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Educators Challenge ACLU School Religion Decree
July 7, 2009
A Christian educators group from Ohio is becoming involved in the Santa Rosa County ACLU lawsuit against prayer and religion in schools, seeking to have a consent decree issued declared unconstitutional.
Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the ACLU against the Santa Rosa County School District. Following that suit, a consent decree was issued that required teachers and other school staff members to stop leading prayer at school functions.
“We are David facing a Goliath. The ACLU is engaged in a well-financed, systematic campaign to intimidate Christian educators across the nation. We feel this case is so important that we must take a stand,” says Finn Laursen, executive director of CEAI.
The ACLU charged that some teachers and administrators in the Florida district were actively endorsing religion. The school district attempted to settle the suit by joining with the ACLU in a consent decree that essentially bans all employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities, whether before, during, or after school hours.
The ACLU’s Consent Order broadly defines prayer, school events, and school officials so that employees who bow their head or fold their hands, pray over meals during their lunch, or voice agreement with another’s religious discussion at any time on school property or at any school event can be found in contempt of court. When private third parties use school facilities for after-school religious events or church services, no district employee on his or her own private time may participate or communicate agreement in any prayer or religious discourse, even if he or she is attending the event voluntarily, outside of school hours.
“The consent decree is so broad that it unconstitutionally infringes on the rights of teachers, administrators, and students,” says Laursen. “Our particular interest is that it violates the free speech and free exercise rights of CEAI members, both in their capacities as employees of the school board and as private citizens. The order also forces CEAI members to infringe upon the rights of students and others. CEAI will support its members employed by the Santa Rosa County School Board who are opposed to the unconstitutional consent order.”
“As a professional association for Christian educators founded in 1953, we have historically encouraged our members by informing them that they do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door. We have consistently clarified in print, through technology, and in workshops and seminars across the country what courts have always held, that schools are not religion free zones. We have corrected the misconception that prayer has been banned from public schools and that teachers are limited in their religious expression on their own time.”
“If we just sit by and allow constitutional religious freedoms to be bullied out of public schools, we will end up surrendering them all together. We are not willing to sit by and see this happen in Santa Rosa County.”
CEAI is represented in the case by Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit group litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family, according to the group’s web site.
“Neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. Not only does the ACLU want to strip public school employees of their rights to free speech while working, the ACLU is now arguing that they lose their rights after work and off campus. Public school employees are not required to abandon their faith to feed their families,” according to Matthew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law.
The ACLU has requested documents related to prayer at Escambia County Schools. The Santa Rosa ACLU ruling also led to the end of school-sponsored Baccalaureate services in Escambia County, including Northview High School.
Pictured above: A prayer rally for area schools was held last March at Jay High School. NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
30 Responses to “Educators Challenge ACLU School Religion Decree”
REGARDING:
“Jim on July 7th, 2009 3:56 pm Anyone remember Matthew 6:6? It was Jesus admonishing those who felt it necessary to give a public display of their piety.”
Yes, Jesus admonished worship practiced to be seen, but we just can’t establish His teaching as the way others have to practice their religion. Most groups who call themselves Christian aren’t.
They still have their freedom, though.
Freedom for others to do only what I like is not freedom.
It is slavery
REGARDING:
“Part of living in a free society, where every one can live their private life according their conscience, means keeping some aspects of their lives out of their public occupations. Christians have gotten a free pass on this for a very long time in this country, and are now acting like a spoiled child who now has to follow the rules everyone else already lives by.”
ACTUALLY, everybody has gotten a free pass up until lately. Saying anyone has to follow the rules everyone else lives by encompasses the thought that there are rules laid down for religious practices.
In fact the rule laid down is that there may be no rules.
The Constitution does not refer to any deity but it does spell out that the government can not make rules establishing or forbidding religious exercise:
“respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”
Yes, rote prayers are obviously forbidden but telling people they can not follow their religious beliefs is also forbidden. (Obviously human sacrifice would be forbidden for other reasons unrelated to religion, i.e. murder and disturbing teaching to yell at others would be stealing)
Me! on July 7th, 2009 10:15 am If you want to fight the ACLU you need to support the ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND. They have an army of lawyers and have successfully defeated the ACLU in a lot of cases similiar to the Pace High issue. The ACLU is one of the most vile organizations out there trying to destroy the Constitution of the United States.
I would like to know how to support ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND.
ann on July 7th, 2009 12:40 pm Come on, Al! You and I both know that’s bull.
Do I know you? Do you know me? Please don’t assume to know my beliefs and intentions. I have respectfully stood to the side during evening prayers, and the very same co-worker paused their conversation for me to pray over my meal. It is called respect. Try it sometime, it can be addicting.
I am a teacher and have been for 15 years. I have prayed during silent moment, before meals, before major tests, and when there were crises at school. I have been at sports events, graduations, and other school events where prayers were said. I have never, nor have I ever seen, anyone forced, shamed, ridiculed, or otherwise coerced into participating in a religious activity in which they were not willing participants. For one thing, when most of us pray, we bow our heads and close our eyes and we don’t even know what anybody else is doing! I doubt you could find any teacher in the southeast who coerces or manipulates by using undue authority his/her students to follow his/her beliefs. UNLESS there is a total vacuum in the child’s home that he/she needs to fill by unusual attachment to his/her teacher.
There’s quite a big difference between a teacher bowing his/her head to pray SILENTLY over lunch and a teacher MAKING students pray & learn Scripture as a part of the cirriculum which is not the case here. This order seeks to take away the freedom of one group in order to accomodate the preferences of another group. Not allowing someone to pray silently with their head bowed is essentially taking away a part of their individuality which is what makes America such a melting pot. Our ancestors left Europe in search of religous FREEDOM.
The courts do not need to attempt to program teachers & students like a bunch of robots–that’s a ridiculous concept that has proven to fail in many other countries. Take a look at history.
I borrow the words of Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth and the LIFE…
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Well said, James and Jim. I agree 100%!
For those who criticize the ACLU and think they are anti Christian:
http://www.aclufightsforchristians.com/
It’s not the school districts job to protect the teachers free speech. In the same way that freedom of religion does not grant a free pass to break the law, freedom of speech is not a free pass to abuse a position of authority. Free speech can, and is, limited where certain individuals have a significant position of authority and influence.
As a military member, there are certain things I cannot say or do publicly while in uniform, lest I give an impression that I represent the military as a whole. Same as when in uniform as a police officer. I voluntarily entered both of those agencies. If I can no longer abide by those restrictions, I can leave, at least when my commitment is up.
If a teacher can not in good conscience, abide by the restrictions of teaching in a public school, they can apply to a Christian or other religious school, or not teach. Just because they don’t like the options available, doesn’t mean the rest of society should change to accommodate them. Part of living in a free society, where every one can live their private life according their conscience, means keeping some aspects of their lives out of their public occupations. Christians have gotten a free pass on this for a very long time in this country, and are now acting like a spoiled child who now has to follow the rules everyone else already lives by. Forgive me if I am unable to shed any tears.
John, please check your Constitution again. Nowhere in the Constitution is God ever mentioned. You may be mistaking the Constitution with the Declaration of Independence, a common error.
And if you think that this country was founded as a Christian nation, check your history. The vast majority of our founding fathers were not Christians. Some were deists and others were atheists. Remember that Ben Franklin said, “Lighthouses are more useful than churches.” Need more?
James Madison wrote, “Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise.”
In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, John Adams wrote, “I almost shudder at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the abuses of grief which the history of mankind has preserved– the Cross. Consider what calamities that engine of grief has produced!”
And Jefferson himself wrote, “Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth.”
Our founding fathers had seen the horrors that a connection between the church and the state had brought to Europe and wanted no part of it. They wanted to protect the churches from the government as much as protecting the government from the churches. It’s a double-edged sword.
Again, if you ever find yourself in the minority, you’ll be glad that this protection exists.
It amazes me how so many people let their emotions cloud their judgement of the issues. If anyone was denied the right to exercise their religion, the ACLU would support your right to worship as you believe. No child, teacher or administrator has been told they couldn’t pray. You cannot however force your religious views on those who believe differently. If anyone wants to pray, drop your head and prey, just don’t expect everyone else to have to join in with you. The United States is not a democracy for this very reason. This is a Republic, which is a representative form of government designed to prevent mob-rule.
You all need to go and read the constitution. I’m sure you can pull it up somewhere ont he internet. America’s foundation was based on faith in God. Hello!!! Is anyone listening?
Ann, What better for people that gossip, ridicule, and are hatefull toward others
to be than in church? Remember, Christ hungout with “sinful people” in his
ministry. The trick is to overcome these things and remember your salvation is
in yours and the Lords’ hands and not theirs.
Matthew 6:6 is my favorite verse. While I am not an advocate of the ACLU, I do understand that “Christians” sometimes like to flaunt their faith in order to make others feel guilty or somehow, less of a saved person. From personal experience, even our local churches have an uncanny ability of making people feel unwelcome and unholy. I am a member of a local church and do NOT attend because, when I did attend, my family and I were the targets of gossip, ridicule, and hatefulness. This from a group of so-called “Christians”. If you cannot pray without outward indications of your faith, then you do not have very solid beliefs. Christ hears our every thought. Perhaps the judgemental people in this community should keep that in mind.
Anyone remember Matthew 6:6? It was Jesus admonishing those who felt it necessary to give a public display of their piety.
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
To me, that was Jesus himself telling you to keep it to yourself.
Or is this just another case of “pick and choose” Christianity?
In that case, another New Testament passage comes to mind:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.”
(Matthew 23:27)
Remember that the ultimate function of the Constitution is to protect the minority from the majority which doesn’t always know what’s best.
If you ever find yourself on the minority side of an issue (and despite what TV preachers try to tell you, Christians AREN’T the minority), you’ll be glad the ACLU is on your side.
Freedom of religion shoud be upheld at all costs. Democracy is obviously eroding if you can’t say a prayer over your lunch. Our fore fathers fought for the right to pray how we want where we want. The fact that the ACLU wants to limit prayer youn own private time is absurd. If you have a problem with a religious service at a school then don’t attend.
I find myself in a quandary. I dislike the ACLU as much as I do the Religious whackos amongst us.
I think I will side with the law of our land. The Constitution.
How about this:
Keep religious teaching confined to churches and your homes and keep them the hell out of our schools.
There’s nothing wrong with keeping the teachers from advocating religion in the classroom. The problem with the Court’s decree is that it is too broad. It doesn’t just stop the teachers from ADVOCATING religion at school, but actually prohibits them from practicing it in a manner that someone might incidentally notice. Certainly bowing your head over your food is not ADVOCATING religion to a degree that you are establishing religion. The law goes too far. There is a balance in regulating government action to protect against the terror of religious establishment. This law tilts that balance and ultimately infringes not just on teacher’s 1st ammendment right to freedom of religion, but also their 1st ammendment right to freedom of speech, expression, and assembly.
The “wall of speration between church and state,” was very well covered by the
founding fathers in the first amedment where it states, ” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”. In the simplist terms, Congress
declaired government could not establish a state religion which would require
all citizens to practice as their own. The key to the interpretation of ‘church and
state” seperation is plain in the next part of this legal document which states,
“or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. This, my fellow Americans, is far more
important than a statement made by one man, Thomas Jefferson, in a private letter written to another private citizen years after he retired from public service.
Please, let us not be lead down a foolish path by a minority that is without hope
and would like nothing better than to see this nation follow them into the depths
of hell.
Come on, Al! You and I both know that’s bull.
I agree “B”! No one ever stops to think how they would feel if we were talking about teachers from other religions practicing their beliefs in the classroom. I am a Christian teacher who whole-heartedly believes that prayer should be PRIVATE! You can talk to God without bowing your head or closing your eyes. A public school is not a place for religious practices, plain and simple. And no, a PUBLIC school facility that is paid for with tax-payer money (from all different religious backgrounds) should not be used for religious services. That’s what churches are built for. If you don’t like it, send your children to a faith-based private school!
B… if my child’s teacher was a Muslim and prayed over their lunch by bowing their head to the East I wouldn’t have a problem in the world. And if they are on their own time at a 3rd party function at the school (as this decree also limits) they can do calls to prayer from the stadium PA system for all I care.
“Because religious belief or non-belief is such an important part of every
person’s life, freedom of religion affects every individual. State churches
that use government power to support themselves and force their views on
persons of other faiths undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state
support of the church tends to make the clergy unresponsive to the people and
leads to corruption within religion. Erecting the “wall of separation between
church and state,” therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.”
Thomas Jefferson
While praying at meals may seem like a small thing to the heavily tilted christian community that we live in I think that you would have a problem if one of your children’s teachers converted to islam and prayed on a mat in their classroom numerous times a day. Government schools funded by the public should remain religious neutral. If it is such an issue then perhaps a christian academy should be erected in each county funded by the churches that you find on every corner rather than building yet another church or parsonage.
(Laws establishing freedom of religion)…”were meant to include within
them the Muslim, the Hindoo [sic], and the infidel of any sort.”
Thomas Jefferson
This is the same fella that wrote the document that you all celebrated a couple of days ago.
Regards
If you want to fight the ACLU you need to support the ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND. They have an army of lawyers and have successfully defeated the ACLU in a lot of cases similiar to the Pace High issue. The ACLU is one of the most vile organizations out there trying to destroy the Constitution of the United States.
Thank you Jesus—-Your people are finally speaking out against the ACLU. The ACLU should be forced to disband as they are a CLANISH type of organization hiding behnd the Constittution and wire working the law just to suit them. We should not have to write our Congressmen or Representatives to do their jobs as they should already have the GUTS to stand up for what is right and for what this Country was founded on. If the people in the ACLU does not like America than they should move to Iran where their type of people live. If there is anyway I can help the CEAI in this — I stand Ready.
What ever happened to the first ammendment, you know, the one thta guarantees freedom of religion, speech, press, ect? It seems to me that the freedom applies simply to those who wish to slander and not to those who want to exercise their religious beliefs. This is beyond just a battle over prayer, this is the foundation of the AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM at risk. What rights are we quietly and peacefully giving up to pacify the anti-religious groups? Where does this lead, where does it end?
“Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” Luke 17:1-2
THANK GOD! It’s certainly time the majority speaks up for there RIGHTS as
American citizens protected by the constitution and consecraded by the blood
of those brave men and women who have died defending those rights. As tax-
payers the schools belong to the people. it’s up to us to say what WE want on
our property. We don’t need someone else to tell us what we are allowed under
the law that that has assured our free way of life for over 200 years. Even those
who don’t believe in almighty God should understand and agree with that!
It is time to stop the ACLU.
Keep up the good fight!!!!!!!