Mat Staver
Posted on 03/30/2006 2:23:12 PM PST by wagglebee
(AgapePress) - The United States Supreme Court may hear a case involving a school district's censorship of an art poster that a kindergartener drew for a school assignment -- a drawing that was partly suppressed by school officials because it contained the child's depiction of Jesus.
The case involves Antonio Peck, who was a kindergarten student in the late 1990s at Baldwinsville Elementary School in Syracuse, New York. The boy's teacher told members of the class to draw posters illustrating their understanding of the environment. Antonio's poster featured children holding hands and encircling the globe and people picking up trash and recycling, along with a picture of Jesus, kneeling with one knee to the ground and his hands outstretched toward the sky.
School officials folded the poster in half in order to cover up the drawing of Christ. They claimed the picture violated "church and state" and would give the impression that the school was teaching religion, even though the drawing was clearly a student's artwork.
According to the pro-family legal group Liberty Counsel, the fold made Antonio's look odd and the student's name on the poster was cut in half, and he felt ashamed of his displayed work, especially after school officials informed him and his parents why his poster was folded. The child assumed he had done something wrong, and when school officials refused to apologize, rectify the situation, or adopt a policy to prevent future censorship, Liberty Counsel filed suit on the Peck family's behalf.
Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver claims common sense should dictate "that no one would assume the school indoctrinated students in religion simply because one kid's drawing contained an unidentified religious figure." He argues that the fact that school officials would go "out of their way to humiliate a kindergarten student in front of his parents and classmates can only stem from antagonism to his Christian viewpoint."
In 2000, a federal trial court ruled that the school had the right to censor the child's poster due to "church and state" concerns. However, a court of appeals reversed that ruling on March 28, 2001, in a 3-0 decision, sending the case back to the trial court. And in 2004, the same trial court judge again ruled in favor of the school, at which point Liberty Counsel appealed.
On October 18, 2005, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals again ruled 3-0 in favor of Antonio. Nevertheless, Staver says the matter remains unresolved because there remains "a conflict among the federal courts of appeals."
Mat Staver
Appellate Courts Render Split Decision on Religious Censorship Case
The Court of Appeals in Antonio Peck's case "got it right," Staver asserts. According to the Second Circuit's ruling, he explains, "when students give responses to a class assignment and as long as they respond within the subject matter of the assignment, you cannot censor their religious viewpoints."
However, the attorney points out, "There are other courts in certain parts of the country that have disagreed with that." While the Second Circuit joined the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits in saying schools may not censor students' viewpoints under such circumstances, the First and Tenth Circuits hold that viewpoint discrimination in the curricular context may be permissible. For that reason, Staver believes there is a good chance the Supreme Court of the United States will hear the case.
"When Justice Samuel Alito was a Federal Court of Appeals judge, he ruled specifically in a case that you cannot censor the Christian viewpoints of students when they give information or responses in response to a class assignment or instruction," the Liberty Counsel spokesman notes. "So I think this would be a great case for the court to take. We'll wait to see."
If the high court does take the case, Staver contends, "it could have a major impact on student free religious expression within the public school system."
In the Supreme Court justices did take up the matter, Liberty Counsel's president says his group anticipates that the court would agree with those appeals courts that say public schools may not discriminate against students' religious viewpoints when the students are addressing permissible subjects in response to class assignments.
All the Catholic dioceses that actively organize, promote, and fund activities like these, and all the parishioners who continue to provide the Church with unrestricted funds, knowing that the Church is doing these things and has no intention of stopping. Providing buses to transport foreign-flag-waving illegal immigrants to mass demonstrations which are aimed at intimidating citizens and legal residents and elected officials into refraining from a crackdown on illegal immigration, is not promoting religious activity; it's promoting this country's destabilization and further slide towards full-blown socialism.
Now if the kid had drawn a picture of Mohammed (well, maybe that's not the best analogy;)
Mohammed in the picture might spark a riot;)
LOL
I wouldn't even take it that far, imagine Antonio Peck is now Ahmad El-Pekkar and he drew Mohammed instead of Jesus. Not only would the school allow the poster, they'd give the little jihadi a diversity award and probably a scholarship.
You said the Catholic Church is "hard-core Marxists." As a Catholic, a member of the Board of Directors of Catholics in Media Associates, and former member of the Advisory Board to the United States Catholic Conference, I resent the remark without substantiation. I know many priests, bishops and Cardinals. None of them are Marxists, to my knowledge. Some are politically naive, some confuse Christian charity with government socialism, but to label the Church as "hard-core Marxist" is both incorrect and bigoted.
"I'm sure if it had Mohammed or Budha in the picture then it would be okay."
You've got it right, ABJ - (anyone but Jesus).
Based on your ridiculous overreaction we should assume that youre one of the dimwits supporting the eventual misreprentation and bastardization of something as complex as the Bible by the same people that cant teach children to read?
If you didnt knock yourself out with the force of jerking your knee like that, could you explain...
Y'know what? Dont bother. One of the best proofs of the wisdom of the system the Founders set up is the way that each state could/should work as an independant nation with the laws in one not having any real effect on the others. They fully realized that on occasion multiple generations acrossed a whole region can go stark raving mad and make some particularly ignorant decisions.
Just dont be too surprised when your kids come home telling the story of Exodus, where Jesus built an ark to get the Jews out of Switzerland...
Mark for later reference.
This can't stand in Court by prior precedent. If you watched the Alito confirmation hearings they brought up cases where schoolchildren drew religious symbols as part of their art, censorship there was declared unconstitutional. Same thing with a student who won as a prize for good work to tell his favorite story, he told a Bible story.
Don't worry, justice will be served in this case.
Private schools don't have these problems, because their policies are in accordance with what the parents want.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.