-Student Forced to Stop Reading Bible During After-School Program

This is another instance where a student has been denied his religious liberty because of the ignorance of school teachers and officials across America.

In this case an elementary student was forced to stop reading his Bible in an after-school program. Not only that but the teachers even tried to take his Bible away from him. Here’s the story from the Christian Post:

The ACLU of Tennessee has sent a letter to the Cannon County REACH after-school program on behalf of the boy, who attends an elementary school in Cannon County. Staff of the REACH program reportedly told the boy that he could not read the Bible during a free-reading period. The staff then tried to take the Bible, telling him the after-school program could lose its state funds if they allowed him to continue reading it.

In the letter sent to the REACH program, the ACLU requests that the after-school program train its employees on religious freedom rights while not imposing religion on the students. It also requests that the after-school program allow the student to continue reading his Bible during the free-reading period or any other student activity time.

“Tennessee public school students cannot be denied the right to engage in religious activities during student activity times, recess and other free time, provided they do not cause a disruption or interfere with the education of other students. Reading the Bible, or any other religious text, during a free-read period would fall within these protected freedoms,” the letter states.

Read the whole article>

Response: Kudos to the ACLU of Tennessee for actually supporting religious liberty for a change. This kind of thing is happening far too often. The CP article mentions other similar cases throughout the whole country. School administrators and teachers lately have been so deluged with complaints from atheists organizations and they no longer know where to draw the line when it comes to religious liberty for the students. So increasingly they end up trying to eliminate all vestiges of religion from the school campuses.

Here’s another school story about a kindergartner who was recently stopped from praying over her food. From the CS Monitor:

The incident is said to have taken place March 10 at the Carillon Elementary School in Oviedo, Florida.

… little Gabriella says that when she put her hands together and bowed her head to pray a teacher came over and told her, “You’re not allowed to do that.”

Nor was it when the girl says she replied, “But it’s good to pray” and the teacher allegedly responded, “It is not good.”

The part that made me want to do something more than shout at my computer screen was when the child was asked by her father if she managed to say her prayer and Gabriella responded, “I was trying to pray but I just couldn’t because they caught me again.”

This is a heart rending story but it has been publicized enough that maybe at least a few school folks will begin to get a clue that only ‘officially’ sponsored prayer has been kicked out of American schools. Students can still close their eyes or bow their heads in silent prayer anywhere and anytime. They can even legally meet other students at the flag poll and elsewhere on campus and verbally pray together.              *Top