Free Republic

HOUSES OF WORSHIP Faith and the Fifth Grade Did a California school ban the Declaration of Independence? Not quite. BY NAOMI SCHAEFER REILY Friday, March 25, 2005 12:01 a.m. EST Many of us remember the headline, "Declaration of Independence banned from classroom." Just before Thanksgiving, the Alliance Defense Fund filed suit against the Cupertino, Calif., school district and issued a press release with that claim at the top--and all hell broke loose. Talk radio and TV rushed to the aid of Steven Williams, a public-school teacher and professed Christian who had apparently suffered religious discrimination at the hands of a...

In the aftermath of the recent election, certain disappointed voters have voiced fear of an impending “theocracy”—a takeover of government by “fundamentalists” and “extreme right-wing Christians.” That fear, of course, is wholly unfounded, but news from Cupertino, California, raises the opposite concern. Steven Williams teaches fifth grade at Stevens Creek School in this Silicon Valley city. Part of the curriculum is American history, but Williams has been prohibited by the school’s principal, Patricia Vidmar, from using any historic materials mentioning God. That includes the Declaration of Independence which refers to “Nature’s God,” “Creator,” “Divine Providence,” and “Supreme Judge of the...

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) - A public school teacher is suing his district and principal for barring him from using excerpts from historical documents in his classroom because they contain references to God and Christianity. Steven Williams, who teaches fifth grade at Stevens Creek Elementary School in the Cupertino Union School District, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Jose on Monday. In the suit, Williams argues that he had a First Amendment right to teach the history of the country and its founding fathers, which includes religious references. The lawsuit alleges the school's principal prevented Williams from using...

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School Wed Nov 24, 2004 04:12 PM ET By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence. Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian. "It's a fact of American history that our founders were religious men, and...

Cupertino teacher, Steven Williams is suing the "excellent and diverse" (45 language) Cupertino Union School District for barring him from using excerpts from historical documents in his class room, because they contain a reference to God. You're witnessing a rewriting of American History. School administrators, the NEA, and the ACLU have decided that any reference to religion must be purged from school materials - including historical documents. The results of the recent election presents us with a window of opportunity to take on these gutless, revisionist, PC, and "elitist intellectuals" now. The Board e-mail address is board@cupertino.k12.ca.us The Supertindent of...