Christian Rock Band Sues Ohio Schools for Censorship
by Jim Brown
February 21, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Christian rock band has sued an Ohio school district after being barred from performing at an anti-drug/anti-alcohol rally.Last December, school officials in Rossford rescinded their invitation to have a local rock band called "Pawn" play at the school-sponsored assembly. School officials argued the performance might violate the so-called separation of church and state since members of Pawn are Christians and perform songs with Christian lyrics.
Now The Rutherford Institute has filed suit on behalf of Pawn. According to Institute president John Whitehead, who is representing the band, the members of the group are very concerned about their constitutional rights. Along with his clients, he believes the constitution plainly forbids censorship of U.S. citizens' religious expressions; and he adds, "I don't think that Christians should allow this to happen."
If an individual or group is barred from addressing students or anyone else, simply on the basis of being a Christian, "then there really is no free speech for Christians in this country," Whitehead contends. And, he points out, the Rossford School District has violated more than just the band member's First Amendment right to free speech.
"This is what's called viewpoint discrimination," he Rutherford Institute spokesman explains. "You can't single out a group and say because you're Christian, because you're religious, or whatever, you can't have equal rights." And that, he asserts, is the other issue in the band members' discrimination suit.
"Another band was put in their place -- a band that didn't even agree with the message of the assembly," Whitehead says. "and [Pawn was] treated unequally because they were Christian." He is arguing that by showing preference for the secular band, the Rossford school officials denied Pawn's equal protection rights, as provided under the Fourteenth Amendment, even as they also censored the group's free speech and religious expression. So in filing suit against the Rossford Exempted Village School District and other school officials, Rutherford Institute attorneys have charged school officials with violating the band members' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Whitehead is calling the matter "a classic case of viewpoint discrimination and a perfect example of how far school officials are willing to go to avoid any association with religious individuals or ideas." He says the Rutherford Institute hopes the court will send a strong message to school officials that such censorship is wrong under the Constitution of the United States.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
