Sep 29, 2003
By Tom Strode
WASHINGTON (BP)--A federal appeals court's ruling that
a child may not give pencils bearing the inscription "Jesus [loves] the little
children" to his classmates is "yet one more ludicrous example of the federal
courts' attempt to help governments at every level to enforce a rigidly secular
bias on our public spaces," said Southern Baptist church-state specialist
Richard Land.
The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a
federal judge's decision that a New Jersey school system acted constitutionally
in prohibiting a 4-year-old student from distributing the pencils at a spring
class party. A three-judge panel of the Third Circuit unanimously affirmed the
school system had not violated the child's rights under the First Amendment's
protection of free exercise of religion and freedom of _expression_ nor the 14th
Amendment's equal protection guarantees.
In 1998, Daniel Walz sought to
distribute pencils inscribed with "Jesus [loves] the little children" -- with a
heart symbol for the word "loves" -- to his pre-kindergarten classmates during a
party in the classroom shortly before Easter. His teacher confiscated the
pencils and reported them to the school superintendent of Egg Harbor Township.
The superintendent decided the pencils could not be passed out because students
and parents might interpret distribution as a school endorsement of the
message.
The Third Circuit panel ruled the school's action was
appropriate.
Walz "was not attempting to exercise a right to personal
religious observance in response to a class assignment or activity," Chief Judge
Anthony Scirica wrote for the panel. "His mother's stated purpose was to promote
a religious message through the channel of a benign classroom activity. In the
context of its classroom holiday parties, the school's restrictions on this
_expression_ were designed to prevent proselytizing speech that, if permitted,
would be at cross-purposes with its educational goal and could appear to bear
the school's seal of approval."
Land, president of the Ethics &
Religious Liberty Commission, said, "The idea that a child should not have the
right to share his faith at an appropriate, discretionary time when other gifts
are being shared is to mangle the First Amendment's religious freedom
protections beyond recognition. Actions like this decision illustrate the
extreme secular bias of our nation's courts and many of our nation's public
institutions, including the public's schools. I would strongly encourage the
residents of this township to hire employees who would ditch these ludicrous and
offensive restrictions."
John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford
Institute called the decision "probably one of the worst I've ever read,"
according to CitizenLink. "What they're saying to schools in the Third Circuit
is that 'you have total control, and kids have no freedom at
all.'"
Whitehead told Family News in Focus, "All we're asking here is for
freedom of religion and the right of this little boy to be treated like
everybody else in the class who are handing out all kinds of things with
Christmas messages and Hanukkah messages on them."
The Rutherford
Institute is helping represent Walz and his mother, Dana. He will appeal to the
full Third Circuit Court and, if necessary, to the U.S. Supreme Court, Whitehead
said.
CitizenLink and Family News in Focus are both services of Focus on
the Family.
After Daniel Walz's efforts to give away the pencils were
spurned, he sought to distribute another gift at the class holiday party the
next December. He attempted to give away candy canes attached to copies of a
story titled "A Candy Maker's Witness, " which told of the Christian symbolism
of the candy. The school did not allow him to pass them out during the party but
did permit him to do so in the hallway after class.
The appeals court
panel acknowledged students do not forfeit their free speech rights when they go
on school property but said school officials rightfully must limit some speech
to control behavior. "As a general matter, the elementary school classroom,
especially for kindergartners and first graders, is not a place for student
advocacy," the panel wrote.
The school system has an unwritten policy
barring the distribution during school hours of items bearing religious,
political or commercial messages, superintendent Leonard Kelpsh said.
The
appeals court ruling, which was released Aug. 27 to little notice, seems certain
to add to calls to bring the federal judiciary under control. Many conservative
Christians and some religious liberty organizations have contended in recent
years the federal courts are acting as lawmakers and overreaching their
constitutional authority.
The case is Walz v. Egg Harbor Township Board
of Education.
The Third Circuit includes the states of New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Delaware.
A recent example of what critics describe as
judicial tyranny occurred in the 11th Circuit, where the appeals court agreed a
Ten Commandments display in Alabama's judicial building was unconstitutional and
must be moved.
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