Students defy the ACLU and say "God bless America"

Glenview Elementary

The ACLU has called for an end to a New Jersey elementary school's tradition, since 9/11, of having students say "God bless America" after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, claiming it is unconstitutional. School district officials were intimidated by the threat of legal action and have decided to no longer initiate the tradition. However, to their credit students at the school continue to say it.

Having students say the words "God bless America" as a patriotic expression is rooted in America's heritage and civic culture. Imagine if the students were taught to recite the preamble to the New Jersey Constitution:

"We, the people of the State of New Jersey, [are] grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy..."

Glenview Elementary School principal, Sam Sassano, stood up for students' right to say "God bless America." He explained, "I recognize everyone's Freedom of Speech right. Many parents have expressed that they want their child to continue to state 'God bless America.' I do not feel I have the authority to forbid this and have assured parents that is their right."

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia would be proud of the students. In a recent speech he gave in Louisiana, Associated Press reported:

He told the audience at Archbishop Rummel High School that there is "no place" in the country's constitutional traditions for the idea that the state must be neutral between religion and its absence.

"To tell you the truth there is no place for that in our constitutional tradition. Where did that come from?" he said. "To be sure, you can't favor one denomination over another but can't favor religion over non-religion?"

The news of students exercising their right of free speech -- especially regarding what some consider too religious -- is timely. The President will soon be proclaiming January 16 as Religious Freedom Day (as every President has since 1993). I recommend school leaders and educators use the occasion to teach students a civics lesson about their religious freedom at school.

You can help your local schools do that by simply recommending they show students and teachers these videos that explain the U.S. Department of Education's guidelines on students' and teachers' religious freedom.

School’s Use of Scripture in Morning Announcements? No Problem.

Can a public school principal read a verse from the Bible during morning announcements? The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) doesn’t think so and has recently challenged the practice in a small school district in White Oak, Texas. The atheist group sent a letter to the school district chastising it for allowing high school principal, Dan Noll, to include a verse from the Bible during his morning announcements as a “Thought for the Day.”

Superintendent Michael Gilbert responded to the FFRF with a letter and posted on his blog:

“I am fully aware of the practice at the high school and will not pursue any action against our High School Principal or any other member of our faculty/staff concerning this issue…Let me be clear, this is an attempt to draw us into a contest of words for the sole purpose of giving the FFRF a large amount of free press/recognition that they and their very few members (1,200 in Texas) do not deserve. This group and others like it, are wanting us to provide them with negative quotes to use in the promotion of their agenda. We can and will make the adjustments needed to ensure our students experience a morally sound, positive character based education.”

A news report posted on Monday, suggests that Superintendent Gilbert will allow the practice to continue but without the school principal citing the chapter and verse when quoting the Bible. However, censoring the chapter and verse isn't necessary.

You may be thinking “How could reading a Bible verse over the school’s intercom ever be constitutional? Didn’t the Supreme Court rule that Bible reading was unconstitutional?”

In Abington School District v. Schempp the Court found that state-mandated, daily reading of scripture was a religious exercise and, therefore, unconstitutional. However, it also clarified that it was not censoring all exposure to the Bible. The case dealt with a daily routine of reading only the Bible and reading ten verses each day. That is much more heavy-handed than simply quoting a verse as one among many inspirational thoughts.

If a school wants to quote a Bible verse over the intercom as part of its “Thought of the Day” routine I recommend the following guidelines be followed:

1. Bible verses should not make up a majority of the quotes used. Mix them in with quotes from poets, musicians, scientists, philosophers, coaches, and leaders in politics, business, and social movements.
2. Only Bible verses that can be considered inspirational or applicable to people of all faiths and no faith should be used. For example, Proverbs 15:1 “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
3. Citing the chapter and verse for the Bible quotation is not a problem if the origins of other quotations are cited when they are used.
4. No Bible verses should be used that appeal to the listener to become devoted to Jewish or Christian religious doctrines.
5. No Bible verses should be used that assume the listener believes in God. For example, avoid verses that include “The Lord says…”

If a student hears the wise words of Proverbs 15:1 and is inspired to give a soft answer to a classmate’s insult rather than a harsh response, the school atmosphere might just be a little nicer that day and the Constitution won’t be offended either.

A few words of wisdom that students would benefit from hearing and heeding:

• “If you become wise, you will be the one to benefit. If you scorn wisdom, you will be the one to suffer.” – Proverbs 9:12
• “Tainted wealth has no lasting value, but right living can save your life.” – Proverbs 10:2
• “People who wink at wrong cause trouble, but a bold reproof promotes peace.” – Proverbs 10:10 
• “Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses.” – Proverbs 10:12 
• “To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.” – Proverbs 12:1 
• “A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise person stays calm when insulted.” – Proverbs 12:16 
• “Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing.” – Proverbs 12:18
• “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.” – Proverbs 13:20 
• “A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.” – Proverbs 15:14
•  “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.” – Proverbs 15:22

When incidents like this arise, our Gateways team quickly reaches out to school officials to encourage them not to overreact and engage in unnecessary censorship. We contact school leaders and local pastors in the affected community and supply them with ways to respond that promote religious and academic liberty.

What banning this book says about the future of our society

yellow-star-of-david

Guest Blog from Joel J. Miller

A California charter school has decided to pull Corrie Ten Boom’s Holocaust memoir, The Hiding Place, from its library because the content was deemed too religious. Where to begin? It’s impossible to separate remembrance of the Holocaust from matters of faith; only a modern educator would try.

According to the report of a parent at the school, library staff were told to “remove Christian books, books by Christian authors, and books from Christian publishers.”

When the Pacific Justice Institute, a Christian legal defense group, sent a cease-and-desist notice, the school superintendent responded, “We . . . do not allow sectarian materials on our state-authorized lending shelves.”

So what’s the big deal? [READ MORE...]

‘Tis the Season for Censorship

The holiday season is fast approaching. Christians as well as atheist activists both relish this time of year, but for completely different reasons. People of faith see this time as a heartwarming opportunity to enjoy deeply held traditions in the American culture. Atheist activists, on the other hand, see this as the proverbial “golden opportunity” for their cause. They can hardly wait for the publicity they gain from attacking schools and town councils. In many of America’s schools, the atheists have been effective in censoring mention of the religious nature of holidays. For example, too often educators teach that Thanksgiving is merely a nostalgic remembrance of what happened 400 years ago between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. Students get the idea that besides some dusty old origin, Thanksgiving is about Turkey, football, and being the day before Black Friday retail sales.

A few years ago, Americans United for Separation of church and State got mad at us because we “encourage teachers to use Thanksgiving to explain how the country thanks ‘God for His blessings.’” Guilty as charged. We encourage educators to actually educate their students about the meaning of Thanksgiving as expressed by the President of the United States in his annual Thanksgiving Proclamation.

For example, last year, President Obama proclaimed, “This day is a time to take stock of the fortune we have known and the kindnesses we have shared, grateful for the God-given bounty that enriches our lives… Let us spend this day by lifting up those we love, mindful of the grace bestowed upon us by God and by all who have made our lives richer with their presence.” But if atheist activists had their way, the President’s words would be censored from the classroom.

And when it comes to Christmas, many educators have been so intimated by atheist threats they censor traditional Christmas carols and references to the birth of Jesus. Consequently, the lesson students absorb is that Christmas is just a merry commercial enterprise.

During the Christmas season last year, the atheist extremists of the Freedom From Religion Foundation couldn’t resist trying to be offensive to Christians in Arlington Heights, IL, who got proper permission to set up a Nativity scene in a park. Instead of merely setting up their own display celebrating some atheist holiday in an expression of multicultural diversity, these extremists put up a display directly across from the Nativity scene with a heartwarming banner that read: “There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts & enslaves minds.”

Hopefully this year school boards and town councils won’t join the atheists in singing “’Tis the Season for Censorship.”

Atheist Group Sues to Impose Its Values on Others

The atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) recently attacked a South Carolina school board for opening its meetings with an invocation. They find it unacceptable that a group of elected officials begin their meetings with an invocation like the one board member Beth Watson recently offered: "Our Creator and Sustainer, we pray for the health and well-being of our students and their families. We pray for all our employees who work so hard on behalf of all our students." However, the school board's prayer is in keeping with the practice established by Congress and upheld by the courts, and reflects the sentiment of South Carolina's constitution which begins "grateful to God for our liberties."

Our friends at the Alliance Defending Freedom have written an excellent defense of the practice of public meetings opening with prayer. Attorneys Brett Harvey and David Cortman remind us that:

The central case on this subject is Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983), where the Court approved the Nebraska Legislature’s practice of opening each day of its sessions with a prayer by a chaplain paid with taxpayer dollars. Marsh has been repeatedly mischaracterized by some advocacy groups in recent months, but its holding is clear. In Marsh, Chief Justice Burger concluded:

The opening of sessions of legislative and other deliberative public bodies with prayer is deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country. From colonial times through the founding of the Republic and ever since, the practice of legislative prayer has coexisted with the principles of disestablishment and religious freedom.

In fact, the Court noted that agreement was reached on the final language of the Bill of Rights on September 25, 1789, just three days after Congress authorized opening prayers by paid chaplains. Clearly then, “To invoke divine guidance on a public body . . . is not, in these circumstances, an ‘establishment’ of religion or a step toward establishment; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country.”

We need to keep in mind that the Freedom From Religion Foundation is not some benign group that merely wants to maintain what it thinks should be a separation of Church and State. FFRF is an aggressively anti-religious organization that sees religion as a threat to civilization. For instance, it characterizes the Ten Commandments as epitomizing "the childishness, the vindictiveness, the sexism, the inflexibility and the inadequacies of the bible as a book of morals." It encourages people to abandon their faith and its website offers a "DeBaptismal Certificate" which states "I categorically reject the creeds, dogmas, and superstitions of my former religion."

President George Washington in his Farewell Address on September 19, 1796 urged the nation:

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. . . . The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them."

Thomas Jefferson, whose statement about a separation of Church and State atheists love to misinterpret, gave America this warning (which is carved into his memorial in Washington, D.C.):

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?"

Make no mistake, Atheists groups like FFRF do not want to merely preserve a so-called separation of Church and State. They want to remake America into something that the Founders never intended, and which, as they warned, will destroy the fabric and freedom of the nation.