School District Sued After Suspending Christian Student
by Jim Brown
May 10, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A North Carolina school district is being sued over its decision to discipline a student for passing out leaflets which presented a Christian viewpoint on homosexuality.
Midway High School in Dunn suspended Benjamin Arthurs for distributing religious flyers regarding the "Day of Truth," an event where Christian students share a biblical perspective on the homosexual agenda. Sampson County Schools superintendent Stewart Hobbs claims Arthurs was trying to push his religious beliefs on others, and thus violated the so-called "separation of church and state."
But according to Arthurs' attorney, David Cortman with the Alliance Defense Fund, the First Amendment says otherwise. "This school district permits the [pro-homosexual] 'Day of Silence' to be promoted, which is of course the homosexual agenda being promoted in the schools," the attorney explains. "And the day after, Alliance Defense Fund has begun what is called the 'Day of Truth.'"
Cortman explains that Arthurs, a ninth-grader who is a member of the Bible Club, Who's Who, and the National Honor Society, felt the "Day of Truth" observance would afford him the opportunity to give a Christian perspective on the homosexual agenda. Instead, notes Cortman, the student was given in-school suspension for his efforts. The ADF spokesman sees a double standard.
"One of the problems is that the much touted tolerance that we hear about often doesn't seem to extend to people of faith," he says. That is why ADF has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county's board of education on the student's behalf, alleging his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights have been violated.
"The first thing we would like to see, obviously, is the in-school suspension removed from Benjamin's file," says Cortman. "Just as important as that is we would like to see the school adopt a policy that respects religious speech and permits it on the same terms and conditions as it permits other student speech."
The lawsuit seeks to have the suspension expunged from Arthurs' record, and argues the district's policy against religious expression is unconstitutional. It also states that the ninth-grader's Christian beliefs "compel him to share his faith and to address relevant subjects from a biblical point of view with other students."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
