They recently barred a teacher from including the John 3:16 Bible verse in her email signature. While many wanted the change, many are fighting for the First Amendment. The Liberty Counsel is now involved in the situation.
According to the Christian Post, “Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said in a statement released Monday that the First Amendment and recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions showed that the teacher should be allowed to include the verse in her signature.”
Staver points out that other teachers are permitted to use quotes in not religious signatures, which means the school discriminates against this teacher for using a religious quote.
Liberty Counsel sent a letter to Loudon County Public Schools demanding that the teacher be permitted to include the signature. The letter points out that teachers can have various things in their signatures, including pronouns, pictures, quotes, and other things they would like. It further points out that freedom of speech in the workplace does not mean the state endorses the statements of a teacher.
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However, Acting Superintendent Smith says that the teacher is a school representative and should express her religious views privately. According to the Christian Post, part of his response says, “It is my understanding, however, that [she] is not including religious quotes in only her private correspondence, but also uses these religious quotes in her communications to students and their parents in her capacity as an LCPS employee. These communications are not private expressions, but rather constitute school-sponsored speeches bearing the apparent endorsement of the School Division.”
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On top of that, the school claims that the Constitution does not protect it. According to Fox News, “A spokesperson for LCPS said they could not comment on personnel matters, but Smith replied to Mast and Phillips in a letter claiming the teacher’s use of a Bible verse in her school email violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”
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The Establishment Clause is often interpreted as saying that the government cannot take a side in religious disputes and it cannot establish a religion. A court case from 1962, Engel v Vitale, is often cited when referencing the Establishment Clause. During a landmark ruling, the court ruled that a public school in New York starting the day with a prayer violated the Establishment Clause. We’ll have to see what they say about this case and if it goes that far.
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