• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Religion in public school

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Chris Copeland

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? S.C.

My son came home from school recently rather disturbed about something which occurred in school. He stated that his teacher had lectured the entire class that day on the need to pray and ask god for forgiveness if you were a person who had stolen something. Apparently, I've found out recently there is a thief among the students in his class who has been removing articles/money from other students backpacks. My son is 8 and has thus far been raised an atheist, as are his mother and I. He has since told me that there have been several such instances like this during which his teacher promotes a Christian god to the students of his class. He does not go into any greater detail, as the whole subject makes him uncomfortable.
He sits everyday in lunch and observes many of his peers saying "Grace" at the table before eating, additionally every morning following the Pledge of Allegiance, the class has a moment of silence. These incidents do not trouble me as much, and I realize the moment of silence is more for respect and other uses.
I am very upset about the teacher's addresses to her students however, and have requested twice to have a conference but still get no reply.
I am wondering if the school may be sued for this violation, and if so if a lawyer may represent me. I am not looking to pay out-of-pocket, but the lawyer would of course be welcome to their fair share of any winnings or settlement.
 


P

Perky

Senior Member
Chris Copeland said:
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? S.C.

My son came home from school recently rather disturbed about something which occurred in school. He stated that his teacher had lectured the entire class that day on the need to pray and ask god for forgiveness if you were a person who had stolen something. Apparently, I've found out recently there is a thief among the students in his class who has been removing articles/money from other students backpacks. My son is 8 and has thus far been raised an atheist, as are his mother and I. He has since told me that there have been several such instances like this during which his teacher promotes a Christian god to the students of his class. He does not go into any greater detail, as the whole subject makes him uncomfortable.
He sits everyday in lunch and observes many of his peers saying "Grace" at the table before eating, additionally every morning following the Pledge of Allegiance, the class has a moment of silence. These incidents do not trouble me as much, and I realize the moment of silence is more for respect and other uses.
I am very upset about the teacher's addresses to her students however, and have requested twice to have a conference but still get no reply.
I am wondering if the school may be sued for this violation, and if so if a lawyer may represent me. I am not looking to pay out-of-pocket, but the lawyer would of course be welcome to their fair share of any winnings or settlement.
Click to expand...
Until you do a little more to stop the teacher from promoting her own Christian beliefs in school, I doubt that you would be successful.

If you haven't contacted her superiors, or run up the chain of command in the district with no result, then the district likely has no idea this is even happening.

Make an appointment with her principal if she isn't responding to requests for a conference.
 
T

tranquility

Senior Member
Get over it from a legal point of view.

Do what perroloco2 said.

There will not be a lawsuit unless you pony up the money to fund it. Since you have no damages, your goal would be a court order for any unconstitutional behavior to stop. (I am uncertain if anything here is unconstitutional. Perhaps the teacher's admonition to pray. But, even that is questionable.) You would get nominal damages if you win. The attorney may get his fees paid by the school rather than you if you win. May.
 
B

BOR

Senior Member
chris, although maybe not appropriate, it may be hard to prove a violation of the Establishment clause or your state parallel clause.

Teachers generally enjoy "academic freedom", which means sometimes a fence is straddled when it comes to the Constitution.

If the conduct is of a more than casual nature, report it. Or you can report it as you see fit now.
 
A

antrc170

Member
There is nothing illegal going on at the school. The teacher is not violating any Constitutional rights. The establisment clause denies the state the right to include religion as part of the school, however, it does not prohibit a teacher from talking about religion. Unless she is requiring your son to perform, or include religious teaching as part of his daily cirriculum then she has not violated anything.
 
I

Isis1

Senior Member
I'm curious as to why the child is uncomfortable with speaking about the religion. The few atheist i know are very knowledgable about religon. In fact, one knows more than i do about the bible.
 
xylene

xylene

Senior Member
I am less concerned with a quasi religous comment then the school blowing off a parent.

THAT is suggestive of something seriously wrong.
 
R

Rhubarb297

Member
"He stated that his teacher had lectured the entire class that day on the need to pray and ask god for forgiveness if you were a person who had stolen something."

If it's a public school, I hate to say it, but under the current interpretation of the Establishment Clause, it's almost certainly a violation. A government official cannot endorse or promote a particular relligion over non-religion. A teacher making that statement would be going too far.

On the other hand, you don't have any damages. All you're going to get is an injunction to stop her from making that statement in the future.

On the other hand, I agree with the teacher's statement.
 
D

Dillon

Senior Member
Chris Copeland said:
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? S.C.

My son is 8 and has thus far been raised an atheist, as are his mother and I.
Click to expand...
In Quantum Physics:

Energy is not continuous, but comes in small but discrete units. - (a digital universe)

The elementary particles behave both like particles and like waves. - _()_()()__()_()_

The movement of these particles is inherently random. - 01011001010

It is physically impossible to know both the position and the momentum of a particle at the same time.

The more precisely one is known, the less precise the measurement of the other is.

Furthermore, it describes the nature of the universe as being much different then the world we see. As Niels Bohr said, "Anyone who is not shocked by quantum mechanics has not understood it.


On the subatomic level we are all nothing more the vibrations in space.

We might even be considered God's imaginary little friends.

------------------------------------------
 
Last edited:
E

ecmst12

Senior Member
Not sure what the point of that was. I tend to doubt they're teaching quantum mechanics to 8 year olds these days.
 
E

ecmst12

Senior Member
No, I don't think that at all. God belongs in the home, in church, in synagogue, in parochial schools. God does not belong in public school. *I* decide what to teach my children about religion, no one else.

Perhaps to rephrase - while I do belive in god, and that god is theoretically everywhere, I don't want religious dogma being pushed on children in public schools. This country is too diverse for that to be acceptable. If a teacher references the possibility of the existence of god or even her personal belief in god, I would not be upset about that. But what THIS teacher did is clearly over the line and if the principal didn't respond, I'd be sending letters to the superintendent.
 
D

Dillon

Senior Member
ecmst12 said:
Perhaps to rephrase - while I do belive in god, and that god is theoretically everywhere, I don't want religious dogma being pushed on children in public schools.
Click to expand...
the fact is Public schools teach the religion of secular humanism.


The U.S. Supreme Court cited Secular Humanism as a religion in the 1961 case of Torcaso v. Watkins (367 U.S. 488).

The Court stated:

We repeat and again reaffirm that neither a State nor the Federal Government can constitutionally force a person to "profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.

It states:

Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism, and others.

we all have to serve God or man, choose wisely !
 
Last edited:
D

Dillon

Senior Member
Chris Copeland said:
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? S.C.

He has since told me that there have been several such instances like this during which his teacher promotes a Christian god to the students of his class.

I am very upset about the teacher's addresses to her students.
Click to expand...
Secular Humanism - Excluding God from Schools & Society
Secular Humanism is an attempt to function as a civilized society with the exclusion of God and His moral principles. During the last several decades, Humanists have been very successful in propagating their beliefs. Their primary approach is to target the youth through the public school system.

Humanist Charles F. Potter writes, "Education is thus a most powerful ally of humanism, and every American school is a school of humanism. What can a theistic Sunday school's meeting for an hour once a week and teaching only a fraction of the children do to stem the tide of the five-day program of humanistic teaching?" (Charles F. Potter, "Humanism: A New Religion," 1930)

John J. Dunphy, in his award winning essay, The Humanist (1983), illustrates this strategic focus, "The battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith: A religion of humanity -- utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to carry humanist values into wherever they teach. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new -- the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism."


who is really teaching their religion in our schools?
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top