Friday, January 916 2004
|
Friday, January 916 2004 |
|
Has it come to this in America? By DAVID EPPS According to a news release distributed by Liberty Counsel, a civil liberties legal defense and education organization headquartered in Orlando, Fla., Christine Curran and her father, John Curran, filed a federal lawsuit last Friday against the Broward County (Fla.) School District after Christine was denied the right to distribute to her fellow classmates an invitation to a meeting at her church. According to Liberty Counsel, while Christine was a student at Driftwood Middle School in Hollywood, Fla., she took a flyer to school one day to pass out to her friends and other students. The flyer was an invitation to hear a Christian youth speaker at her church. As Christine was going to her third-hour class, a teacher saw her handing out the flyers in the hallway between classes. The teacher confiscated the flyers and told Christine that she could not distribute the flyers until she complied with district procedure and that if she continued to distribute the flyers, she would be “written up.” It seems the school district’s policy requires all students to submit literature to a school administrator before they will be allowed to distribute the literature. The policy states, “Approval must be obtained from a school administrator prior to handing out or posting materials, including petitions and surveys; printing any school publications; collecting money or selling advertisements for school publications; and/or distributing any commercial, political, or religious material on school grounds.” If the literature at issue does not fall within the list contained in the policy, it can be distributed without prior permission. The policy requires that religious material, however, must always be submitted for prior review by school administrators. The policy lacks guidelines, and thus allows blatant censorship of religious viewpoints. Well, Seig heil! Mat Staver, the president and general counsel for Liberty Counsel, stated, “The school district’s policy is clearly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has made it very clear that government may not treat religious literature differently from other literature simply because it is religious. That is what the district has done in this case.” Staver also stated, “Students do have the right to distribute religious literature in the public schools and have the right to be free from discrimination that is based upon the content of the literature they are distributing.” Staver concluded, “Christine should never have been told that she must comply with this unconstitutional policy before she can exercise her constitutional rights. The school district must learn that religious speech and literature are highly protected forms of speech. Perhaps it is time for the school district to go back to school and learn about the First Amendment.” Has it come to this in America? Are students to be denied the right to ask other students to attend church or youth group activities? Kudos to the Currans and to the attorneys at Liberty Counsel for refusing to allow constitutionally ignorant secularists to dictate the limits of their First Amendment rights. And “for shame” to the teacher who confiscated a child’s personal property of a religious nature and who denied Christine the right to ask friends to attend church. And “for shame” to the Broward County School District. Maybe the members of the school district need a geography refresher. This is, after all, (at least so far) the United States and not Iran or North Korea. [David Epps is pastor of Christ the King Church on Ga. Highway 34 between Peachtree City and Newnan. He may be contacted at FatherDavidEpps@aol.com or www.ctkcec.org.]
|