Category: Religious Freedom

Teacher Tells First-Graders Not to Talk About God

Last month a public school teacher in Indiana sent notes home informing families that her classroom was not the “appropriate time or place” for students to talk about religion.

The truth is, students have a constitutionally-protected right to talk about God and share their faith at school as long as they are not being disruptive. That means students can talk about their faith, read the Bible, or pray during free time.

It also means they can tie their faith into class assignments; for example, many students assigned essays along the lines of, “What person has influenced you the most?” have written about Jesus Christ.

Fortunately in this case the school district informed the teacher that the school cannot squelch students’ free speech or religious liberty.

You can download a handy flyer about students’ religious liberties here.

And don’t forget October 5 is Bring Your Bible to School Day. We are partnering with our friends at Focus on the Family to encourage students across Arkansas to take their Bibles with them to school on this day.

This is a simple way students can exercise their religious liberty and celebrate God’s Word at the same time.

This October, don’t go to school without your Bible. You can find out more about Bring Your Bible to School Day by clicking here.

READ MORE

Arkansas A.G. Issues Opinion In Support of Religious Liberty

Last week Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s office issued a good opinion in support of religious liberty.

The opinion has to do with publicly-funded grants offered to private organizations in Russellville.

In short, the City of Russellville collects tax revenue in order to fund grants for private organizations conducting activities that promote tourism–such as competitions and sporting events.

Questions have arisen concerning whether or not the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitutions prohibits religious organizations from receiving these  grants in order to conduct secular events that do not have a religious element.

The A.G. writes,

Simply providing this funding to a sectarian (religious or church) group for the secular events . . . would not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Indeed, declaring a particular sectarian group ineligible for the funding based on that group’s religious status would likely violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

In writing the opinion, the Attorney General’s office cites a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer. 

In that case, a Missouri preschool was denied a state grant to make safety improvements to the preschool’s playground. The state denied the grant simply because the preschool is affiliated with a church. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the state could not refuse to award the grant to a qualifying organization on this basis.

Attorney General Rutledge’s opinion underscores that state and local government cannot and should not discriminate against religious organizations.

You can read the A.G.’s full opinion here.

READ MORE