After Initially Refusing, School Now Will Allow Display of 'I Love Jesus' Poster
by Jim Brown
September 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Nevada elementary school has reversed its decision to prohibit a second-grade student from displaying an "I Love Jesus" poster.Officials with John Dooley Elementary School in Henderson had told the young girl she could not display her artwork alongside posters created by other students because her poster displayed the phrases "I Love Jesus," "Church is Great," and "The Bible is Great." School officials claimed allowing the poster was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
The student's parents then contacted The Rutherford Institute, based in Virginia, which called on the school to end its religious viewpoint discrimination. The response, says Rutherford president John Whitehead, was quite favorable.
"We just went through the law [with school officials] and [told them they] can't do this," Whitehead explains. "In a case that The Rutherford Institute won years ago, the Good News case in New York, the Supreme Court ruled that this is viewpoint discrimination. If you're going to allow other students to have posters, you can't discriminate against religious viewpoint."
Whitehead says that after they contacted the school, apparently the school board's lawyer researched the subject and reported back that unless they reversed course, they would like be sued -- and they would probably lose the case. "And they decided to change their mind," adds Whitehead.
According to the Rutherford spokesman, it was the educators who needed to be educated in this case.
"[School officials in] most schools are ignorant .... [They're] not stupid [about this issue], they're ignorant; they just don't know the law," he states. "For years it's been pumped into school officials' heads and school attorneys' heads that anything to do with religion in the schools is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has not ruled that, and many federal court have not ruled that."
Whitehead shares that the young girl is now free to display her "I Love Jesus" poster as well as subsequent work she might create. "After all," notes the attorney, "any reasonable person understands that a display of this second-grader's artwork constitutes her private expression and not that of the school."
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
