Tenn. school censors ‘God Bless the USA,’ ‘In God We Trust’
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This is just the latest example of how an ACLU lawsuit, even an unsuccessful one, can scare the tar out of government school employees and make them act in the most unconstitutional of ways.
ADF: Tenn. school censors ‘God Bless the USA,’ ‘In God We Trust’
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of parents and students at Lakeview Elementary School in Wilson County after school officials ordered “God Bless the USA,” “In God We Trust,” and other phrases referencing God and prayer to be covered up on posters before they could be displayed in the school’s hallways. The posters were hand-drawn by students and their families to announce “See You at the Pole,” a voluntary, student-led prayer event held outside of class time.
“Christian students shouldn’t be censored for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “It’s ridiculous as well as unconstitutional to cover up these references to God and prayer–one of which is the National Motto itself–on posters announcing a student-led activity. School officials appear to be having an allergic reaction to the ACLU’s long-term record of fear, intimidation, and disinformation, despite a previous court ruling at this very school that said students can observe these types of events on school property.”
The American Civil Liberties Union previously sued the school to stop it from recognizing such events, including “See You at the Pole” and the National Day of Prayer. In May 2008, a federal judge refused to grant the ACLU’s request.
Each year, students and parents affiliated with Lakeview Elementary School in Mt. Juliet have placed posters in the hallways of the school informing students of the “See You at the Pole” event. This year, each poster, made on personal time without the use of any school funds or supplies, included the disclaimer: “See You at the Pole is a student-initiated and student-led event and is not endorsed by Lakeview Elementary or Wilson County schools.” Nevertheless, the students and their parents were ordered to cover up references to God and prayer and any Scripture passages on the posters or else they could not be posted.
After a school employee told the parent of one student, “You can’t hang up those posters. They have the word ‘God’ on them,” the school’s vice principal and director reinforced the policy, explaining that posters containing religious references, like “In God We Trust,” “God Bless America,” and “come and pray,” are precluded by school board policy and prohibited in the hallways as inappropriate.
“The Constitution prohibits government officials from singling out religious speech for censorship, but this is exactly what Lakeview school officials did when they ordered these words to be covered,” Kellum said.
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Posted by G. Fortunato on March 3, 2009 6:43 pm
» Filed Under 1st Amendment, ACLU, Anti-Americanism, Bill Of Rights, Church And State, Constitution, Education, News, Political Correctness, U.S. Constitution
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4 Responses to “Tenn. school censors ‘God Bless the USA,’ ‘In God We Trust’”
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Syndicate Me
It is the crap like this that is causing our nation to spiral into nothingness. Teachers need to respect the rights of the children to say or write GOD how and when they want. I hope the person responsible for this abuse of power and violation of that childs GOD GIVEN right to speak will loose their job and the right to teach.
I CONGRADULATE AND APPLAUDE MR. BRAD BOE’S COMMENTS MADE MARCH 2, 2009 at 6:53pm on this SITE. Respectfully yours, sam stewart, hodgenville, ky. DITTO MR. BOE!!!!
I love it. Liberals are overplayin their hand. This kind of crap disgusts heartland America and Repubs could rightfully link this to Obama. This is liberalism, in full force, and Americans DONT LIKE IT! Push it through. With bills like this, America will see big Republican gains.
This is pathetic. Why on Earth would a school censor those words if that was the point in the first place?
First it’s the government institutions, then it’s the government.
Wonderful. Love to see people like this running our schools while they get paid many times more than they’re worth by Mr. Obama.
The ACLU may of scared the school, but if I was running it, I would of said “No, you don’t get what you want, ACLU”.
But the ACLU needs to be stopped either way. It’s this kind of crap that is ruining our country and making us into crapsicles.