QotD: Sane jurisprudence

Imagine a school where you can have the lyrics to "Imagine" (i.e. "...there's no heaven") posted on the walls but where you cannot have "In God we trust" posted for fear of giving students too much God. 

Can you guess the state?  If I didn't already know it was California, my guess would have been one of the three west coast states or the morally festering appendix that is the northeastern U.S.  A teacher was ordered to take down the poster with that soul-rotting slogan on it despite the fact that it's emblazoned upon all our money and despite the fact that the rest of the school is plastered with the images and sayings of Ghandi, Malcom X, and Nirvana.  Here are some of the other heinous, child-corrupting posters math teacher Brad Johnson was ordered to remove from his classroom walls:

• "One nation under God"  (BOO!  Hiss!)
• "God bless America!"  (Ewww, separation, separation)
• "God shed his grace on thee"  (That's as bad as saying "Nih!")

Apparently the judge felt it was too God-y.

Needless to say, the case was appealed.  U.S. District Court Judge Robert T. Benitez fielded the case and nearly came unglued.  A blurb from his decision thereby garners the Ripples "Quote of the Day."

"That God places prominently in our Nation's history does not create an Establishment Clause violation requiring curettage and disinfectant for Johnson's public high school classroom walls. It is a matter of historical fact that our institutions and government actors have in past and present times given place to a supreme God."

~ U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez

You can read more on one judge's Nurse-Ratchet-view of life and one judge's deep breath of sanity here.  Thank you Judge Benitez for letting folks in America know that not every sector of our government has lost its ever-lovin' mind.