Thursday, November 3, 2011

Should Students Share Their Faith In School?

America started to get hostile towards religion in general, and Christianity in particular, when it took prayer out of public schools and introduced evolution into it. It enrages me that the hostility toward the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is continuing as this article below shows:

11/2/2011 United States (The Washington Post) - If you wonder why many Christian parents view public schools as hostile to their faith, talk to Michael Ayers -father of a sixth-grader in the Pocono Mountain School District in northeastern Pennsylvania. Last December, his little girl wanted to hand out invitations to schoolmates inviting them to a church Christmas party. Because kids were routinely allowed to distribute fliers inviting students to birthday parties, dances and other activities, K.A. (as she is described in court filings) assumed she could pass hers out too.

But after reviewing the flier, school officials said “no.” Angered by what the family viewed as school censorship of religion, Ayers filed a lawsuit on behalf of his then fifth-grade daughter. On Oct. 20, a federal judge awarded round one to the family, issuing a preliminary injunction ordering the school district to permit K.A. to hand out religious fliers during non-instructional time.

What’s striking about this case - and, sadly, many others like it - is how hard some school officials will work to make public schools religion-free zones. Despite numerous court rulings upholding the First Amendment right of students to express their faith during the school day, some administrators still confuse government speech promoting religion (which the establishment-clause prohibits) and student religious expression (which the free-exercise and free-speech clauses protect).

Pocono’s superintendent tried to duck the religion issue by claiming that he turned down the flier because of safety concerns since he didn’t know enough about the event or the sponsoring church. Moreover, he argued that the invitation wasn’t “personal speech” but rather a third-party solicitation(Source).
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