Fired School Official Now Educates Christians About Religious Freedom
by Jim Brown
September 1, 2004
(AgapePress) - The Missouri superintendent who lost his job for posting the Ten Commandments on a school wall is speaking out about his ordeal.Even though a federal lawsuit against the Humansville school district cost Superintendent Greg Thompson his job, he says God turned an ugly situation into a beautiful one. A day after the plaque was removed from the Humansville High School cafeteria, 75 students posted the Ten Commandments on their lockers at the school.
"Mr. T," as he is affectionately known to students, is currently working with a ministry called Asleep kNOw More. But the former superintendent says he was born an educator, and he plans to be back in a public school some day. In the meantime, he says, "I'll be around children all my life. I think there is a battle for the souls of children right now that we need to fight, and I'm going to spend myself doing that right now. And if we get things turned around, I definitely will in the future want to be able to step back in as an administrator and be able to have a blessed school district."
After what happened to him, Thompson wants to get the word out to other Christians that no public school district in America is immune from attacks on religious expression. He himself was not only forced out of a job, but also told he could not allow prayers at school functions or even have a Bible or a cross in his office.
Now, through Asleep kNOw More, the former school administrator works to educate fellow believers and encourage them to stand up for their constitutionally protected rights. "We just need committed men and women from each community that want to be a part of an action that turns this moral decay around for our children," he says.
Thompson says cases in which public education professionals, teachers, or students have been prevented from acknowledging God should frighten every parent, grandparent and care-giving adult concerned about their children's future.
The educator-turned-activist says the decline of American society has seen "an acceleration since we've turned our back and allowed God to be taken out of the presence of our children and different parts of society." He believes restoring religious freedom will be a key beachhead in the battle to reverse this trend.
