TheRealityCheck.org
3/1/2010
ANN ARBOR, MI – California Federal District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez ruled late this past Friday that the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, CA, violated math teacher Bradley Johnson’s constitutional rights when it ordered him to remove two patriotic banners from the walls of his classroom because they “over-emphasized” God. [Decision attached]
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed the federal lawsuit on Johnson’s behalf, after the school district ordered him to take down his banners in January 2007.
The two banners are approximately seven feet wide and two feet tall and contain phrases that highlight our Nation’s history and religious heritage.
One banner with red, white, and blue stripes hung on the wall for twenty-five years and displayed the famous patriotic phrases: “In God We Trust, ” “One Nation Under God, ” “God Bless America, ” and “God Shed His Grace on Thee.”
The second banner, which had been displayed for seventeen years, contained an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence: “All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed By Their Creator.” One school official justified the ban by claiming a Muslim student might be offended by the slogans…
…Judge Benitez’s 32-page opinion was strongly worded and critical of the Poway school districts aversion to mentioning God:
“[The school district officials] apparently fear their students are incapable of dealing with diverse viewpoints that include God’s place in American history and culture. . . . That God places prominently in our Nation’s history does not create an Establishment Clause violation requiring curettage and disinfectant for Johnson’s public high school classroom walls. It is a matter of historical fact that our institutions and government actors have in past and present times given place to a supreme God.”…
The article, with photos of the banners, continues at TheRealityCheck.org
