"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God?" -- Thomas Jefferson

"And yet the same revolutionary belief for which our forbears fought is still at issue around the globe, the belief that the rights of man come not from generosity of the state but from the hand of God." -- John F. Kennedy

"Because of their belief that power had come from God to each individual, the Framers began the Constitution with the words 'we the people'" -- Newt Gingrich

"There's never been a nation like the United States, ever. It begins with the principles of our founding documents, principles that recognize that our rights come from God, not from our government." -- Marco Rubio


Monday, February 28, 2011

Ten Commandments Pulled Off Students' Lockers by Virginia School Administration

Liberty Counsel
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT - 800-671-1776 or Media@LC.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 28, 2011

www.LC.org

Floyd, VA - Liberty Counsel sent a letter to the Floyd County High School administration, requesting the reversal of their censorship of religious material posted by school students on the face of the students' lockers.

On February 23, Jacob Agee and other students who are members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes posted copies of the Ten Commandments on the face of their assigned lockers. Very quickly thereafter, Principal Barry Hollandsworth and Assistant Principal Tony Deibler removed each copy. Jacob then met with Principal Hollandsworth, who explained that he could not permit students to use the face of their lockers for religious expression because if he did, students of all religions could use their lockers for religious expressions of their respective religions.

These acts of censorship violate the students' right to free speech. Students at the school are generally permitted to decorate the faces of their assigned lockers without prior approval of staff or administrators. However, school officials now say that prior approval is necessary for student expressions on their assigned lockers, so that they can censor religious viewpoints. A tour of the school would quickly reveal a variety of student expressions of school spirit, support of activities, birthday well wishes, social causes, and so on. In this case, the school has opened up student lockers for student expression and is monitoring and censoring religious speech.

There is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion and student speech endorsing religion. While a school could prohibit all stickers on student lockers, school officials cannot selectively discriminate against religious viewpoints while allowing other secular viewpoints. This is, in fact, what the school has done in this case.

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, stated,
"Liberty Counsel stands ready to defend the legal rights of students and members of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Floyd County High School. The school officials censored the Ten Commandments from the students' lockers solely because they deemed them to be religious and thus impermissible. Censoring religious viewpoints of students, while permitting secular viewpoints, violates the First Amendment. Floyd County school officials must immediately reverse course."
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