A banner with the “One Nation Under God” in a school has won a freedom of speech case after the school in January 2007 ordered it be taken down because it “over-emphasized” God. The other banner in question has been there for 17 years.
NOW GET THIS. The patriotic banners were ordered down because it might…
In response to the school district’s claim that Johnson’s patriotic banners might make a Muslim student uncomfortable, Judge Benitez stated, “an imaginary Islamic student is not entitled to a heckler’s veto on a teacher’s passive, popular or unpopular expression about God’s place in the history of the United States.”
Patriotic and the mention of God might make the Muslims upset. It appears that they aren’t equally concerned if Christians are upset. Nor are they upset if they tear down your rights to emphasize God but they can emphasize Allah. Go figure.
ANN ARBOR, MI – California Federal District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez ruled late this past Friday that the Poway Unified School District in San Diego, CA, violated math teacher Bradley Johnson’s constitutional rights when it ordered him to remove two patriotic banners from the walls of his classroom because they “over-emphasized” God. [Decision attached]
The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed the federal lawsuit on Johnson’s behalf, after the school district ordered him to take down his banners in January 2007.
The two banners are approximately seven feet wide and two feet tall and contain phrases that highlight our Nation’s history and religious heritage.
One banner with red, white, and blue stripes hung on the wall for twenty-five years and displayed the famous patriotic phrases: “In God We Trust,” “One Nation Under God,” “God Bless America,” and “God Shed His Grace on Thee.”
The second banner, which had been displayed for seventeen years, contained an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence: “All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed By Their Creator.” One school official justified the ban by claiming a Muslim student might be offended by the slogans.
via Federal Judge Rules Teacher Has Constitutional Right to Banners- The Crosstalk Blog.