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Published: May 2, 2007
"Government-sponsored hostility toward religion”
Southern California school district bans “In God We Trust,” “Endowed By Their Creator” and any other reference to God from classroom – teacher sues
A couple doors down the hall from Mr. Johnson's classroom at Westview High School in Rancho Peñasquitos, a suburb of San Diego, a teacher has a picture of the grunge rock band Nirvana on her door. Other teachers have slogans from sports celebrities and cartoon characters. Teacher Brad Johnson has decorated his assigned homeroom with pictures of families and nature, and banners relating to American history, such as God Bless America.
 That last item, the school district told Johnson in January of this year, is banned and must be removed from the classroom. Why? Because the Poway Unified School District is under the impression that any reference to "Creator," "Creation," or "God" is prohibited by law.
The following phrases struck the school board as objectionable: “In God We Trust,” the official motto of the United States; “One Nation Under God,” from the Pledge of Allegiance; “God Bless America,” a patriotic song considered to be the unofficial national anthem of the United States; “God Shed His Grace On Thee,” a line from America the Beautiful; and “All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed By Their Creator,” an excerpt from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.
The Thomas More Law Center announced on May 1 that it has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Poway School District, claiming that school officials violated Johnson’s constitutional rights.
“Cleansing our nation’s classrooms of our religious heritage and history advances no legitimate educational purpose,” commented Richard Thompson, chief counsel for the Law Center. “In fact, such actions undermine the primary purpose of public education: to prepare students for citizenship in our republic.”
No one seems to know why the school district has chosen now to suppress historic and patriotic references to God that Mr. Johnson has displayed in his assigned homeroom, a classroom where he teaches for the entire day.
Johnson points out that seven different principals, approximately 4,000 students in grades 9 - 12, and 1,000 parents have seen these banners in his classroom since 1982 with never a single complaint.
“These are not the Ten Commandments or Bible texts,” said Robert Muise, the Law Center attorney handling the case. "These are lines from songs, mottoes, and slogans familiar to all of us as part of our history and patriotic heritage.
"It is the responsibility of all public school teachers, including Mr. Johnson, to educate students regarding our nation’s history and its founding. Mr. Johnson’s educational banners serve that purpose.”
Thomas More Center attorneys argue that the school district, by banning historic references to "God" and "Creator," is conveying "a government-sponsored message of disapproval of and hostility toward religion” in violation of the United States and California constitutions.
The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to overturn the school district's speech restriction so that Johnson can continue to display his patriotic and historic banners, as he has for the past 25 years.
Muise quoted the US Supreme Court decision in Tinker v. Des Moines to make his point: "Neither teachers nor students shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door."
Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2007 5:08 AM By Mad Dawg
Modern educators have not been taught to think and have been cut loose from humanity's 2,500 year long (give or take) conversation about God, Man, and the Universe. Consequently they see the theism of the founders as a religious bias rather than as a liberal (in the best sense) philosophical attitude. Further, they do not see the inherent incoherence of a view which makes tolerance the supreme virtue.
And so we get this self-destructive madness.
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Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2007 6:51 AM By Charles
Excellent article. We need to get more active in defending our religious principles and freedom, not just because it is our right to do so, but because passivity is being mistaken for apathy, inaction for unconcern.
The world is beginning to think we don't take our own religions seriously, because we won't defend it.
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Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2007 9:53 AM By Matthew McKinley
The all encompassing statement about "modern educators" is highly inaccurate. The perception that all educators are a bunch of left-wing nut jobs is nutty in and of itself. The crazy actions, like those in Poway, that are used to coat all educators in mud thrown by the sactimonious needs to stop. Protest the crazy cases (like Poway), but leave those of us, including Mr. Johnson, who fight the good fight alone.
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Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2007 12:08 PM By Kenneth M. Fisher
In the long run, the voters of that School District can rectify the situation by getting rid of these miscreants, but will they!
Kenneth M. Fisher, Founder & Chairman
Concerned Roman Catholics of America, Inc.
President, Anaheim Republican Assembly
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Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2007 12:26 PM By Puttss
Mr. Johnson, there's a word for people like you in Church History: Martyr. See you in Heaven, man.
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Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2007 2:33 PM By don-o
Kudos to the Thomas More Institute for getting pro-active. This looks like a slam dunk win for the teacher, but in this upside down world, who knows what a court can pull out of its penumbra?
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Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2007 4:41 PM By maryz
Thank God for the Thomas More Law Center -- oops! am I allowed to say that???
Good article!
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Posted Wednesday, May 02, 2007 8:45 PM By papamac
Thomas More, THANK YOU, FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT AND WE WIN.
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Posted Thursday, May 03, 2007 3:44 PM By Jake
The point these commentators have failed to realize is the context in which these banners were displayed. This is a math classroom in a secular public school. In the context of a history or social science class the posters would be more acceptable. However, these were totally inappropriate within a math classroom where the objective is to learn equations, not be preached to by a teacher. This is a clear violation of the establishment clause; by acknowledging the existence of a creator you are promoting a religious point of view.
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Posted Friday, May 04, 2007 2:47 AM By Joshua
Jake,
You have not the slightest idea what the establishement clause amounts to, or you would not have writen what you did. Study history and leave the constitutional interpretation to those who have a clue.
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Posted Friday, May 04, 2007 8:38 AM By jan
responding to posting by Jake May 3:
God doesn't stop at the math room door. Either you believe and carry truth into every area of your life, or you are a hypcrite.
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Posted Friday, May 04, 2007 6:42 PM By Jake
Jan, your belief in God should not stop at the math door; however, public displays of religious or political messages are distracting to the stated goals of public education. I live twenty minutes from Westview School; it is not an atheist bastion. The Poway school district has stated the goal of providing education which does not show a bias towards one religion or another, if you are worried about your children being corrupted by the heathen teachers then enroll them is a religious school. Joshua, read up on Lemon v. Kurtzman, the lemon test would apply to this circumstance.
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Posted Saturday, May 05, 2007 8:26 AM By Sandra
Jake: Don't quote case law to us. We don't need it. And what happened to freedom of speech? People like you have done enough damage to our ability to pray and to even voice our religious convictions. And I am encouraged each time I see individuals like Mr. Johnson finally standing up for their faith. No one will ever shut me up - no one will ever ever stop me from my religious expressions.
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Posted Saturday, May 05, 2007 11:28 PM By Kevin
To government cannot sponser religion in a public school. Students are allowed to pray on their own and from prayer groups and Christian Clubs, but the Government cannot mandate any religion. No one is trying to stop anyone religious expression, but the government cannot sanction it.
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Posted Sunday, May 06, 2007 9:17 AM By Leonard
Jake: Lemon v. Kurtzman does not apply here. It's all in its truthful interpretation not in what you want it to mean.
"The Court's decision in this case established the "Lemon test", which details the requirements for legislation concerning religion. It consists of three prongs:
The government's action must have a legitimate secular purpose; The government's action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion; The government's action must not result in an "excessive entanglement" with religion.
If any of these 3 prongs is violated, the government's action is deemed unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution."
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Posted Monday, May 07, 2007 12:38 PM By Mark
Liberals say that it violates their rights for Christian teachers to publicly express their opinions about religion. Ironically, the concept of "inalienable rights" is an inherently theistic concept. Either human rights are subject to the political whims of the moment, or they are immutable for the simple reason that they are of divine origin. It ought to be clear, when reading the Declaration of Independence, that America's founding fathers believed the latter to be the case. They didn't believe they were creating new rights. They believed they were taking a stand in defense of rights which already existed and had always existed. When liberals seek to exclude all references to God and religion from public life, they are ultimately undermining the foundation on which all of their American liberties and rights are based.
Jake says the items Brad Johnson displayed would have been appropriate in classrooms pertaining to history or social science, but not math. If teachers were only allowed to display items pertaining to the subjects they taught, that would mean that only history and social science teachers would be permitted to display American flags, since such flags have little or nothing to do with math. But all public school teachers are responsible for promoting good citizenship, regardless of what classes they may teach. Awareness of America's moral foundations is essential for good citizenship.
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Posted Monday, May 07, 2007 1:45 PM By Tom
God bless you Mr. Johnson! And all the school's are looking for ways to stop the violence in schools. The people who object to God in school's can't be too smart? If only they would open their eyes..
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Posted Monday, May 07, 2007 5:47 PM By Dianne
Jake, On one hand, you're incorrect: Mr. Johnson is not showing a preference for one religion over the other (There is no reference to "Jesus," just God.) You're correct on another point however ... if people don't like their teachers talking about religion, they should enroll in a religious school. Bring on the vouchers! Otherwise stop taking tax dollars and indoctrinating kids with the Day of Silence and forcing teachers to hide their religion in the closet.
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Posted Monday, May 07, 2007 5:55 PM By Kristen
Westview was a great school, but is going down the tubes. Mr. Johnson has as much right to display historical terms on his wall as Mr. Aabaan has to spout anti-military rhetoric during his Geometry class, and Mr. Oliver has to have posters all over the wall reminiscing about his hippy days of flower power and "War is not good for children and other living things." Poway has Character Counts at its core and believe me, there's plenty of reference to God there! Gays, Religion, Sex, Abstinence, all the issues out there ... let these high school kids hear it all and make up their own minds while they're under the guidance of their parents. They'll be off to college, the land of indoctrination before you know it. Not one parent complained. Ms. Kastner, a new principal at the school over-reacted. Leave the teachers alone, and settle the lawsuit and save the money for the things the school district needs. This is absurd and an obvious display of inept leadership.
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Posted Tuesday, May 08, 2007 4:50 AM By Paul
The comments posted by Jake are indicative of the whole of the secular left that has but one objective, promoting its own religion, humanism, while it goes to great lengths to condemn that which it knows to be an all consuming threat, to its worldview, Christianity. Although the latter was not the obvious intent of Mr Johnson's classroom display, Jake et al assume it to be so based on our Christian heritage, thus his objections on the fuzzy and hypocritical basis of the "Establishment Clause." I rather imagine that had Mr Johnson displayed historical artifacts of Islam etc. nary a word of objection would likely have been heard from Jake. The bottom line as articulated in case law precedent is that neither teachers nor their students abandon their constitutional rights of free speech and religion at the school house door, particularly for publicly funded (government) schools. Said schools should therefore remain what they were intended to be - education centers where a free exchange of ideas and beliefs are encouraged, not houses of worship for secular humanism with their high priests from the world of sports, music, motion pictures, etc.
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Posted Wednesday, May 09, 2007 6:18 PM By Ben
What are these people so afraid of? The belief in a deity, God, higher force, whatever has served us quite well. These same people who would deny Christians the right to quote historical figures in school are the same idiots who defend extremist Muslims who won't take someone with a sealed bottle of wine in their cab. It's Christians they hate, not "religion." I'm not sure where I stand on the whole God issue, but I do believe in a force. Those who continue to bring all this negative energy to our society will one day suffer its consequences. Call it "Karma" if you will. That's not "religious," is it? Well, sure it is, but Hinduism doesn't threaten the left -- only Christians. Sure there are "Christian" libs, but in name only. They hand-pick their beliefs to suit their lifestyles. Shameful.
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Posted Wednesday, May 09, 2007 6:24 PM By Jesse
"All Men Are Created Equal..." Tsk Tsk guess that's not a very good message for our young people to see each day. Only a doofus principal would think that's offensive and to think the word "Creator" that comes with that quote is threatening the first ammendment. Whoever she is, I suggest she go back and read her Constitution. It's Freedom OF Religion, Not Freedom FROM Religion. "Creator" does not favor one religion over any other. Jews, Muslims, and just about any other religion believe in a "Creator." PC gone amuck. Hope it goes all the way to the Supreme Court. I'm sick of these education bureaucrats trying to take our values away and instill their own while they hold kids hostage all day to their indoctrination. Public schools have a monopoly on low income kids. Where is the choice people??? Oh yea, to these liberal loons "Choice" only means destroying a life, no matter how viable the fetus. Sorry, I forgot!
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Posted Thursday, May 10, 2007 7:06 PM By Jo
I'm pleased to see such a nice dialog going from both sides on this issue. There is no name calling, which is rare on blogs these days. Whichever side you fall on, keep it up! I'm interested in reading more about this issue. As for me, I see both sides, definitely, but am inclined to think that the school district will lose the case. How could any court possibly say the words of our founding fathers (even out of context) are offensive. The Superintendent said we need to be more aware in this diverse society, but since an overwhelming majority of people of all colors and races believe in God and/or a creator, I'm not sure who he's trying NOT to offend. It's disturbing to read that no parent or student complained about this issue. It sounds to me like the principal overreacted and is about the cost the school district a lot of money.
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Posted Thursday, May 24, 2007 1:03 PM By Paul Tarsus
Just out of curiosity, if the Southern California School Distict is banning in God We Trust, who exactly does the Southern California School District put their trust in now? If not God, who then? Obviously, the Southern California School District needs to seriously brush up on and learn about American History and how and why some of the original Puritan settlers from England willingly risked their lives crossing the Atlantic Ocean to start a new life by creating a New England where they would not be persecuted for their religious beliefs like they were in England. The whole concept of separation of Church and State was to protect the Church from the excessive encursion of the state not the other way around. The Southern California School District should make it mandatory for all its teachers and students to learn from American history, not repeat the same mistakes that forced the early American settlers from England to have to flee persecution because of their Puritan faith beliefs. Obviously, the Southern California School District has not learned from American history and is in fact paving the way for the very same hostile and intolerant situation that forced the early American settlers to flee their native land in England. The only problem facing Americans today that feel their faith and belief in God has become a source of contriversy to the point where schools are forcing the elimination of signs with the mere mention of God, who only is the creator of all mankind and the earth, is exactly what Ocean do they cross or what country do they flee to escape intolerance and religious persecution and the mere mention of God? Where indeed, the $64,000 question of the Twenty First Centuary?
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