A Ten Commandment display is placed outside the U.S. Supreme Court during a vigil by a religious group in a file photo.
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Student sues Wisconsin school district over religious drawing
Posted on Thu Apr 03 2008
Judge stops Ky. county from displaying Ten Commandments
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A high school student has filed a federal lawsuit alleging his art teacher censored his drawing because it featured a cross and a biblical reference.
The lawsuit alleges other Tomah High School students were allowed to draw "demonic" images and asks a judge to declare a class policy prohibiting religion in art unconstitutional.
"We hear so much today about tolerance," said David Cortman, an attorney with the
Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal advocacy group representing the student. "But where is the tolerance for religious beliefs?"
Tomah School District Business Manager Greg Gaarder said the district hadn't seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.
The student, a senior identified in the lawsuit by the initials A.P., drew a cross and the words "John 3:16 A sign of peace" in his drawing of a landscape, according to the lawsuit.
His teacher asked him to remove the reference to the Bible, saying students were making remarks about it, the suit said. He refused, and she gave him a zero on the project.
The teacher showed the student a policy for the class that prohibited any violence, blood, sexual connotations or religious beliefs in artwork. The boy tore the policy up, was kicked out of class, and later received two detentions for his actions, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also alleges school officials allow other religious items and artwork to be displayed on campus. A.P. suffered unequal treatment because of his religion even though student expression is protected by the First Amendment, according to the lawsuit.
Judge stops Ky. county from displaying Ten Commandments
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge has permanently barred a Kentucky county from using the Ten Commandments as part of a "Foundations of American Law and Government" display.
U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley said the Grayson County display has the "effect of endorsing religion." McKinley's ruling upholds a preliminary injunction issued in 2002 that resulted in county officials taking down the Ten Commandments, but leaving the frame on display.
No public money was used to set up the display in the county courthouse in Leitchfield, about 75 miles southwest of Louisville.
The Rev. Chester Shartzer put up the display, without a public ceremony or public prayer. Two Grayson County residents and the American Civil Liberties Union sued in 2001.
The display originally included the full text of the Mayflower Compact, the full text of the Declaration of Independence, the Ten Commandments, the full text of the Magna Carta, the Star Spangled Banner, the National Motto together with the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Bill of Rights, a picture of Lady Justice together with an explanation of the significance of each of the documents.
McKinley found that the intent of the display was religious, not educational, in part because it came after the county failed to put up only a Ten Commandments display and Grayson County Fiscal Court members discussed what to put with the Ten Commandments to avoid objections from the ACLU.
Mat Staver, who heads the conservative Christian legal group
Liberty Counsel and represented Grayson County in the case, said McKinley's decision will either be appealed or a modified display will be put up. Staver said legally, the county is on sound ground because appeals courts, including one that oversees Kentucky, have upheld "the exact same display."
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