ACLU: The Prayer Censors
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) files many lawsuits but there was one filed against a small school district in Tennessee recently that caught my eye and the attention of the American Center for Law and Justice.
In its never-ending quest to remove all things religious from public life, the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the Wilson County School System outside of Nashville, Tennessee. This suit clearly represents a frontal attack on prayer in public schools. Wilson County has to defend its right to allow the free exercise of religion in a public elementary school. The school system, along with its director and Lakeview Elementary School principal, are being sued by two parents on behalf of their son, a former Lakeview student. The ACLU filed suit against two teachers as well. We represent the school principal and two of the teachers who have been sued for what the ACLU calls illegal acts that took place during the 2005-06 school year. What exactly are these illegal acts?
The complaint alleges that the See You at the Pole event a student led, student-initiated event which takes place at schools nationwide each September constitutes a violation of the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. In fact, the ACLU asserts that students and others read passages from the Bible, prayed, and made references to Jesus Christ and Christian music. The ACLU has alleged that the See You at the Pole event was unconstitutional despite the fact that former President Bill Clintons administration issued Religion in the Public School Guidelines that specifically say that the See You at the Pole event is constitutional and appropriate on public school campuses.
Not satisfied with simply removing student prayer at the See You at the Pole event, the ACLU has also sought to stop a parents group that meets on campus on a monthly basis to pray for the school, faculty, staff and students. The ACLU asserts that this prayer activity also constitutes illegal acts that must be stopped. The idea of parents gathering at their childrens school to pray should not pose a constitutional threat to anyone. If equal access means anything, you would think that it allows for parents to be given the same access rights as anyone else. If they want to pray, they have the constitutional right to do so.
And there is more. The ACLU also has alleged that school districts participation in the National Day of Prayer is also a constitutional violation. The National Day of Prayer has been part of our national landscape for some 55 years. It was established in 1952 by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman.
Still not satisfied, the ACLU also attacked the school districts annual Christmas concert. Specifically, the ACLU actually alleges in their complaint that, The Plaintiffs had no objection and were not offended by the Christmas program until its conclusion. They went on to allege that at the conclusion of the program, several kindergarten students role-played a nativity scene of the birth of Jesus. Then students had the audacity to sing Away In The Manger and Joy To The World, which are, according to the ACLU, exclusively Christian in nature, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
Most of us understand that a school doesnt endorse everything it fails to censor. What happened in this Tennessee school district happens at countless school across the country. But this time the ACLU took a stand a troubling stand aimed at censoring the constitutionally-protected Christian message.
In the past, the ACLU the so-called champions of free speech have sought to protect students right to engage in protest activities on public school campuses and fought to protect speeches that are suggestive and inappropriate all activities that the ACLU claims is protected by the First Amendment. However, when students gather around a flag pole to pray or participate in the National Day of Prayer events, the ACLU says that activity is not protected by the First Amendment but instead is a violation of the First Amendment.
The ACLU would do well to remember a landmark Supreme Court case from 1969 a case that actually involved the ACLU itself. The high court 38 years ago held that students do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. The fact is that the Supreme Court has long held that theres no constitutional conflict when students exercise their freedom of religion in public settings even in public schools.
We will do everything we can to ensure that the ACLU does not succeed in this disturbing attack on religious freedom in Tennessee. It is an important case one that could very well have national ramifications.