School Officials Remove Bible Clubs Cross

By 

Jay Sekulow

June 21, 2011

2 min read

Religious Liberty

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Last Thursday, we were contacted by a high school student in the State of New York asking for our assistance with a conflict between school officials and their Bible Club.

 

As we understand, the school permits student clubs to create promotional displays for their clubs in showcases throughout the school.  The student clubs are allowed to decorate as they please, with no rules or regulations on their design.  The students from the Bible Club displayed a heart of thornsrepresentative of the crown of thornsinterlocking with a cross in it.  The next morning they were surprised to find that the assistant principal had taken out the cross and put it on their club advisors desk with a note saying that he was unsure about the cross and felt it might offend people.

 

School officials obviously do not understand the difference between student speech and school-sponsored speech.  We have provided the student with information regarding students constitutional rights to share with school officials, and we will send a demand letter if necessary.  Hopefully, school officials will change their position once they realize that the law supports the students speech, and the Cross will be returned to the Bible Clubs showcase.  We will keep you posted.