Student sues Wisconsin school district over religious drawing
April 2, 2008 by Dr. Lowrey
BY TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press
MADISON — A Tomah 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 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? The whole purpose of art is to reflect your own personal experience. To tell a student his religious beliefs can legally be censored sends the wrong message.”
Tomah School District Business Manager Greg Gaarder said the district hadn’t seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.
According to the lawsuit, the student’s art teacher asked his class in February to draw landscapes. The student, a senior identified in the lawsuit by the initials A.P., added a cross and the words “John 3:16 A sign of peace” in his drawing.
His teacher, Julie Millin, asked him to remove the reference to the Bible, saying students were making remarks about it. He refused, and she gave him a zero on the project.
Millin showed the student a policy for the class that prohibited any violence, blood, sexual connotations or religious beliefs in artwork. The lawsuit claims Millin told the boy he had signed away his constitutional rights when he signed the policy at the beginning of the semester.
The boy tore the policy up in front of Millin, who kicked him out of class. Later that day, assistant principal Cale Jackson told the boy his religious expression infringed on other students’ rights.
Jackson told the boy, his stepfather and his pastor at a meeting a week later that religious expression could be legally censored in class assignments. Millin stated at the meeting the cross in the drawing also infringed on other students’ rights.
The boy received two detentions for tearing up the policy. Jackson referred questions about the lawsuit to Gaarder.
Sometime after that meeting, the boy’s metals teacher rejected his idea to build a chain-mail cross, telling him it was religious and could offend someone, the lawsuit claims. The boy decided in March to shelve plans to make a pin with the words “pray” and “praise” on it because he was afraid he’d get a zero for a grade.
The lawsuit also alleges school officials allow other religious items and artwork to be displayed on campus.
A Buddha and Hindu figurines are on display in a social studies classroom, the lawsuit claims, adding the teacher passionately teaches Hindu to students.
In addition, a replica of Michaelangelo’s “The Creation of Man” is displayed at the school’s entrance, a picture of a six-limbed Hindu woman is in the school’s hallway and a drawing of a robed sorcerer hangs on a hallway bulletin board.
Drawings of Medusa, the Grim Reaper with a scythe and a being with a horned head and protruding tongue hang in the art room and demonic masks are displayed in the metals room, the lawsuit alleges.
A.P. suffered unequal treatment because of his religion even though student expression is protected by the First Amendment, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Friday.
“Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate,” the lawsuit said. “No compelling state interest exists to justify the censorship of A.P.’s religious expression.”
Kita Kazoo
Dr. Lowrey
How stupid - Aren’t demons and reepers Christian symbols too?
I still just can’t find the line between teaching religion because it’s a part of life (history, and culture) and breaking the rule of no religious practice and specificality in school.
i think teaching of the religions is fine, but not really specifying. like talking about the fact that france was and is mainly catholic is fine, but adding in your favorite scripture from the bible is wrong.
i think in the picture the cross is kind of pushing it, but the scripture is over the line. maybe if he would have just put the phrase and not john 3:16 it would have been fine.
just my opinion.
you’re entitled to yours.
The school should not endorse or promote any specific religious perspective, but it is important to education to overview at least as large a variety of religious perspective as possible.
Children should be taught to understand the world they are entering as young adults.
It is IMO contrary to the purpose of education, especially an art class to restrict freedom of personal expression as this teacher did.
It seems to me that schools are more concerned with avoiding complaints and lawsuits than they are about worthwhile education.
Establishing a “State” Religion is different than discussing religion or expressing personal religious beliefs, which is protected under the same amendment as anti-establishment.
I guess education is not safe for children anymore.
They might get ideas.
America calls itself a free world. But it seems that is so only when it comes to worshipping the devil. Why should a demonic symbol be allowed and the cross at calvary be rejected? Am sure that if the student had drawn something satanic like “support homosexuality”, he would have gotten 100%. That is how wicked people have become. American needs that cross that the student drew more than anything else. Repentence and clinging onto the cross for forgiveness for the contempt with which God has been made
Thanks David.
I agree that we should honor our claim to equality.
At the same time all the various administrators and legislators and law enforcers should understand that the Constitution allows all kinds of religious exercise, not prohibiting any belief or non belief, but it does ONLY PROHIBIT the establishment of an official Government Sponsored/Endorsed/Mandated religion.
I would think, especially in a school, the Masters or Doctors of Education would be at least literate enough to understand the Constitution. After all it was specifically written to be intelligible to the “common man” of the late 1700’s!
But as far as “worshipping the devil” goes - I can only guess you are referring to people like George Bush, Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, etc.
And since I brought up politics, I’d like to say again that Republicans and Democrats are just different flavors of the same shitsicle. Ralph Nader might make a good President!