Posted on 05/02/2003 10:41:56 AM PDT by Kuksool
Student Prayer Group Wins First Amendment Victory Allowed to Advertise National Day of Prayer By Jim Brown May 1, 2003
(AgapePress) - In a dramatic about-face, a Wisconsin public high school has allowed a student prayer group to advertise Thursday's National Day of Prayer observance.
Richard Feutz, principal of Evansville High School, had denied a student prayer group access to the school's PA system and barred the Christian young people from using posters to advertise the prayer observance. The principal told high school junior Nicole Cauthorn and her friends that they could not advertise the event because their group was religious in nature.
"I just couldn't believe that he was telling me that," says Cauthorn, "and I couldn't make any sense of it -- so I kept [telling him] ‘I don't see the difference between one group being able to advertise and ours [not being able to].'
"He just kept saying it was because [the advertisements] were religious -- and that just seemed very discriminatory to me."
In the past, the school has allowed homosexual students to promote their "National Day of Silence," but prohibited Christian students from advertising events such as "See You at the Pole."
The prayer group filed a discrimination complaint with The Rutherford Institute. The principal then reassessed his anti-Christian stance, and allowed the students to put up their posters and use the PA system.
Needless to say, Cauthorn was happy. "I was pretty excited, and relieved that we wouldn't have to go into a legal battle about it because I didn't want that."
Cauthorn is optimistic her group's victory will set a precedent. "I hope that students at other schools will take leadership and be able to stand up for their faith and realize that they are allowed to do things that they're not totally sure about," she says. "Hopefully, it will set an example for other Christians to live out their faith in their school and not just at church."
Cauthorn and her friends are considering two possible names for their prayer group: Call of Rising Evangelists (CORE), and Students after Living Truth (SALT).
the aclu is blantantly anti 1st and 2nd amendment and fr posters work full time for them ---
gun and bible grabbers !
The difference between this, and the teacher wearing a cross to school, is that the STUDENTS (ie. impressionable youth) are doing this; the teachers are not forcing the youth into it. I see nothing wrong with this, or advertising for a church bake sale, ect.
However, should the TEACHER be doing the exact thing, there would be a problem. The Teacher is in a position of authority, and for them to 'suggest' a religion conveys a thinly veiled threat. Much like having the VP of the company your work for, come to your desk with a donation form and suggest you donate to his church charity; while casually mentioning the possiblity of future layoffs.
In this case, the students may decide to participate. If the teacher is doing the advertising, the students are involuntarily 'recruited' to participate.
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