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Wednesday, April 14, 2004
ACLU files suit against school's religious activities
By JESSICA BUJOL/Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The ACLU filed suit Tuesday against the Bossier Parish School Board and the principal of an elementary school, alleging the school is violating the First Amendment by sponsoring a teacher-led prayer group and other religious activities.
"There are a number of issues associated here, but they all boil down to endorsement and promotion of religion in the public schools by school officials," said Joe Cook, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Louisiana chapter.
The suit was filed in federal court in Shreveport on behalf of the parents of a second grader and fifth grader at Stockwell Place Elementary. The children, whose names were not made public, told their parents they were being teased because they refused to participate in activities like Christmas caroling at nursing homes. The family is "not of the majority religion", Cook said, and declined to elaborate.
Both children were sent to a computer lab while their classmates practiced religiously themed carols, Cook said.
"That makes a child feel left out, like an outsider at their own school," he said.
Cook said that the school also displayed a nativity scene in the library during the holidays, a time when the teasing escalated. The parents, Sandra and David McBride, met with the school's principal and were told the children needed to learn how to deal with being teased, Cook said.
"That's not the role of public school officials. Their role is to keep the schools inclusive and secular and to make children from all different religious backgrounds feel welcome and to teach tolerance. Instead, they're doing just the opposite and teaching intolerance," he said.
The parents approached the ACLU and filed suit as a "last resort" after meeting with school officials several times, Cook said.
"Belief and faith are important. The promotion of prayer and religion, however, belongs in the home and places of worship chosen by the parents, not in the public school," the McBrides said in a statement.
Both the Bossier Parish School Board and the principal's office were closed by the time the suit was filed late Tuesday afternoon. Attempts to reach Superintendent Ken Kruithoff and Stockwell Place Elementary Principal Timothy Thompson for comment were unsuccessful.
The suit also takes issue with a group called "Stallions for Christ" which promotes "Christian fellowship and prayer", Cook said. The group, named after the school's mascot, meets during recess and is led by a teacher.
When the McBrides met with Kruithoff about the group, he defended it, saying "This is the way things are done in the South" and "Welcome to the Bible Belt", according to the suit.
School officials also sponsored a Drug Abuse Resistance Education graduation that included a student-led prayer, religious songs and speeches that ended with the words "God bless you", according to the suit.
The suit seeks to prevent the school from displaying religious materials and put an end to school-sponsored religious activities, but it is not about singling out the promotion of one religion, Cook said.
"It would be wrong, no matter what religious belief were being advanced at the school," he said. "They have to be neutral, they can neither enhance nor deter religion."
You just can't win with these people. If someone wants to praise the Lord and decides - for the sake of <B>all</B> of the students - to send non-Christians to another room, guess what happens? The person who was trying to make everyone happy is sued! Then again, if that same person ignores the feelings of the non-Christian students and
doesn't send said students away, guess what? They're
still sued!
People should take a good look at the First Amendment. It protects the rights of
all U.S. citizens. Not just the rights of non-Christians! The "wall of separation of Church and State" is clearly meant to keep the government from interfering with the people's right to practice whatever religion they choose, whenever they choose, and
wherever they choose. It was never intended to prevent people from exercising their First Amendment right to freedom of religion in the public forum.
It is now that I realize just how fortunate I was to have attended CV elementary/high school. I believe a majority of the students were Christians. Or at least, they didn't have a problem with singing Christmas carols, some of which were Christian-related. I went to school with two Jehovah's Witness boys, and they never felt comfortable with the idea of singing Christmas carols. But did they run to their parents and threaten to sue if the school continued to put on its annual Christmas show? Did they create a big stink when their fellow students paid tribute to the American flag? No. You know why? Because they respected the other students, and they didn't want to create a big controversy. They had class, and I feel that they also had respect for the First Amendment.
Why is it that the ACLU is opposed to any public display of Christianity in schools, but it
supports a law that forces students to pretend to be Muslims and to send up prayers to a false god? Please, explain this to me!
Please tell me how the ACLU can tout the values of tolerance, yet frown upon the foundation of a Christian club that just happens to meet on school grounds?
I know there are some who are wondering why certain people - myself included - believe that the ACLU is Satanically influenced.
This is why. To the ACLU, anything that promotes "alternative lifestyles" is fine and dandy. But oh, no! Can't promote Christianity in the public forum, because it teaches that certain "alternative lifestyles" are, in fact, sinful!!
And I wonder what the "almighty" ACLU is going to do about the Californian school that's being forced to close down, because the officials have refused to promote homosexuality. Is the ACLU going to file a lawsuit on that school's behalf? Or is the "Anti-Christian Lawyers United" (An appropriate name, don't ya think?) going to turn a blind eye on this situation? I will be astounded if the ACLU actually jumps to this school's defense.