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Christian
rights group unfounded in protests
Jamie
Rowe
According
to an Associated Press article, “Christian-Rights
Group Sues Over Posters,” the Rutherford
Institute is suing the York County School
Board over the removal of Christian-related
posters from Spanish teacher William
Lee’s classroom at Tabb High School
in Richmond, Va.
The materials in question included a poster promoting National Prayer Day,
articles about President George W. Bush’s faith with a picture of him
praying, an article about former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s prayer
meetings with his staffers, and a newsletter from Peninsula Rescue Mission
about a missionary who was killed while flying over Peru.
The Institute claims this is a violation of Lee’s freedoms of expression.
In a DailyPress.com article, “Teacher cites bias, sues York schools,” Lee
said he feels the materials were singled out from the other religious information
displayed in his classroom, including articles and pictures about the Peruvian
Inca Sun God Festival. He also said other teachers have religious materials
in their classrooms, but have not been forced to remove them.
In this case, Lee’s rights of expression were suppressed, but for good
reason. Time, place and manner restrictions on our rights are important. If
we had the freedom of speech at all times life would be very different. No
one would make disturbing the peace calls on loud parties in the middle of
the night. Anyone could walk onto an elementary school campus and start spouting
ideas of Satanism. While we as college students might not mind the first scenario,
parents would surely protest the second (which would be a violation of the
freedom of religion).
The restriction in this case applies to promoting a particular religion in
the classroom. While Lee’s right should be respected, his students’ rights
need to be as well. We have all felt that a professor or teacher has picked
on us at some point because we did not agree with his or her ideas. A student
in Lee’s class may feel he or she is not treated fairly because he or
she does not practice Christianity. Or worse, that student may change his or
her beliefs in order to please him.
How many times have students said what they knew the teacher wanted to hear?
How often have we complained professors didn’t like our thoughts and
therefore flunked our writings? Sometimes we feel it’s not a matter of
whether or not we write well or strongly back up our arguments, it’s
whether or not the professor agrees with the idea.
Lee’s excuse of the materials relating to Spanish culture isn’t
very strong. While I recognize he is the adviser to the Christian club on campus
and that materials promoting that club are OK, posting something about National
Prayer Day and claiming it relates to his curriculum is not OK.
If he had a section of his classroom wall dedicated to promoting the club,
those materials belong there. However, the materials removed, particularly
the newsletter, were a part of a collage. Bush and Ashcroft’s religious
faiths and National Prayer Day do not relate to Spanish culture. In fact, the
main religion of choice is Catholicism, which is quite different from Christianity
as a whole.
Also, culture isn’t as big of a focus in high school Spanish classes
as Lee is implying. Most of the curriculum concentrates on introducing students
to the grammar and vocabulary necessary for speaking the language. Culture
is usually touched on very little. If Lee is trying to incorporate this more,
kudos to him for beefing up an area that is typically lacking, but hopefully
he is centering his students on more than religion, like food, folkloric dances
or legends.
Jamie Rowe is a senior journalism major and the editor in chief of the
Daily Forty-Niner. |
