When your child’s school requires tucked-in shirts, but your kids don’t want to do it, what do you do?
If you’re like most people, you tell them to suck it up. But Dyker Neyland used a novel approach — she argued that her daughter should be excused from tucking in her shirt because she was a Christian. What does that have to do with it?
Neyland says Javé, a 7-year-old second-grader, has the right to wear her shirttail out because of a Bible verse, 1 Timothy 2:9, which dictates that “women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.”
“I don’t want her behind showing,” Neyland said. “I don’t want her body being exposed”….
Right. So what about the braided hair part? From the picture, it looks like both mother and daughter have braided hair. That is forbidden in the same verse, yet they conveniently ignore it.
It gets worse though — she actually threatened the school board before they voted on her exemption:
“I feel I am being persecuted for being a Christian,” she told the board before the vote. “There will be a day of reckoning, and you will have to answer to God.”
This poor, duped woman thinks she is being persecuted because her daughter is being asked to tuck in her shirt like everyone else? And then she has the gall to threaten them with her sky-god if they don’t comply to her religious bullying?
If I were on that school board, I’d laugh and explain why she’s an inconsistent, delusional hypocrite. Of course, that’s probably why I’m not on a school board.
But this board actually considered her case — and voted in her favor!
The school board agreed with Neyland on a 6-1 vote.
“Thank you, Jesus. God is good!” Neyland cried out.
I don’t know about good, but if he exists, her God sure is petty and attracts some weirdos.
At first, I thought you had gotten this from the Onion…but this really happened. Wow. As they say, “the stupid, it burns!”
It may not have come from The Onion, but it did end up at Fark.
Judging from that picture, I wouldn’t really want to see her behind anyways.
Yeah, plus she’s, you know, seven years old.
If I didn’t want my big butt to show I would try to lose some weight instead of making false claims about being religious.
That was my first thought also. This little girl is self-conscious about her weight, and her mother is using christianity to cover it up. I would encourage this mother to exercise with her daughter and replace the twinkies with salad. That should resolve the issue.
What about gluttony? Isn’t that a sin? Its so nice to be able to pick bible verses and use them for your purposes, but the same time not abide by the ones that would even be healthy (physically that is).
I think you need a new category: “Americans Who Make Canada Look Really Good”
Ar at least, “Americans who make the country look stoopid”
heh.. You don’t think “Christians who make christians look stupid” is good enough?
Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Anne Coulter, George W Bush, Condoleeeeeeeza Rice, DICK Cheney, every Reichpublitard… It’s a long list.
It’s funny how people love their ‘salad bar christianity’. I’ll take part of this verse (modesty)…not really interested in that part (hair braiding)…yep that looks about right.
What kind of mental gymnastics do people use to justify this?
Regarding “salad bar Christianity”, it gets better:
I glanced at the story, and this woman is a single mother who does not attend church. Maybe she is a widow, but I would not be surprised if she’s a teflon Christian: God’s transforming power just didn’t quite stick.
Mental gymnastics require mental ability.
(wiping tear from my eye)
I’m just so proud of my city and state. Texas, the big, obnoxious belt buckle of the bible belt since 1907.
And you know they are enforcing a tuck in your shirt rule to harass the gang bangers. (I used to teach at Richardson HS).
Kinda hard to wear pants lowered to you knees if you have to tuck your shirt in…
Having had to wear uniform for various years of my school life, I can say these types of dress codes are pretty stupid in their own right. But nothing can outstupid fundies when it really comes down to it. Except for school boards.
“[B]eing persecuted for being a Christian” entails that she was told to tuck in the shirttails expressly because she was a Christian, right?
Shhh! Stop trying to bring that high-falutin’ “critical thinking” into this! She was made to do something her mama didn’t like! Ergo, it was totally anti-Christian bias!
OK, I can get behind that.
*walks over to boss’s door* Excuse me, I’m not going to wear pants anymore; I feel I’m being persecuted for being an atheist. Starting Monday, I’m wearing a skirt.
: )
These people need to get real.
They won’t let you wear a skirt at work?
As long as you put something underneath…
So, no kilts at work, then?
Yeah you can wear a skirt – but a true Christian is going to control the things underneath every day just to make sure there is no nudity under it…
Oops I meant kilt not skirt – soz.
Do you too need to wear anything? I think they don’t let me come naked at work because I’m an atheists, and you too, 2 out of 2 cases… that sure means there is a global discrimination against us!
I almost agree with the woman using such a stupid defense against such a stupid rule.
The fact is that women don’t tuck in their shirts and haven’t for a while. Many women’s shirts today are made extra-long in order to have a dress-like effect.
This is a side effect of religion being given a special place in our society. If enough parents claim this stupid religious exception, perhaps the school board will scrap such an outdated rule.
I kind of agree with this. Based on the story, I don’t know how religious she really is, but if she used the Bible and the fact that some people out t here in the world are eager to kowtow to anything Christian to prove how faithful they are because she didn’t like the tuck in rule for whatever reason – modesty or just because you know, when you’re a chubby girl, tucking the shirt in makes your life that much harder with the other kids – then good on her.
Eh – I can’t get too up in arms about this. The mother has a religious objection over something that is a minor issue and doesn’t require the school to go overboard with corrective measures to fix it. This particular religious objection is silly, but in my mind just about any religious objection would be silly – up to and including offering Kosher/Halal or meatless Friday meal choices because of religious dietary proscriptions. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t think that the school shouldn’t try to accommodate those students who follow those silly proscriptions so long as it doesn’t impede on other students’ learning.
This story is basically “parent has problem with Zero Tolerance Policy at school, objects to the school board, and gets the policy changed”. The fact that she couched her objection as a religious one mostly means that she understands how school boards in Texas work.
It’s not about the infraction, I couldn’t care less if her daughter wants to look sloppy, it’s about setting a standard. People need to know that they can’t just get away with anything by claiming religion. If the school has a standard, than people need to adhere to it or face the consequences. She shouldn’t be exempted from the rules because she can bitch louder than anyone else.
She doesn’t want to tuck in her shirt because of the Bible? If she wants to be biblical, she needs to wrap a belt around her shirt like people did with their robes 2,000 years ago.
I think it’s more likely she doesn’t want to highlight her “muffin top“.
You know, not for nothing, but we’re talking about a 7 year old girl here. “Who’d want to see her butt anyway” and “muffin top?” Really? That’s how we’re going to talk about a 7 year old whose mum did something we don’t like?
My first thought was “I can’t believe the school board voted in her favor” but then I caught myself and thought, “Oh yeah… Sadly, I can believe the school board would vote in her favor.”
I agree with other commenters that the rule itself is kind of silly, but to claim an exemption based on the Bible should have gotten them laughingly kicked out the door.
“Oh yeah… Sadly, I can believe the school board would vote in her favor.”
You always have the best damn quotes Vorjack lol
OMG–really!
Is there anything the Bible doesn’t instruct us on? I’m waiting for the Bible quote which denounces Twitter as the devil’s instrument.
Romans 1:29
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips.
you’re welcome!
OMG the Bible prophesized Twitter! I changed my mind.
Is this supposed to represent that twitter is “every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity”?
I think landmines are much more evil myself. They kill whatever steps on them indiscriminantly. Or how about Wall street and the World Bank? Dont they define greed better than twitter? Molesting priests seem much more depraved and wicked.
Perhaps you need to take an english vocabulary course before you quote scripture. Twitter is inane and perhaps obnoxious and rude, but depraved?
lol
I think that quote was a tongue-in-cheek response to Bill’s statement “I’m waiting for the Bible quote which denounces Twitter as the devil’s instrument.” (i.e. the “gossip” part), not a genuine example of the Bible’s profundity.
Don’t you EVER take anything personal failure says seriously. Doing that would be sinful.
I think Personal Failure was kidding…
I’m new here, so I’ll take your word for it.
Appoligies to personal failure for my lack of humor. :)
Just when I think I’ve heard it all, another weirdo shows up to prove me wrong. That woman should try being an atheist for a day to know what being persecuted is like.
Also, biblical women are supposed to be submissive, gentle, quiet, and teachable. Why is she being so loud about such a small issue? Isn’t the Christian technique to just pray and let the Lord fight the battles?
Maybe she is only fighting for her little girl, and has found a way through board’s ridiculous “respect for religion”. I, at least, want to think that
Even though I am an atheist, I probably would have voted in her favor too, simply because it is not worth getting into a dispute about. “Fine, don’t tuck your phucking shirt it! Now can we get back to more important business?”
The whole point of having a dress code is to promote discipline by enforcing rules and tidiness. The rebels want to untuck their shirts because it’s bucking the system, and you have to enforce it if you want to be effective in promoting discipline and cutting down the one-up stunts.
Now some girls gets to buck the system because her mama whined to the school board about religious persecution and threatened her god on them if they didn’t cater to her whims.
I wouldn’t have voted in her favor. If they think the dress code is a good idea, then this is undermining it. There might be good reasons that a kid needs to change the dress code in some way, but to me, this isn’t a good reason.
If Christians tell you how to dress, they are persecuting you. If you tell Christians how to dress, you are persecuting Christians. Got the difference?
What? I don’t understand your meaning.
The story isn’t that this stupid woman pretended to be a devout Christian over some bullshit, it’s that the school board were so fucking stupid that they let her get away with it.
First the rule was stupid to begin with, enforcing such a thing would be a nightmare for teachers. After all how often does a T shirt become untucked when you sit and stand?
Second the womans argument had no merit whatsoever, but I bet the school board decided to do it because it was a pain in the ass rule and not worth fighting over.
I have had problems with school boards before. In my experiance the boards were always dominated by a christian majority, or very vocal minority. When they tried to ban Harry Potter from my childs school and put up notices in the school that they were going to do it (because it was witchcraft and satanic), I got right pissed off and told them if they did it I would go public with the book banning and sue. They decided not to fight that fight.
“I don’t want her behind showing,” Neyland said. “I don’t want her body being exposed.”
She is using religion to “protect” her daughter’s physical appearance with wear. I don’t know if the school board’s waiver take that in account.
By “physical appearance”, do you mean “fat arse”? Because there just isn’t an untucked tee shirt on the planet big enough to disguise the fact that momma needs to stop serving chicken and start serving salad in that house….
There is a 70% chance that girl was born out-of-wedlock. And god is more concerned about shirts?
dress codes are stupid anyway, but if the school has one there should be no exceptions. i don’t care if you’re Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, if you want to go to that school you must abide by their rules. there are other schools in the world, go find one you like.
Why is it always fat, overweight people complain about tucking in their shirts? LOL
RT
http://www.anonymity.es.tc
i find that to be offensive and that you are persecuting me because of my weight. i demand that you make an exception for me from your statement.
oh, wait. it is kind of funny. nevermind.
I wish I had a kid at this school so I could come up with some crazy arcane thing for my kid. Like he shouldn’t be forced to cut his hair because of the Bible and Samson and he needs his strength for God!
Of course the woman’s reasoning is asinine–I guess when it comes down to it, though, I support even stupid shenanigans to get out of stupid dress codes. I’m not against all forms of dress codes but the shirt-tucking thing is more arbitrary than most, as well as being generally unflattering and archaic.
“The rebels want to untuck their shirts because it’s bucking the system”
Although this is not an uncommon explanation for breaking dress code, it’s hardly the only one. Young adults are frequently extremely body-conscious even when not overweight and tucking is a good example of something that can draw undue attention to a belly. Untucked isn’t always flattering either but people should be able to do what’s comfortable within reason. It’s unnecessary for schools to be military in their approach to dress codes.
What lame excuse. Imagine if all the parents of those Catholic School girls in thier plaid skirts………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Sorry lost my train of thought.. never mind
;-) Well, some dress codes aren’t all so bad, are they?
How does tucking in a shirt expose one’s body, precisely? The act of tucking in a shirt exposes no more skin than leaving it untucked.
Body, not skin.
I’m pretty sick of this notion that “religious beliefs” means “I don’t have to follow none of them stinking laws like the rest of y’all”.
To paraphrase another luminary:
This is an other great example of cherry picking bible verses to suit your every whim. This is exactley what raddical Muslims do to justify Jihad.
Actually, the Koran pretty explicitly endorses violence toward infidels. Repeatedly. No unconventional interpretation required.
(…and by “pretty explicitly”, I mean “explicitly”)
“Radical Muslims” have radical actions, not radical beliefs. They are the ones adhering to Islam most closely.
That’s just effed up man. Thanks for that tidbit, makes me see things slightly different.
Er, no, they have a different interpretation of when, where, how, and against whom violence is appropriate. Yes, really!
She wants to dress modestly, and she doesn’t interpret the bible in the same fashion that onw thinks it should be… maybe she shouldn’t have been threatening God’s wrath on them, but I don’t see why not having your shirt tucked in on account of your religious beliefs is so bad.
Why would one get so upset about this? What difference does it make to anyone if she had her shirt tucked in or not? I think this blog is being unreasonable.
Religious faith isn’t delusional by nature. There really is a God.
Because the school’s rules said you’re not supposed to tuck in your shirt?
If she had said “I don’t want to follow your rules, it’s against my political party” the school board would have laughed.
*are supposed to
Even still, it works, because it is a way to demonstrate that the school’s rules are implicitly subordinate to another set (it doesn’t matter which one). If they had laughed at the political example, and given how cowardly they were about the religious example I am skeptical, they would have trouble explaining how one belief is more important than another and specifically what makes one more important than school rules but not the other.
And FWIW, I am a fan of *anything* that causes a child to realize that authority is arbitrary and capricious.
Silly but true story…
When I was in high school, we couldn’t wear black or red or blue every single day because those were gang colors (Latin Kings, Bloods, and Cryps, respectively). So I wore black shoes every day just to give the finger to the man. Of course, I was a geeky honors student who didn’t drink/party and was pretty shy (even though I was on the dance team, oddly enough)… so I guess I wasn’t very convincing as a gangsta…
Why would god care? What difference does it make to him if she has her shirt tucked in or not? I think god is being unreasonable.
And so are the people who are actually believing such things. All this blog does is pointing that out. Do you have a problem with that?
It would be quite fascinating/hilarious if she was so smart that she used this whole spectacle as an ironic way to get what she wants and make fun of the absurdly illogical religiosity in TX.
Doesn’t believe in any of it, but knew she could do this anyway if she was loud enough.
Remember, in some circles strength of conviction in one’s belief equals the validity of the position held.
Oh what a world (in witch voice melting away).
If christians tell christians how to dress, are they persecuting themselves?
Oh, I’ve just got it, it’s like Jesus having to death for saving us from himself, because of a sin he knew we would do when he created us.
Um, show of hands: Who here has seen a person (of any age, gender or body type) wearing a school shirt tucked into a pair of khakis? If you’re looking for the antonym of “sexy,” just paste that picture into any dictionary. Yikes. Anybody who would get turned on by such an outfit either has some weird problems, is a member of the Taliban, or time-traveled from the 15th century.
Epic fail, and that goes double for the wimpy school board.
“Who here has seen a person (of any age, gender or body type) wearing a school shirt tucked into a pair of khakis?”
Actually there were some Mormon kids at my school who did that…
at my school the dress code is if ur in kindy white shirt grey pants nappy shirt tucked in same with year 6 witch is wat im in the idea on u have to wear a nappy even in y6 is so u dont leave class for toilet
Personally, I see that a big problem is that many in society choose to dress in ways that physically attracts people in the wrong ways. The idea that the mother wanted her daughter to be dressed “modestly” in public is good. We should not judge her. You see, humanity has seen an increase in lust over the years. Sin is in so many places, and the temptation is included. Women used to dress in ways less revealing, but over the recent years, certain ideas sprung up and modesty appears to be very faded in the American and much of the world’s international culture.