WHere I live (Oklahoma) some teachers in some public schools take
attendance at the "See you at the Polls" meetings and some give extra
credit for those who attend. Students who do not attend are often
shunned by others. In one school a young man was holding the door for
students to enter the school but then closed it in the face of a girl,
saying, "I do not hold the door for Jews." This is not a school
sanctioned act -- rather it is the act of a student, but it does
illustrate the social climate created by bringing religious zealotry to
the school.
Paul Finkelman
--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-2499
918-631-3706 (office)
918-631-2194 (fax)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Rick Duncan wrote:
Here is an interesting report, from the Alliance Defense Fund, about a
recent case of censorship directed at students participating in "See You
at the Pole" day:
Since 1990, Christian students across America have gathered together one
day a year to meet at their school flag pole to pray for their
classmates, teachers, and the nation.
These gatherings (called “See You at the Pole”) are not
school-sanctioned and are student-initiated. No one is forced to
participate; it is strictly a voluntary event, held during non-class time.
Nevertheless, students in Barnegat, New Jersey, experienced a first-hand
civics lesson in the misinterpretation of the First Amendment when they
attempted to gather around their school’s flag pole to pray.
On September 21st, three students at Russell O. Brackman Middle School
met at the flagpole and started to pray. They were interrupted by a
school administrator who thought their activity looked “suspicious.”
She reportedly told the students that not only could! they not
participate in “See You at the Pole” but that their audible prayers were
creating a “disturbance” and they would have to cease as they were
“mixing” religion and school, causing a potential “sticky situation.”
The students and their parents contacted ADF, and attorney Jeremy
Tedesco sent a letter to the school, explaining to the principal that
“the censorship of the students’ prayer as part of the See You at the
Pole event is blatantly unconstitutional under firmly established law
and is a violation of the students’ First Amendment rights.” To read
the full text of Jeremy’s letter, go to
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/TomsickLetter.pdf
<http://email.adfmail.org:81/CT00005904MjgwMzQ1Nw==.HTML>. ADF also
provided an informational legal memorandum (available at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/SYATP_ADF_Memo_2005.pdf
<http://email.adfmail.org:81/CT00005906MjgwMzQ1Nw==.HTML>) describing
the constitutional rights of students who wanted to take part in the event.
Upon receipt of the letter, the school allowed the students to hold a
“do over” See You at the Pole event on October 19th. This time,
approximately 50 students and members of the community, and a local
radio station, reportedly participated as well!
One of the students involved is now working to start a Bible Club, and
has signed up fifteen members thus far.
I know many of you deny that the public schools are hostile to religion,
but these cases are Legion. But at least this case had a happy ending
with an even larger group participating in the "do over."
Rick Duncan
Rick Duncan
Welpton Professor of Law
University of Nebraska College of Law
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or
Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or
numbered." --The Prisoner
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