Christian Students Sue Their School Over First Amendment Rights
by Jim Brown
November 19, 2003
(AgapePress) - An Illinois school board is being accused of violating the First Amendment rights of Christian students.Florida-based Liberty Counsel has filed a lawsuit on behalf of students in Marion School District #2 who were barred from handing out flyers advertising a revival meeting featuring Texas evangelist Ronnie Hill. Yesterday, a federal judge allowed Hill to give anti-drug assemblies in the district, but prohibited students from distributing invitations to the service at nearby Cornerstone Community Church.
Hill says the students' actions do not violate the mythical "separation of church and state" because they are simply inviting their classmates.
"The media ask me, 'Aren't you getting the students to pass out tickets in the schools and to invite their friends to your crusade at night?' And I say, 'Not only am I wanting the students to invite their friends from school, I'm asking the entire church to invite the entire community,'" the evangelist explains.
"This is not just about students," he says. "We are inviting people to come and hear the simple gospel message of how Jesus can change their life."
According to Hill, Marion residents are angered by the censorship. "There are a lot of people in this area who are very upset because of their students not having the right to their freedom of speech and their freedom of religion," he says, adding that he has noticed at least one ironic twist in the controversy.
"There is a [non-Christian] teacher in the school who told the students [that they] have the right to pass out those tickets -- and he told them to pass them out," Hill says.
A parent of a fourth-grade student sued to block Hill's secular anti-drug assemblies in Marion schools.
