Religious persecution? Or did she get the attention she was seeking? If she was sitting in the back of the bus, and the driver heard her...then she wasn't reading, she was preaching out loud.:shock: I can imagine that being more than a little annoying to those who aren't interested in hearing her read the bible on the bus. Thoughts?
Persecution? She & the kids got a ride to church in the supervisor's van, she didn't get kicked out in the street. To call an incident like this "religious persecution" is an insult to those believers in parts of the world where religious persecution is real, and painful, and life-threatening. I agree with you, Mag, if she was sitting in the back of the bus and the driver could even hear her, she was not just reading to her children, she was preaching to the whole bus.
Maybe she was riding the short bus? Sorry, couldn't resist. Actually, I think if the driver could hear her, she was talking too loud. But I have to wonder if the driver really could hear her, or if other passengers were complaining to the driver about what she was reading.
Even if it was another passenger who complained, how does that change the scenario? Within a certain area of "space" we each seek solitude. When that is violated, we dislike it, because we feel we have a right to that space, free of interference. I liken this to the legal axiom of your right to swing your fist ends at the point where my nose begins. And, if I am a paying customer in a public venue that is taxpayer supported, I most certainly have the right to not have to listen to her reading aloud. Ditto for boomboxes, pyraimed sales schemes, pandhandling, saxophone playing, etc.
Going with the senerio that she was using a normal voice and another passenger complained just because it was the Bible, I guess then, I shouldn't be allowed to talk at all in that situation? Or just not about God?
No where has it been established that she was speaking in a normal voice. What we were presented was that the bus driver asked her to stop. Seems more likely either that the driver overheard her, in which case it seems logical that she was reading loudly. It is possible that another rider complained. If so, they have the right to a relatively quiet ride, do they not? I'm not going to take your baited question as to the religious content or not. If you persist in being loud about whatever, in a public venue where others find it unacceptable, seems to me that you should have been taught better manners. How about if the person was intoxicated and loud? Are you coming to this defense as well? Consider if someone was loudly extoling the virtues of a candidate you dislike? It's the medium, not the message here. (Apologies to McLuhan)
To be honest, I know that I don't know enough about the situation to really make a judgement. I was playing devil's advocate. She could have been loud or maybe she was just reading and someone was feeling grumpty that day and didn't want to hear it. I wasn't there, but I did think that the other possibility should be considered.
