[extropy-chat] Atheists launch inquisition...

[Mike Lorrey]

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School
Wed Nov 24, 2004 04:12 PM ET 

 
By Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his
school from giving students documents from American history that refer
to God -- including the Declaration of Independence.

Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the
San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on
Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal
Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian.

"It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men,
and to hide this fact from young fifth-graders in the name of political
correctness is outrageous and shameful," said Williams' attorney, Terry
Thompson.

"Williams wants to teach his students the true history of our country,"
he said. "There is nothing in the Establishment Clause (of the U.S.
Constitution) that prohibits a teacher from showing students the
Declaration of Independence."

Vidmar could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit, which was filed
on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose and claims violations of
Williams rights to free speech under the First Amendment.

Phyllis Vogel, assistant superintendent for Cupertino Unified School
District, said the lawsuit had been forwarded to a staff attorney. She
declined to comment further.

Williams asserts in the lawsuit that since May he has been required to
submit all of his lesson plans and supplemental handouts to Vidmar for
approval, and that the principal will not permit him to use any that
contain references to God or Christianity.

Among the materials she has rejected, according to Williams, are
excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, George Washington's
journal, John Adams' diary, Samuel Adams' "The Rights of the Colonists"
and William Penn's "The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania."

"He hands out a lot of material and perhaps 5 to 10 percent refers to
God and Christianity because that's what the founders wrote," said
Thompson, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for
religious freedom. "The principal seems to be systematically censoring
material that refers to Christianity and it is pure discrimination."

In June, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case of a
California atheist who wanted the words "under God" struck from the
Pledge of Allegiance as recited by school children. The appeals court
in California had found that the phrase amounted to a violation of
church and state separation.


=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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