A lawsuit brought on behalf of nine students in Tennessee's Sumner County alleging widespread violations of religious liberty has been settled after the School Board voted 10-1 to end certain practices including teachers praying with students and local youth ministers provided with access to students at lunch for proselytizing.
From now on, teachers will not be allowed to pray with students, lead Bible study on school grounds, display crosses or other religious imagery in the classroom or otherwise engage in religious activities on public school property. Church youth ministers will no longer have access to the lunchrooms, unless they’re meeting with their own children.
The school board’s main interest, members said, was ensuring that students would still be free to practice and express their own religious beliefs. They will — as always — be free to pray at school, study the Bible during their lunch breaks and join student religious groups.
The Tennessean article explaining the settlement also includes this gem of an understatement:
What the law says and what the majority of parents want are sometimes two very different things.
Ya think? Is there any bigger challenge to the cause of religious liberty in public schools than parents themselves?
You can read the consent decree here. ACLU-TN's press release announcing the settlement is here.
