The Lodi Unified School District in California has removed a Christian cross displayed by a teacher in her fourth-grade classroom following objections by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
A parent who informed the state/church watchdog about the cross personally observed it during a July 29 back-to-school event at Erma B. Reese Elementary School. According to the parent, the 12 by 16 inch tall cross was displayed on a wall where the teacher’s fourth-grade students couldn’t avoid it.
For the parent, the concern was not abstract.
“Any child in that classroom who does not follow a Christian-based religion has to look at that cross and know their teacher’s religion is different than their own,” the parent told FFRF. The parent expressed dismay over the fact that a child “may feel that [the teacher] disapproves of them or does not accept them or their own religious beliefs.” The parent was particularly concerned that their own child could be treated differently if the teacher learned that the child was not Christian.
To protect the First Amendment rights of conscience of these young and impressionable students, FFRF immediately contacted the district to ensure the removal of the religious symbol.
“By prominently displaying a cross on her classroom wall where students will inevitably see it, [the teacher], and thus the district, signals clear favoritism toward religion over nonreligion and Christianity over all other faiths,” FFRF Staff Attorney Sammi Lawrence wrote to Superintendent Neil Young.
Religion is a divisive force in public schools, and the classroom cross, an unmistakably sectarian message, clearly crossed a constitutional line. The display also needlessly marginalized fourth-graders, such as the child of FFRF’s parent complainant, who is among the 43 percent of Generation Z members who are religiously unaffiliated.
FFRF is pleased to report that corrective action promptly followed FFRF’s letter. A representative of the district confirmed via email, “The issue brought to our attention has been addressed, and the cross is no longer displayed.”
“This is one of the more shocking violations of the separation between religion and government that we have encountered in a public school classroom,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “A fourth-grade classroom is not a Sunday school, or a venue for an over-zealous teacher to espouse their personal religious views. We are glad that Lodi Unified took this egregious violation seriously.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 41,000 members and several chapters nationwide, including more than 5,100 members and two local chapters in California. FFRF’s purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between church and state, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
