Contents tagged with School
Filed in: US Constitution | by Edward White | 4:43 PM May. 4, 2012
Continuing The Work And Legacy Of William Bentley Ball
One of the leading religious-rights litigators in this country was William Bentley Ball. He fought for the religious freedoms of Americans from the 1960s into the early 1990s. A 1948 graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School, William Ball was involved in some of the most important cases considered by the United States Supreme Court during the latter part of last Century. He passed away in 1999. I recently had the honor to attend the dedication in Washington, D.C. of the William Bentl Continue Reading...
Filed in: Free Speech | by David French | 11:36 AM Apr. 18, 2012
Is the Bible Harmful to Children?
Are Bible verses and biblical truth harmful to children? Should the state protect even Christian kids and parents from the Word of God? Until the ACLJ stepped in, it appeared that the state of Washington was well on its way to censoring the Christianity right out of a Christian day care center. Promise Community Center, a Christian, nonprofit day care, called the ACLJ for assistance in late February. Its State Daycare Licensor had demanded that Promise remove a poster depicting the "Tree of Goo Continue Reading...
Filed in: Free Speech | by CeCe Heil | 1:03 PM Apr. 12, 2012
Student Free Speech Upheld in New York State
We recently helped to ensure that a 7th grade student could continue to pass out religious messages to other students at her public middle school in New York State. The student had notes with encouraging Bible verses delivered to a few other students. The parents of one of the students complained to the Principal, who then informed the student that she could not pass out personalized religious notes in the future. After the student’s mother contacted us, we sent her a letter explaining th Continue Reading...
Filed in: Free Speech | by CeCe Heil | 12:26 PM Mar. 21, 2012
Victory: Religious Speech Granted Equal Access in Hawaii Public School
We were contacted in early March by the parents of a fourth grade student in Hawaii regarding a local school’s policy that discriminated against religious speech. The School invited parents to include messages to their students in the upcoming school yearbook. When the parents’ message to their student included an encouraging scripture quote, however, the school notified the parents that while the message would be included, the school would censor the encouraging scripture quote. Th Continue Reading...
Filed in: School Prayer | by CeCe Heil | 6:12 PM Feb. 28, 2012
School Will Now Allow Student's Religious Flyers
We were contacted in early February by a concerned parent in Indiana regarding a student’s ability to pass out religious flyers at his school. The flyers contained an email address and website where students could submit prayer requests. When the student and parent requested permission from the principal to pass out the flyers, the principal denied the request, even though other flyers have been passed out at the school before. At this point, the parent contacted the ACLJ. ACLJ attorneys Continue Reading...
Filed in: School Prayer | by CeCe Heil | 3:21 PM Feb. 21, 2012
Helping to Get a Good News Club Started in Pennsylvania
We were contacted by the Director of a Child Evangelism Fellowship organization in Pennsylvania. The organization had successfully started after-school Good News Club programs at various public schools in the area, but the Principal of one elementary school denied their request. Various curriculum-related and non-curriculum related activities and group meetings occurred at the school after hours, including Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts meetings. We spoke with the Director about the situation and s Continue Reading...
Filed in: Supreme Court Justices | by David French | 1:24 PM Jan. 16, 2012
Is the Court Changing Its Stand on Religious Freedom?
On June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States narrowly ruled in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez that a university's "all-comers" nondiscrimination policy trumped the right of a Christian student organization to select its leaders according to the group's religious beliefs. According to the Supreme Court, a Christian student group confronted with such a policy could not exclude a Muslim or atheist from leadership and had to give them the same chance to lead as a Christian. It was " Continue Reading...
Filed in: US Constitution | by CeCe Heil | 1:05 PM Dec. 28, 2011
Little Girl Denied Bible Club in School
Recently a sixth grade girl wanted to begin a Good News Bible Club that would meet at her school at the same time other clubs meet on school grounds. Her principal told her no, claiming that having such a religious club in the school was illegal. The principal said that those opposed to religious expression had been pressuring the entire school district to prevent any such activity in the school. The student’s parents contacted the ACLJ. Unfortunately we learn of incidents like this all t Continue Reading...
Filed in: Christmas Laws | by David French | 3:48 PM Dec. 22, 2011
A Christmas Victory
If you’ve been reading our blog series on 2011 victories, you already know that this has been quite a year for the ACLJ. We’ve taken bold stands on the national and international stage – including representing more than 100 members of Congress in the ObamaCare litigation, weighing in at the U.N. in support of Israel’s right of self-defense and against the Palestinian effort to short-circuit the peace process, and we’ve worked hard to save a courageous Iranian pastor Continue Reading...
Filed in: Free Speech | by Matthew Clark | 10:55 AM Dec. 19, 2011
2011 Victories: A Little Girl Can Read Her Bible in School
This is the latest installment in a year-end series looking back at a few of the hundreds of victories by the ACLJ in 2011. In September, Morgan – a second grade girl – was named “special student” of the week by her Pennsylvania elementary school. She was given the customary privilege of being allowed to read a story from her favorite book to her class. Morgan’s favorite book was the Bible, and she wanted to read a Bible story to her classmates. However, when her t Continue Reading...
