Wisconsin School Sued for Censoring Child


 
      DELAFIELD, Wis. (EP) - A public school in Wisconsin is being sued for forcing second-graders to surrender candies distributed by a classmate because the candies included an evangelistic tract.
    School officials in Delafield, Wis., said the Halloween gifts distributed by 8-year-old Morgan Nyman violated the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. They used the same argument when they refused to let Nyman distribute valentines with Christian messages.
    Matthew Staver of the Liberty Counsel, who filed the lawsuit on Nyman's behalf, said the girl has a constitutional right to share her faith with her fellow students. "It is reprehensible that the school would humiliate a second-grader in this manner by publicly denouncing her distribution of religious literature," he said.
    The lawsuit asks that the girl be allowed to distribute religious material at the same times and in the same ways that other students are allowed to distribute non-religious material.
    The school insists that such distribution would be unconstitutional. "The distributing of religious materials during the school day to a captive audience of students is inappropriate and violates the rights of the other students," school attorney Mark Vetter said.
    However, a number of Supreme Court rulings have held that students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door. While the actions of teachers and administrators are restricted because they are agents of the state, students have generally been considered free to share their faith in a non-disruptive manner.
 
 
  All site contents Copyright © 2002 St. Louis MetroVoice    
   
St. Louis MetroVoice • PO Box 220010 • St. Louis, MO 63122
314/965-5757 • Fax 314/965-5757
Email:
stlmv@aol.com • Web site: www.metrovoice.net