Aggressive Churches and School Influence
Justin Bathon on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 9:15AM I was sort of disturbed by this story out of Gainesville earlier this week which had a local church encouraging its school age students to wear t-shirts to school which said "Islam is of the Devil." The Gainesville Sun has pictures and video. Starting at 2:58, the pastor starts speaking, and it is worth listening to.
Now, the principal (or Dean or whatever) of the school said the front of the shirt, which contains a bible verse, could be worn in school. Big mistake. I would absolutely ban that as well.
But, the general point here is the aggressiveness of the pastor in promoting religious messages at school. That is something that is simply unacceptable. The First Amendment protects their right to worship in whatever way they see fit, but it absolutely does not give them the ability to proselytize at school - and that is what this pastor was attempting to do.
There really is no legal recourse against this church or this pastor, but I do hope the people of Gainesville have enough sense to find a different church and put this pastor out of work.
Reader Comments (4)
Justin - you had mentioned banning a shirt with a Biblical reference on the front... Can that really be done within the scope of school authority?
It might be reasonable (I think) to predict that "Islam is the devil" could lead to substantial disruption, but I am not as clear on simply not allowing a Biblical saying.
The Biblical saying is not banned under the disruption standard, but instead the church/state standards, such as the Lemon test. The school permitting Bible Messages in a school where students are highly tuned into that, can be seen as coercive, establishing a religion, endorsing a religion, etc ... that's why I would ban the shirts altogether.
Justin, the courts have long held that students (not teachers) have the right to wear religious garb unless it is disruptive (or unless they have school uniforms). How can you possibly say what you did in comment 2? From a student expression/speech (not disruption) standpoint, how is this any different than students wearing shirts that say "Jesus is my Lord and Savior?"
My thought Scott was that the School is now endorsing the Bible verse by stating in public that students may wear Bible verses (and that one in particular) on the front of their shirts.
But, alright ... your right ... I may have gone a little far there. I'll retract and go under the disruption standard instead. If I am a school leader, I am just flat not allowing students to wear a Bible verse that implicitly says all non-Christian religions will not go to heaven, or whatever. That is just a path that no school wants to start down. I would much rather fight the upset Pastor than alienate my non-Christian students. Establishment Clause may be a bit much ... but I wouldn't be against using that argument as well on top of the disruption argument.