TurningPoint Church crosses the line
Fayette County Public Schools, Lexington, Ky., received FFRF complaints about several state/church violations.
Leestown Middle School held a “retreat” for sixth graders at two churches. Students were given T-shirts at the retreat that advertised TurningPoint Church and its website. They were told to wear shirts to a mandatory school assembly, which was supposedly secular, put on by the church’s lead pastor, Joshua Mauney. He had children write down information, including their addresses, on cards. FFRF’s complainant then received mail from the church.
Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert wrote to the school district Nov. 13. “Allowing a church leader unique access to a captive audience of schoolchildren and permitting him to turn students into walking billboards for his church is inappropriate and unconstitutional, and his predatory conduct should raise many red flags.”
Markert continued, “Moreover, public school employees cannot distribute or wear religious T-shirts while at school, nor can they require or encourage students to wear them.”
The district responded in February, informing FFRF that speakers would be prohibited from using students as a platform for a religious message on social media and from requesting names and addresses of students in the future. The district also agreed to request advance approval of anything put on donated items.
‘Praying hands’ image off school wall
After initially refusing, Kenneth Cooper Middle School officials in Oklahoma have removed a poster called “Faith in America” featuring two children with their hands clasped in prayer in front of an American flag.
FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel first wrote to Putnam County Schools about the image in August. “The meaning could not be more clear,” Seidel wrote, “real American children pray.”
School district attorney Anthony Childers responded that the district had received no complaints in the 18 years the poster had been up and claimed it was not proselytizing. “At this time, we do not believe that the image violates the Establishment Clause and the District will not agree to remove the image from its office.”
In a rebuttal, Seidel noted that the fact that the display had been up so long “only serve[d] to make the violation more egregious.” The claim that the poster was not religious was “at odds with common sense,” he said.
FFRF’s local complainant reported that “Faith in America” has been swapped out for a George Washington portrait.
FFRF stops bible study field trip
Del Norte County Unified School District stopped a teacher at Crescent Elk Middle School, Crescent City, Calif., from holding a bible study as part of an overnight field trip to her home.
“When a school allows a teacher to lead students in a devotional bible study, the school becomes complicit in an egregious constitutional violation and breach of trust,” wrote Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel in a letter sent Jan. 26.
Superintendent Don Olson responded the next day, saying that he “directed staff to stop this practice immediately,” and would work with the district’s legal team, thanking FFRF for making him aware it was happening.
Georgia school removes 10 Commandments
FFRF succeeded in getting a Ten Commandments display removed from the Pinevale Elementary School library in Valdosta, Ga. Staff Attorney Sam Grover in an Oct. 24 letter to Valdosta City Schools wrote, “Any student will view a Ten Commandments display in a school as being endorsed by a school.”
After a follow-up letter, Superintendent E. Martin Roesch phoned Grover to say that the display had been removed.
No more Christian pumpkin patch trips
A field trip to a church-run pumpkin patch will not reoccur at Randolph Elementary in Centreville, Ala. Kindergartners and first graders were given nametags reading, “Hay there, Jesus loves you” with a bible verse underneath.
Students’ finger paintings also had bible verses printed at the top. The students posed for a photo beneath two large signs with bible verses on them.
Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote the district Nov. 24: “It excludes non-Christian and nonreligious students for a public school to schedule a trip to this type of sectarian establishment.”
On Jan. 23, the superintendent of Bibb County Schools responded that this was the school’s first visit to the pumpkin patch, admitting it had not been properly vetted. She said the district would not send students there in the future.
South Dakota sex ed secularized
The public school district in Aberdeen, S.D., which showed a Catholic version of a sex education program to students, is taking steps to correct the violation after getting a Jan. 9 letter from Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott.
The health curriculum at Central High School included “Romance without Regret,” a religious presentation promoting sexual abstinence and “chastity” from a Catholic perspective. The presenters prayed and made religious references such as “Realize that purity is a gift from Jesus, we have to ask him of it, and he’ll give it to us.”
It also denigrated students, particularly girls, who had had sex, describing a man who has sex with a woman as “robbing her purity” and watching pornography as “looking at the corpse of a woman’s heart.” It also quoted many debunked and misleading health statistics.
The superintendent called Elliott two weeks later to say that the video was shown mistakenly instead of a secular version of the presentation. She reviewed both versions of the film in full and assured FFRF that she recognized the Catholic version was inappropriate for public schools and would not be shown again.
Team chaplain barred in Florida
A Nov. 24 FFRF letter ensured the removal of a team chaplain who, with coaches, led Franklin County Schools athletes in prayer in the locker rooms, at practices and at games.
“Public high school football teams cannot appoint or employ a chaplain, seek out a spiritual leader for the team, or agree to have a volunteer team chaplain, because public schools may not advance or promote religion,” wrote Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel.
Superintendent Nina Marks, Eastpoint, Fla., later responded that the individual in question was employed as a statistician and film editor, not as a chaplain, and was “acting entirely on his behalf without permission or authority of the administration.” He and other employees were reminded that district staff “cannot and will not participate or encourage religious activities of any kind.”
God out of Okla. police training
Oklahoma’s Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) is taking steps to eliminate unconstitutional religious training materials after receiving an FFRF complaint. A peace officer in training told FFRF that during training, instructors and materials repeatedly promoted religion.
Course materials contained statements such as, “While there are differences between the various faiths, we still are a people of God. This idea is the basis for the common bond of all people.” A section focusing on ethics encouraged peace officers to dedicate themselves before God to their chosen profession.
In an Oct. 7 letter, Staff Attorney Sam Grover wrote, “CLEET must revise its training materials and lectures by removing suggestions that belief in God is an essential component of being a competent peace officer.”
Grover corresponded with an attorney representing CLEET who said he was taking steps to remove religious content, adding that instructors were warned about expressing their personal religious views in class.
Missouri park crèche won’t be back
The Higginsville, Mo., Parks and Recreation Department has in the past displayed a large nativity scene in a public park with a sign saying “The Savior is Born.”
Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott sent the department a letter after a local resident complained: “By displaying this sign, the Department is praising the Christian god and proclaiming Jesus as savior. This is in direct violation of the Constitution.”
The department responded Feb. 4 that the nativity will not be put up in the future.
Letter ends Kansas bible handouts
Unified School District 219 in Kansas has stopped a Minneola Elementary School teacher from distributing bibles to students. In a letter sent Jan. 30, Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel informed the district, “When a school distributes religious literature to its students, it entangles itself with that religious message.”
Superintendent Mark Walker responded Feb. 6: “The district has taken prompt action to visit with the teacher and inform the entire staff that allowing the Gideons to distribute Bibles on school property is not allowed and should not happen again.”
W.Va. middle school crosses removed
Ravenswood Middle School in Ripley, W.Va., has taken down crosses that were previously displayed on school property.
Staff Attorney Patrick Elliott wrote Jackson County Schools on Jan. 20 after learning that multiple crosses were placed in a garden near an entrance to the school. One included the word “FAITH” and two verses from the New Testament.
“We are sensitive to the possibility that the crosses and angels are meant as a memorial. However, it is the school’s constitutional obligation to find a religiously neutral means of expressing remembrance in a memorial display,” wrote Elliott.
The district responded Feb. 6 to say that the crosses had been removed.
FFRF stops Kansas proselytizing
Haskins Learning Center, a K-8 public school in Pratt, Kan., is presenting in-service training to teachers about religious proselytizing after FFRF again objected to the school’s practices.
Just six weeks earlier, the school had agreed to stop prayer at school events. But the day after the first response, FFRF received a report that teachers had distributed gifts to students with attached tags quoting the biblical John 3:16.
An attorney for the school told Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel on Feb. 9 that he had in-services scheduled with instructional and administrative staff.
Prayer get boot from graduation
Quehanna Boot Camp, an adult correctional facility in Karthaus, Pa., will not include prayers in future graduation ceremonies. Staff Attorney Sam Grover wrote the camp Feb. 3 to object to the pastor-led prayers.
The Department of Corrections responded Feb. 13, writing that the invocation and benediction portions of the ceremony would be removed.
Religious odyssey off school schedule
FFRF learned that Tropic Isles Elementary School, North Fort Myers, Fla., planned a fifth-grade field trip to a church which was hosting a walk-through play entitled “Drug House Odyssey.”
Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel wrote the school district on Feb. 12 informing them that the field trip was unconstitutional: “Taking public school students to a church, a place covered with religious iconography, is an endorsement of that church’s religion.”
Lee County Schools Superintendent Nancy Graham responded Feb. 16, stating that she shared FFRF’s concern that the district’s participation “not present any impression that the School District is attempting to indoctrinate students into a religious belief.”
The district chose to postpone the event and consider an alternative site, she said.
Hand soap Jesus off school bottles
Bennett Elementary School in McKinney, Texas, removed hand sanitizer bottles that displayed the Lord’s Prayer and the logo of a church. “Religion is a divisive force in public schools,” wrote Staff Attorney Sam Grover. “Though the school may accept donations from religious entities such as churches, the school still must comply with the Establishment Clause in its use of those items.”
FFRF’s complainant reported on Feb. 18 that the prayers had been removed and the church logos replaced with school logos.
Prayerful posts off Ohio school site
Eastern Local School District, Reedsville, Ohio, removed two religious posts after a car accident claimed the life of a former Eastern High School student. The posts called for “prayer warriors” to “lift all of [those involved in the accident] up in prayer.”
Senior Staff Attorney Rebecca Markert wrote Superintendent Michele Filon a letter on Feb. 12. “We are sensitive to the fact that sharing such tragic news can be a difficult and emotional task. Expressing condolences over this situation was correct, but we wish to remind the District that it must ensure that it remains neutral on matters of religion.” FFRF received word Feb. 19 that the posts had been removed.
FFRF protects Minn. prisoners’ rights
The Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud has agreed to discontinue providing extra gifts to prisoners who attend holiday Christian services.
“Encouraging inmates to attend a church service is constitutionally impermissible because it coerces inmates to participate in a religious exercise, and sends the message that MCF-St. Cloud endorses Christianity over all other faiths and over nonreligion,” wrote Staff Attorney Sam Grover on Feb. 12.
Warden Collin Gau responded Feb. 23. “We had no intention of sending a message that MCF-St. Cloud endorses Christianity over other religion, and to avoid that effective immediately, we will discontinue providing any gifts to offenders as a part of attending any religious programming at MCF-St. Cloud.”
Hotel bibles removed at Portland State
FFRF had been trying to obtain a response from Portland State University in Oregon about its hotel bibles since its original letter of complaint in February 2014. “If guests want to read this religious text during their stay, they should do what everyone else does, travel with the book they want to read. The state need not, and cannot, provide religious literature to citizens,” said Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel.
With help from FFRF’s Portland chapter and the PSU Secular Student Alliance, FFRF was able to confirm that the bibles had been removed from rooms, despite the university’s unwillingness to admit it had taken action.
— Compiled by Maddy Ziegler
