A high school student in Everett, Washington has been suspended from school multiple times for sharing Jesus with his classmates.
Michael Leal, a senior at Cascade High School, has been suspended three times since September for his efforts to provide the truth of Christ to classmates. He hands out gospel literature and preached at an open air school event.
The school says that Leal is a disruption and has threatened him with expulsion if he does not stop talking about Christ to his classmates.
Cascade High School attorney Michael Patterson claims it’s not because of the Christian content even though the principal of the school told Leal it’s “breaking the law” if he distributed Christian materials.
“At no time was Mr. Leal told that his distribution of material or his statements were inappropriate at school because of their religious content,” he wrote. “Rather, he was informed of district policy … and told that he needed to comply with it. He was also informed that he could not create a substantial disruption at school or school events.”
The Pacific Justine Institute is defending Leal and says that at no point did Leal harass any student or staff member and did not disrupt any event.
A New York high school is denying a Christian student her right to form a student group on campus.
Elizabeth Loverde had proposed a “Dare To Believe” club to the principal of Wantagh High School and was reportedly told by Principal Carolyn Breivogel that the group would be rejected because it would violate the Constitution.
The Liberty Institute has stepped in to help Loverde protect her Constitutional rights.
“Once a secondary school such as yours creates a limited open forum, it cannot deny equal access to student groups on the basis of the religious content of the students’ speech,” read a letter to the school from the Institute. “We therefore demand that the school reconsider its position, approve Liz’s club proposal, and grant official recognition to Dare to Believe.”
The school has released a statement saying that they are now reviewing the request.
A lawsuit brought by anti-Christianists against a South Carolina school who held an elementary graduation event inside a Christian chapel will be reheard after an appeals court remanded a district court ruling that sided with the school district.
The anti-Christian American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit in 2013 to stop the Mountain View Elementary School from holding 5th grade graduation at a local Baptist university’s chapel auditorium.
The anti-Christianists claimed that by holding the event in the building, the school was automatically endorsing Christianity.
U.S. District Judge G. Ross Anderson, Jr. denied the anti-Christianist’s request for an injunction but the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the judgment saying the lower court did not provide analysis in the ruling.
The AHA claims that an unnamed atheist student was uncomfortable when one of the other students at the event gave a prayer and other students bowed their heads to pray. Despite the fact the school did not order the student to pray and that the student and those who bowed to pray were just exercising their religious rights, the anti-Christianists say it’s illegal for the Christians to exercise their faith in a way that a non-Christian might see them.
The school claims they were using the facility because they needed a location that could handle the growing attendance for the event.
A group of anti-Christianists are getting their way with a Florida school board.
A New York based Satanic organization descended on the Orange County School Board after the virulent anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation threatened the district over allowing Bibles to be distributed in schools. The Satanists wanted to distribute a coloring book praising Satan.
“This really has, frankly, gotten out of hand,” Orange County Chairman Bill Sublette told reporters this week. “I think we’ve seen a group or groups take advantage of the open forum we’ve had.”
The Satanic Temple says they just want to educate children about worshipping Satan.
“I am quite certain that all of the children in these Florida schools are already aware of the Christian religion and it’s Bible, and this might be the first exposure these children have to the actual practice of Satanism,” spokesperson Lucien Greaves said.
The school is now banning the distribution of Bibles because of the extra attention, which is the original goal of the anti-Christianists.
A homicide terrorist bomber has killed 48 students at a high school in Nigeria.
Local officials say that Boko Haram is behind the attack on the students.
“We were waiting for the principal to address us, around 7:30 a.m., when we heard a deafening sound and I was blown off my feet, people started screaming and running, I saw blood all over my body,” said 17-year-old student Musa Ibrahim Yahaya to The Associated Press.
The death toll is at least 48 with 79 injured.
A wounded teacher told officials at a hospital that the terrorist had dressed as a student and walked into the assembly ground with the students.
Boko Haram, whose name means “western education is sinful”, has repeatedly attacked schools.
Religious freedom attorneys have filed a lawsuit in California aimed at protecting the religious freedom of a first grade student who was harassed by his school for handing out candy canes last Christmas with a message of Jesus.
Isaiah Martinez was told by his teacher “Jesus is not allowed in school” and prohibited from handing out the candy canes.
Advocates for Faith & Freedom filed suit in U.S. District Court to prohibit the West Covina Unified School District from stopping Isaiah’s distribution of the candy canes this year.
“The school has neglected to correct its actions, and after exhausting all options to avoid a lawsuit we were left with no choice but to file a complaint in federal court. We are asking the court to protect Isaiah’s rights and the rights of others like him from having their religious speech censored. Students do not shed their First Amendment rights just because they enter into a classroom,” attorney Robert Tyler said.
There has been no official statement from the school, however attorney James Long with the AFF says the school has made it clear they want only “religious neutrality.”
A Christian teenager has sued his school after he was prohibited from praying, singing and discussing religious topics with classmates during the school’s “free period.”
Chase Windebank, a senior at Pine Creek High School, has been leading a group for the last three years that meets during what the school calls the “seminar” period. On Mondays and Wednesdays students can participate in a variety of activities and students with passing grades may also do so on Fridays.
“During the free time, students are permitted to engage in a virtually unlimited variety of activities, including gathering with other students inside or outside; reading; sending text messages to their friends; playing games on their phone; visiting the bathrooms; getting a snack; visiting teachers; and conducting official meetings of school clubs,” states Alliance Defending Freedom.
The school claims that because the “Seminar” is considered class time, they’re now banning Christian students from meeting. The school has not backed down despite it being shown that their actions are violations of the Constitution.
“Public schools should encourage the free exchange of ideas. Instead, this school implemented an ill-conceived ban that singles out religious speech for censorship during free time,” remarked ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco.
An atheist student has taken steps to have a church’s youth director banned from her school because she was offended he was talking about Jesus with students at her lunch table at Salem, Oregon’s Straub Middle School.
The student claims she has no issues with Christianity and that the church director made nasty comments to her, but witnesses say that Shelby Conway is not telling the truth.
The director, Tim Saffeels, says that he only sat at the table of Conway because a member of his church’s ministry. He said that some of the other kids at the table brought up the issue of Christianity and that he did not insult or berate anyone at the table.
Saffeels has been visiting schools for three years until the campaign by Shelby Conway to have him banned.
“I didn’t say at all any of the comments concerning atheists are evil, that their opinions are illogical,” Saffeels said. “In no way, at that moment, did there seem to be any issue concerning a confrontation or anything like that. The first time that I saw that there was an issue was when I received a call from the principal.”
He said that he doesn’t go into the schools to preach but rather to build relationships with the students who are already part of their ministry.
Young Christians across the nation participated in the outreach called “Bring Your Bible To School Day.”
The event, sponsored by Focus on the Family and Day of Dialogue, is “designed to empower Christian students who have a heart for sharing Christ’s love and express a Biblical perspective on current-day issues with peers.”
Candi Cushman, education analyst for Focus on the Family, said the event was aimed to encourage students to engage their peers on matters of faith.
“We believe truth rises to the surface when honest conversations and a free exchange of ideas are allowed to happen,” Cushman told The Christian Post.“It equips the next generation of Christian leaders with confidence that the Gospel of Christ speaks into even the most sensitive cultural issues.”
The event is also designed to show teachers and other staff at the schools that students do not leave their religious freedom at the school house door.
“Federal courts have repeatedly upheld the rights of students to bring their Bibles to school, to distribute Bibles at school, and to discuss the Bible at school during non-instructional time,” the legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) explained in a legal memo surrounding today’s observance.
“Christian students don’t abandon their constitutionally protected freedoms at the schoolhouse gate,” ADF Senior Legal Counsel Jeremy Tedesco told Christian Post. “Their freedom to express their beliefs includes the right to bring their Bible to school, to read it during their free time, and to engage in other activities as part of ‘Bring Your Bible to School Day.’”
