A teacher in Cincinnati Public Schools is no longer passing out Buddha statues in his classroom after FFRF contacted the district. The teacher is not Buddhist, but was passing out the statues to students as “comfort” or “good luck” items.
FFRF Staff Attorney Christopher Line wrote a letter to Superintendent Daniel Hoying, reporting that not only is giving out Buddha statues unconstitutional, it could be offensive to Buddhist students, parents or staff members.
The First Amendment prohibits government entities like Walnut Hills High School from promoting or denigrating religion.
In a response from Hoying, FFRF was informed that the teacher agreed to remove the Buddha statues from his classroom and assured that he would not “repeat the passing out of a Buddha before an exam.”
