SCOTUS Upholds Christian Student's Rights in Viewpoint Discrimination Suit
by Jim Brown
April 27, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Recently, in a major victory for a Christian student in New York who encountered viewpoint discrimination at his public school, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a unanimous ruling by the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The court found in favor of young Antonio Peck, who was censored by his Syracuse school because an art poster he drew for his kindergarten class assignment contained an image of Jesus. Antonio Peck, who is now in the fifth grade, drew the picture as part of an assignment to design a poster about protecting the environment. The child's work was displayed on a school cafeteria wall along with 80 other student posters during an event where parents were invited to view the students' posters. However, the Christian kindergartener's poster had been folded in half in order to cover the image of Jesus.
School officials explained to Antonio and his parents why his poster was folded, arguing that the child's poster, because it included an image of Jesus, violated the separation of church and state and would give the impression that the school was teaching religion. When the school refused to remedy the situation, to apologize, or to adopt a policy that would prevent future censorship, a suit was filed by the religious freedom defense group Liberty Counsel on the Peck family's behalf.
Attorney Mathew Staver is President and General Counsel for Liberty Counsel. He says the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold the earlier federal appeals court ruling sets an important precedent.
"Whenever a student responds to a class or curricular assignment," Staver notes, "whether it's artwork, a book report, an oral report or whatever, as long as their response is consistent with the assignment, their Christian viewpoints cannot be censored." The high court's decision is "a great ruling for the rights of students and their Christian viewpoints and expression around the country," the attorney says.
By allowing the earlier court decision to stand, Staver asserts, Chief Justice Roberts' court has signaled that the Supreme Court is no longer a place that can be used by left-wing groups like the American Civil Liberties Union to undermine the religious and moral values of Christians.
The willingness of little Antonio Peck and his family to stand and fight against censorship and viewpoint discrimination has paid off, the Liberty Counsel spokesman says. "This has been a long case," the pro-family lawyer observes, "and I think he and his family are certainly to be congratulated for standing up and making a difference."
The Peck family had a choice, Staver adds, "just like all of us do. They could have allowed the censorship to continue and just walked away, but that would have created bad precedent for religious expression." But instead, he points out, the family "decided to take a stand, and stand they did."
Although fighting the school's actions has been a long, drawn out process, Staver notes, the result has been the creation of great legal precedent, not only for the Pecks' situation but for all the students and families that may face similar challenges to their religious freedom in the future.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
