another example- what if she was caught stealing? Should she keep her job just because she is pregnant?
Her ability to teach is not the issue here. But in a Christian school there is more then just her ability to teach that she is responsible for. She is held out to be a Christian role model. In this regard she knowingly failed. The church's obligation is not just to her, but to the other children in their school and the other parents who have placed their children in the school and who will expect them to follow the morals of the Christian faith. To have a teacher there teaching their children who has refused to do that would be betraying these other children and their parents. If this teacher was concerned about her children, maybe she should not have had sex until she was married knowing that she could get fired for that if she did.
Instead of making this an attack on the church with some false sense of outrage on how this will effect her children, why not have people stand up and be responsible for their own actions? The people here who are expressing outrage on how this will effect her children are some of the same ones who would support her choice to abort the very child that they are so concerned about.
And let's get some facts straight- She knew the rules going in, she knowingly violated them, she could have gotten married before she had sex but chose not to, the firing took place in the fall before Christmas and not when she was 39 weeks pregnant, according to one commentator on the original article the church let her other two children stay in the school free of charge until she pulled them out and if i read it right she is no longer with the guy she was going to marry.
"Instead of making this an attack on the church with some false sense of outrage on how this will effect her children, why not have people stand up and be responsible for their own actions?"
Her being unmarried, pregnant, and in a long-term monogamous relationship that resembled marriage in everything but the eyes of the State *didn't hurt anyone.*
The decision to fire her does hurt plenty of people, and the only basis on which this woman is punished is for having sex outside of some culturally nebulous notion of 'marriage' as defined by a particular subset of American Evangelical-Fundamentalist Protestants who think that "taking responsibility" for sexual actions (something I don't even think is worth punishing) is slut-shaming women and depriving them of income.
Thank you for reaffirming why I (and the rest of us here) are atheists and why I think Christians are the most hateful, bigoted, and downright irrational creatures on this planet. Only a Christian could turn a pregnant schoolteacher mother into a moral enemy.
Nepotism, look it up.
Also, according to every article I've seen, the morality clause merely called for her to be a "Christian role model." It did not specifically describe what that meant. Tell me, RW, is the school administration in question being a good Christian role model by rejecting a woman for sinning? Wouldn't Jesus have forgiven her? I would think a better way to handle this would be to forgive her for her transgressions and help her in her time of need. Seriously, that would be a much better lesson for the kids.
Is nepotism illegal? Does it matter if you disclose it or not? I'm guessing it's not. Rather he was fired for violating his employment contract.
I have to agree with Jean-Paul Marat, whose comment is after mine. Her being pregnant is not a threat to anyone. Your examples aren't particularly analogous. There are perfectly good reasons to forbid fraternizations, if you're in a situation where it may cause a conflict of interest, or nepotism. There are perfectly good reasons to forbid stealing, which hopefully you don't need explained.
There simply isn't any good reason to treat this woman as a criminal.
Christianity really imbues people with a seriously screwed up sense of what is "moral". Two people in love, building a family and a future together are a beautiful thing… unless they don't have a piece of paper declaring it, and a piece of metal wrapped around the correct finger! Yeah, that makes a big difference. They can't be good people without all those trappings!
We don't need to throw out standards and let everybody do whatever they want, but SOME things do NOT merit punishment. Any place that has a "morals clause" which goes above and beyond the morality that is maintained by civil laws, is just ASKING to be put into conflict with human nature. Sex before marriage, and pregnancy out of wedlock, are not "evil", and the people who may engage in them are not "evil" either. They shouldn't be fired and shunned and punished.
Just another stellar example of why the absolutism of religion is NOT for me. If you follow atheists websites, and read a lot of articles about Christianity, you see ideal after ideal of how NOT to treat your fellow human.
Zeggman
"Please point to a Bible verse where it says that two people living
together who do not consider themselves married are married by Biblical
standards? Either Old or New Testament would do."
Adam and Eve.
If you're going by Biblical standards, polygamy is acceptable. Marrying your brother's childless widow is mandatory, presumably even if you're already married. Please point to a Bible verse where it says that a woman who conceives a child out of wedlock should be fired.
You've run around this whole thread shouting "they weren't married, this isn't marriage, that' isn't marriage!"
Do Muslims who marry and then convert to Christianity count, or do they have to get married all over again? How about Catholics who become Baptists? How about Christians who were married in a third-world country with no functioning government to provide marriage certificates?
What the fuck counts as marriage to you? Define marriage. You've run around this whole thread without defining it.
By the definitions of marriage when the New Testament was written, they are married. They are engaged (erusin), and have moved in together (nissuin). We're not talking about modern common law marriage requirements, because the standards being used here are 2000 years old. By those standards, the couple should be considered married. Jesus would have considered them husband and wife.
As I noted earlier, the school is making up their own standards from a mix of Old Testament, New Testament, and (mainly) Roman Catholic tradition… and throwing in some of their own judgment that comes from none of these. And they're arguably violating labor laws, since contracts defining "moral" behavior are frequently not legal, and my be found illegal in this case. We can certainly hope so.
"I asked for scripture to support that assertion and you rightly point out that there isn't any. "
I demand that you provide Scripture that supports the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
That's interesting to me. I went to a Catholic high school, and while the administration wasn't totally awful, I do remember that one male teacher was forced to resign because he wanted to marry a woman who had previously had a divorce, which I guess constitutes adultery in that awful cult. Still shameful.
When Christians try and use the " moral exemption" bullshit, I have to shake my head and ask "what morals"? Because they never seem to show any.
Since it was a public, as in taxpayer funded, university then there are laws that regulate the way such institutions hire people and he may have violated the law by manipulating the system, but even if there wasn't an actual criminal activity the point you keep ignoring is that his action were directly related to the way he preformed his job while the teacher in the story was fired over something that she did (or didn't do) in her personal life and that had no effect on her job.
Well that's just silly, she did do it. Or else it's a miracle.
I'm not saying this school in the right to do what they did, I'm just saying they have the right to do it.
Christians are constantly going on about how the atheist agenda is to destroy religion in America by taking away people's freedom of religion. By saying the government should dictate the morale code of a religious school you are providing ammo for the Christians in their ongoing efforts to label themselves as the oppressed. Way to go.
Anonymous-Sam
What? Forgiveness, among Christians? It's such a rarity these days.
"You know who else breathed oxygen? Hitler!"
There's no need for cognitive dissonance just because a Christian institution is involved. Christians are human too, as you've acknowledged. Chalk it up to one more sign of how Abrahamic religions are ruining the world.
Don't forget the one about how raping an unmarried woman means you have to marry her! Would we even be having this debate if she were refusing to marry her hypothetical rapist?
… Outside of the middle-east?
Are you a moron or do you just play one on TV? This is not a case of their religious freedom is threatened its a case of them insisting that they have a right to impose their religious morays on other people. The didn't do point was referring to the getting married not the having sex part.
Wow, childish insults, pretty typical around here really.
How do you think Christians will interpret this? It's not other people, it's one of them that they're pushing their beliefs on.
You need to open your mind a bit here, see how the other side will view it and how they will use it.
I'd chip in.
Rwlawoffice I told you before that you are nothing but an hypocrites, a liar and a a-hole on top of that. Get lost stupid.
Please Rwlawoffice tell us your real name so we make sure to never get your service. You are to dumb.
I don't give a rodent's donkey about how christians will interpret it , the facts are that they demand the ability to control how their employees conduct their personal lives and all I can say for that is , fuckem.
Keven I doubt you can do this, but tell me where I am wrong on Texas law regarding common law marriage?
Marriage can be secular, religious or common law, but in all cases it is marriage. This couple was not married in any respect by their own admission.
If she had gone to work for your school that would not worry about holding up to Christian ideals and teachings then this would not be problem for her. However, she accepted employment at a Christian school which does believe that premarital sex is immoral which I am sure they teach to their students. So despite your contention that no one is harmed or that it is not a threat to anyone, the school and the other students would be harmed by having a teacher there that does not live by the teachings of the school.
She is not being treated as a criminal, she is being treated as someone who breached her contract of employment. Why should she not be held accountable for that?
If she is a Christian then she understands what that means and I am sure she would agree that having sex out of wedlock is not a Christian role model. One of the responsibilities of Christian leaders is to admonish and correct those that are in the ministry to protect the church. That is what the school was doing here. that does not mean that they will not also forgive her. Forgiveness does not mean that you don't also face the consequences of your sin. For example, if I lied to someone, when I was caught, I could be forgiven but still have to face the need to make it right. What you are saying is that the church should not have her face the consequences of her actions.
By biblical standards, they are married. Until the Catholics started redefining marriage to increase their control over people, this was a completely normal marriage. So from the standpoint of Christian ethics- particularly Protestant ethics, there is no biblical precedent for finding this woman to be guilty of any sort of "sin". The school operators are making up their own rules, and it reveals their own lack of ethics.
It doesn't matter, because this isn't about common law marriage by modern standards. It is about marriage by biblical standards. And by those, this couple is married.
Sindigo
Count on me to chip in. This is f'ckin appalling. Of all the times to do this to a person.
I disagree. Even in Biblical times they would not be married. They would be betrothed at best but during that time they would not live together nor would they have sex. After a year of this betrothal period they would then have a ceremony where they would be married. The ceremony would most often last a week or more. It was no small affair. So even if you use the idea that because they were engaged they would be called man and wife in biblical times, they would have violated the biblical standard of not having sex until the marriage ceremony took place. Doing so would be considered premarital sex and would not be allowed. in fact during this time the couple would have a chaperone to prevent them from doing so.
What about gay marriage?
Oh, wait — that doesn't count.
Marriage is only what Rwlawoffice says it is, right?
In most states gay marriage would not be legal and in Texas that is the case.
Ex Patriot
There is not much I can say except this is apalling. I hpoe she wins big agsinst the school and rips them a new one. The more of this crap I read the more I am glad that I have a athiest for the last 40 years
You clearly know nothing of marriage customs in "biblical times", or even in the times when the New Testament was written.
You are conflating medieval Christian marriage practices, medieval Ashkenazi marriage practices, and the customs of the ancient aristocracy.
These people are "commoners" by biblical standards, and the state they are currently living in would have been considered marriage in western and near eastern cultures for most of the last 5000 years.
You simply do not know what you are talking about. Please cite your source for the idea that two people living together without the express intent to be married as these two were would have been considered married in the Jewish culture at the time of the bible. It doesn't exist. Your attempt to equate the modern practice of living together with a Biblical marriage common at the time of the bible will simply not work and is not supported buy any evidence. By all accounts a marriage in the Jewish culture at the time of the Bible would require a betrothal contract, a year of not living together, no premarital sex and a ceremony after that year was over, together with the execution of ketubah marriage contract. The one that Jewish couples still use today was drafted in 80 A.D.
According to jewish halacha law all that is required for a marriage to be valid is for the man to say the magic words (you are now sanctified to me by this ring according to the religion of Moses and Israel), in the presence of two witnesses who are jewish males over the age of 13, that's it. You only need an actual ordained rabbi involved when you want to have the marriage recognized by the state.
These two people have the express intent to get married you silly fuckwit
Intent to get married is not the present intent that they are married which would make them common law. You really are not very smart.
Sad, but this is exactly what I would expect from a fundamentalist Christian school. Conservative evangelicals are obsessed with the notion of sexual "sin." It's no surprise that they would fire an umarried teacher for being pregnant. In fact, I would have been shocked if they hadn't fired her.
I don't think she has much of a legal case here. This is a private religious school. Other parochial schools have fired unmarried teachers in sexual relationships, have fired teachers for being gay, and have even expelled students for having same-sex parents. All of which seems to be perfectly legal.
Hopefully, Samford's students will remember the shabby way their teacher was treated and will reconsider the morality they are being taught. Even if they don't question their supernatural beliefs, maybe they will (as adults) decide to follow a less rigid form of the religion.
Kaydenpat
So kicking a woman out of her job for getting pregnant before she gets married is "Christian"? Can the school administrators not forgive her for her sin and let her keep her job and get married?
What about love?
I don't think this school hires non-Christian teachers. The website says that their teachers are "born again." This is a hardcore fundamentalist school, as in biblical inerrancy, creationism, the whole works. It doesn't make what happened to her any better, but Samford would have known that going in.
It comes to something when a place whose very raison d'etre is supposed
to be the well-being of children can decide that they'd rather a child be
born to an unemployed unwed mother than an employed unwed mother, for no other reason than sheer spite, and all in the name of morality and positive role models!
I'm reminded of a quote, Arthur C Clarke I think, or it may have been
Asimov: never let your sense of morality stop you from doing the right
thing.
Piet Puk
So very christian of you to only react about that part.
I guess this school has a policy that would even fire the mythical Joseph and Maria.
How very christian..
Hypocrites!
Suddenly there is none of that love, compasion and forgiveness that your sky-daddy taught you.
Jesus is not proud of you, you hypocrite.
Rosemary Lyndall Wemm
Mary and Joseph did not consider themselves married either, if the Bible account is correct. Yet they traveled together and looked for rooms together in the inn, and the stable. And had a child together.
After that, if you're Catholic, they lived together without ever having normal sexual relationships. What a stressful abnormal relationship! Can't have been good for Jesus. Perhaps that is why he turned out so strangely.
In the Bible, women and children were property. There was no mutually consensual agreement required. Concubines, maid servants and captured virgins from the spoils of god-demanded wars were also considered male property for the purposes of sex and procreation. How would the school have treated Hagar and her child? I guess they'd be happy to follow the example of the "righteous" father who turfed them both out in the desert to die – with his god's approval.
Since we are on the topic, how would this so-Christian school react if this woman had been her baby's father's half sister? Apparently the Bible god was happy to bless this kind of marriage with a child. (Remember the story? Abraham and Sarah, his half-sister, had a child in Sarah's old age. At this point Abraham abandoned Sarah's maidservant slave together with the bastard son he had sired, and left them to die in the desert.) Is this the type of godly behavior that the Christian school wants to emulate?
I know this is 4 months old but I just had to say it…
From the movie Dogma:
"Mary gave birth to Christ without having ever known a man's touch, that's true. But, she did have a husband…
The nature of God and the virgin birth…these are leaps of faith. But to believe a married couple never got down. Well, that's just plain gullibility!"
Seriously, I'm protestant/non-denominational so I don't believe all that Mary stayed a virgin her whole life stuff. I do believe that they waited until after Jesus was born.
I think Christ turned out pretty well, most selfless person ever born.


James Fritz of Waimanalo was among a group of people who crowded onto the uppermost viewing area where the Taiwanese cyclist was resting. Fritz said he missed the first two First Day Hikes and barely made the third, but arrived on top early to secure a good viewing spot. Commenting on the weather prior to sunrise he said, it beautiful. The stars are out, it cold. If everybody bundled together we could stay pretty warm. PBS Hawaii is holding its first ever HIKI NO Festival to share student produced video stories on the big screen. The festival is free and open to the public and features stories that aired on PBS Hawaii student news program, HIKI NO, and are nominated in this year HIKI NO Awards.
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the crews. In the coming days, crewmembers will engage in education outreach and excursions to learn more about how the voyage mission of Malama Honua is present in the Tongan community. Next, the canoes will sail to the Kermadec Islands, then it onto New Zealand, their final stop for this leg of the journey.
It is a school of traditional and contemporary Japanese drumming established in 1994 by Kenny and Chizuko Endo to preserve traditional Japanese drumming and to create Nike Air Force 1 Ultra Flyknit Mid new music for taiko.


text:
Meppadi panchayat temporarily closes resorts and homestays over death of girl by elephant in Wayanad
Shahana Kallarapurayil, a 26-year-old Kannur resident was staying at a resort in Meppadi's Elimbileri when she was trampled to death by an elephant on Saturday
Kerala Tourism/ Twitter
25 Jan, 2021, 9:46 am
The Meppadi Panchayat has ordered the temporary closure of all resorts and homestays within the panchayat area. This action follows the incident where a young woman was trampled to death by an elephant while staying at a resort in the area. The panchayat will inspect the licence of all resorts and homestays and will resolve the allegations that have been raised against these enterprises for quite some time. The authorities have informed that only institutions with proper licence will be able to continue functioning while everyone else will be disbanded.
Shahana Kallarapurayil was staying at a resort in Meppadi's Elimbileri when she was trampled to death by an elephant on Saturday. The two others with the 26-year-old Kannur resident tried to rush her to a private hospital, but she was brought dead.
A probe by the panchayat authorities revealed that the resort was only functioning with a homestay licence, and they had extended their housing facilities to illegal tents in the forest area. Since the area wasn't residential, there weren't any measures to keep animals out of the location, especially elephants. The original probe led to the closure of the resort and further actions against its owners.
Wayanad has been facing an issue of unlicensed resorts and homestays that has been attracting tourists with discounted packages and adventure tourism especially following the Covid-19 lockdown. However, the tents and stays are mostly planned inside the forest areas where they don't have a license and so no security measures to keep the clients safe. There have been repeated incidents in the past, especially since the panchayat authorities have no clue about such activities.


text:
JOSEPH BOHIGIAN, COMPOSER
Stone Dreams
performed by Ensemble Decipher
Instrumentation: Laptop Ensemble
Premiere: December 7, 2018 - Ensemble Decipher - Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
"Aylis is grey this time of year. Grey-colored mountains… Frozen stones, streets, houses hardly breathe in the cold awaiting the coming of spring. The Stone Church."
"What was the reason, my God, that in Aylis, long-forgotten by you, your hills and your stones had come alive again?"
These quotes come from Akram Aylisli's 2012 novel Stone Dreams. The novel caused an outrage in Aylisli's home country of Azerbaijan due to his portrayal of pogroms against Armenians in Baku and Sumgait in 1988-90 and the massacre of the Armenian population of his home village Aylis in 1919. After its publication, Aylisli was denounced by the Azerbaijani government and protesters gathered in front of his house and publicly burned his books. This taboo subject matter was especially fraught given the ongoing conflict between Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh. The music combines the sound of stones, evoking the abandoned Armenian stone churches of Aylis, with Armenian and Azerbaijani versions of the same popular song, known as "Karoun Karoun" in Armenian and "Sana gurban" in Azerbaijani. The piece is a statement of solidarity with Aylisli in recognition that the region of the South Caucasus is a land shared by many peoples who deserve to coexist peacefully.
© 2023 Joseph Bohigian