The radical secularists who insist that any and all religious expression be prohibited in public schools, even when it involves students interacting with each other, are certainly dismayed by the ruling of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that meddling education officials can be held personally liable for denying religious freedom to students.Finally!
The decision is great news to Americans who are sick and tired of seeing school officials brazenly ignore previous court decisions granting religious freedom in the schools (and there's a bunch of those decisions) and continue their tyrannical prohibitions against religious expression. If these tyrants have to accept personal responsibility for their mean-spirited (and unconstitutional) persecution, maybe teachers and students will finally get the relief the courts had intended.
"This is a big win for the First Amendment and for millions of students nationwide,'' said Kelly Shackelford, president of the Plano-based conservative Liberty Institute, which represents the families in the lawsuit.
The case (several years old now) involved school officials refusing to let students hand out candy canes pens with descriptions as well as pencils that read, "Jesus is the reason for the season.'' But another element of the decision concerned whether elementary school students "have a First Amendment right to be free from religious-viewpoint discrimination while at school.''
The judges ruled that "it has been clear for over half a century that the First Amendment protects elementary school students from religious-viewpoint discrimination.''
"This is a pretty strong ruling,'' Shackelford said. "It not only firmly establishes the First Amendment rights of students … but it says these violations are so extreme (that the judges) will hold school administrators personally liable.''
Isn't it sweet when courts decide that what the Constitution says, the Constitution means?
And isn't it sweet to know that bullying bureaucrats in the government schools will have to think about facing a personal lawsuit the next time they want to illegally persecute the religious expression of teachers and students?
Freedom loving Americans from various religious traditions (I read the story here in the Jewish World Review) are grateful to the judges, the Liberty Institute and the students and parents who pushed back against such oppressive and illegal religious intolerance. Way to go.
