Louisiana School Reverses 'Bible Ban' Under Threat of Lawsuit
by Jim Brown
December 18, 2003
(AgapePress) - After being threatened with a lawsuit, a Louisiana school district has decided it will no longer bar a student from bring his Bible to school.In eight-year-old Harrison Kravat's second-grade class, students are allowed a "quiet reading time" each day for ten minutes before the closing bell. Under Zachary Community School District policy, students are allowed to bring their books from home.
But when young Harrison's teacher noticed he was reading a New Testament, she confiscated the Bible and told him never to return with it again. The incident moved Harrison to tears and prompted his parents to contact the Alliance Defense Fund. ADF attorney Michael Johnson says that after Harrison's teacher and principal ignored grievances filed by his parents, the ADF sent a nine-page demand letter to the school district's superintendent threatening a lawsuit.
"The superintendent received the letter, immediately responded to us, and said that he would correct the situation within the day -- and that's exactly what happened," he says.
According to the attorney, the district censored the young student out of concerns that his Bible reading violated the so-called "separation of Church and State." He says it is a "well-settled fact of law" that students in public school do not abandon their constitutional rights when they enter the schoolhouse gate, adding "that's what the U.S. Supreme Court says on the matter."
Johnson believes that in this case, the American Civil Liberties Union was the culprit. "It's the ACLU that is to blame," he says. "For about 30 years, they've been using fear and intimidation and disinformation as their strategy, and they run all around the country and tell school officials and public officials that religious sentiments have to be removed from the public square. That's just not the case."
Johnson says the ACLU has "a very different vision for America -- and it's one that has nothing to do with the Constitution."
Johnson says Harrison is bringing his Bible to class every day now, as are some of his fellow classmates.
