After an initial court victory, a high school math teacher lost his battle to keep his “God” banners displayed in his classroom. A federal appeals court ruled on September 13, 2011 that Bradley Johnson’s First Amendment rights were not violated when he was asked by the school district to take down a series of religious banners.
Mr. Johnson had banners hanging in his classroom at Westview High School in San Diego, Calif., for more than 30 years with phrases like “In God We Trust,” “All Men Are Created Equal,” and “They Are Endowed by Their Creator.” Another sign contained the words “In God We Trust,” “One Nation Under God,” “God Bless America,” and “God Shed His Grace On Thee.” Each of these postings is part of America’s religious history, in particular, America’s Christian history.
“In God We Trust” is our nation’s official motto and appears prominently in the House of Representatives and on our currency. That Americans are “endowed by their Creator” is found in the Declaration of Independence. “One Nation under God” is from the Pledge of Allegiance. The phrase “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance on June 14, 1954 by a joint resolution of Congress. “God Bless America” is a patriotic song originally written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938 because of the rise of Adolf Hitler. Here are the words from the stanza that include the words “God Bless America”:
God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.
“God Shed His Grace on Thee” is a line from the patriotic song “America the Beautiful.”
In all these examples, America’s religious heritage is evident. The principal of Westview High School did not see it this way. First, he argued that “because they were taken out of context and very large, they became a promotion of a particular viewpoint . . . that might make students who didn’t share that viewpoint uncomfortable.” So when a student pays for his lunch with money that has “In God We Trust” stamped on it, is the phrase “out of context”? Is size now the determining factor when religion is being referenced? If it’s small and out of the way it’s OK? What is its proper context and the proper font size? Who gets to make these decisions?
Are the students ignorant of the Declaration of Independence and its numerous phrases about God? What about the Constitution itself which includes the phrase “Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventieth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven. . .”?
The principal considered their posting in a government school to be a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . .” There is no indication that Congress was involved.
In the original ruling, United States District Court Judge Roger T. Benitez objected to the principal’s position using historical, legal, and logical arguments, methods of inquiry that should be taught in all schools:
May a school district censor a high school teacher’s expression because it refers to Judeo-Christian views, while allowing other teachers to express views on a number of controversial subjects, including religion and anti-religion? On undisputed evidence, this court holds that it may not. . . . It is a matter of historical fact that our institutions and government actors have in past and present times given place to a supreme God. “We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.”[1] As the Supreme Court has acknowledged, “[t]here is an unbroken history of official acknowledgment by all three branches of government of the role of religion in American life from at least 1789.”[2]
* * * * *
Fostering diversity, however, does not mean bleaching out historical religious expression or mainstream morality. By squelching only Johnson’s patriotic and religious classroom banners, while permitting other diverse religious and anti-religious classroom displays, the school district does a disservice to the students of Westview High School and the federal and state constitutions do not permit this one-sided censorship.[3]
This latest court rulings needs to explain how displaying official statements about religion that are historically verifiable can be a violation of the Constitution. This is insane. Consider this line of argument from the court:
“Just as the Constitution would not protect Johnson were he to decide that he no longer wished to teach math at all, preferring to discuss Shakespeare rather than Newton, it does not permit him to speak as freely at work in his role as a teacher about his views on God, our Nation’s history, or God’s role in our Nation’s history as he might on a sidewalk, in a park, at his dinner table, or in countless other locations.”
Talk about a straw-man argument . . . and from a judge! Mr. Johnson didn’t stop teaching math. In fact, in what I’ve seen, he didn’t “discuss” the banners. And what if he did? A teacher’s not permitted to discuss subjects outside his field? Whatever happened to the concept of a “Renaissance Man,” a person who has the ability to teach across multiple disciplines?
I suspect that if Mr. Johnson had displayed banners with lines from Shakespeare that the principal wouldn’t have said a thing, unless it was this line from Henry the VI, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.” Mr. Johnson might want to find religious statements from famous polymaths like Isaac Newton and display them. Here are some suggestions:
- “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being.”[4]
- “Opposition to godliness is atheism in profession and idolatry in practice. Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors.”[5]
He might also want to consider similar statements from Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543), Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1627), Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), and Michael Faraday (1791–1867).
There’s a bigger message here: Why are Christian parents still sending their children to government schools?
Endnotes:
- Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, 313 (1952). [↩]
- Van Orden v. Perry, 545 U.S. 677, 686 (2005) (quoting Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668, 674 [1984]). [↩]
- Bradley Johnson vs. Poway Unified School District, et al. (2010), Case No. 07cv783 BEN (NLS). Also see Article 1, Section 2(a) of the California Constitution which reads: “Every person may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of this right. A law may not restrain or abridge liberty of speech or press.” [↩]
- Principia, Book III; cited in Newton’s Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his Writings, ed. (New York: H.S. Thayer, Hafner Library of Classics, 1953), 42. [↩]
- A Short Scheme of the True Religion, manuscript quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton by Sir David Brewster, Edinburgh, 1850. Cited in Newton’s Philosophy of Nature, 65. [↩]
Gary is a graduate of Western Michigan University (1973) and earned his M.Div. at Reformed Theological Seminary in 1979. Author of countless essays, news articles, and more than 27 book titles, he also hosts The Gary DeMar Show, and History Unwrapped—both broadcasted and podcasted. Gary has lived in the Atlanta area since 1979 with his wife, Carol. They have two married sons and are enjoying being grandparents to their grandsons, Calvin and Paul. Gary and Carol are members of Midway Presbyterian Church (PCA).
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Todd Cassen
Principal,
Westview High School
13500 Camino del Sur
San Diego CA 92129-4265
858-780-2000 ext 3005
[email protected]
Dr. John Collins
Superintendent
Poway Unified School District
15250 Avenue of Science,
San Diego, CA 92128-3406
(858) 521 – 2800
Mr. Todd Cassen
Principal
The whole thing that the Government of the United States needs to realize is, that they have NO authority to tell a teacher that he cannot display banners that tell of his Chrisitan beliefs. He has this RIGHT as an American Christian citizen. What they have done, is against the Constitution of the United States of America! He should be able to do this, because it is his right by the Constitution, which bars the GOVERNMENT from preventing Christianity or forcing any kind of “religion” on the people!
We have always been a Christian nation, and we have in the past always stood for God and the Lord Jesus Christ. We have not allowed other “religions” into this Country, because we always knew that they were pagan and had always persecuted Christians. That is why we have endured as a Nation as long as we have. We should continue to prevent false “religions” from coming to America, and should tell all of the athiests, like the woman who made this country quit having prayer in schools, and others who protest Christianity and our way, that they can leave, if they don’t like the way our Country is run. They do have that freedom!! But we should NOT ever throw away or abolish what we KNOW…..that WORKS! Children who are not having prayer is school, are growing up not realizing how well prayer works. In the 1940′s and 1950′s we did, and it was good to hear a teacher have prayer every morning. The peace and happiness and love and authority of that time was the best ever, and we who grew up then, will NEVER forget it!
Even if someone works for the “government”, the “government” has NO right to prevent that person from expressing his love for God to his students!
We have that freedom, as well as all of our other endowed rights from the God of the Universe and it is WRITTEN in our Constitution as the ROCK of this Nation’s LAWS! The Constitution is NOT to ever be changed! As those who try to break our Constitution little by little, because they are being fooled, they do NOT realize that they will suffer also, if our Foundation crumbles! As an example, if the foundation of a building crumbles, all in it or near it, will suffer.
Because many people are being fooled by the devil, who is evil and even…..has it in his name, are the many who do not realize what is going on. We who do know the TRUTH, and know who is in charge, want everyone to wake up! Our freedoms are being demolished piece by piece. The “government” should be put in prison, for breaking this LAW!
Every place is different. I live in a University Town in the “Bible Belt” where a lot of the students at the local schools (especially the High School) are the children of foreign students working on their PhDs.
These people are Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists and so on. And then there are the “Mormon” (LDS) kids and others from a variety of Christian denominations.
My point is that in a school system like that it can be a problem to teach any religion, and you can be sure the school system where I live studiously (no pun intended) avoids it.
Two brief points.
a. no religion is being taught. no worldview is being taught, albeit founding documents of this (former) republic are being referenced.
b. religious tolerance is NOT a sign of a great civilization….religious PURITY is. anyone who disagrees should read Deuteronomy.
The posting and the defense offered seems to miss the entire point of the teacher’s signs. The teacher, nor anyone else for that matter, possessed constitutional rights. We possess God-given rights, which may not be infringed upon by the U.S. govt, which the courts purport to represent. Keep the signs, and declare the court and the judge BOTH in contempt.
Here is the obvious elephant in the room that DeMar, Marinov, and McDurmon are not commenting on – the fact that there is a conservative, Christian teacher in a public school. I live in the community in which this man teaches, and I too am a conservative, Christian, public school teacher.
To hear the above three men explain it, public schools are equivalent to a modern-day “Sodom and Gommorah” with not one single worthy person working there, whether they be administrative or teaching staff. In fact, they are of the belief that all public school teachers are simply government drones lusting after the souls of your innocent children, waiting with bated breath to manipulate the minds of the young for evil, nefarious purposes. Further, according to them, people like Mr. Johnson and myself have been duped by the Marxist, statist system, and are too stupid to realize that we are simply pawns in this great, evil machine.
Many times have I been on the receiving end of my fellow Christians’ disdain for public education. I have even been told I am not “honoring God” by members of my own church.
So here is my challenge to the authors of American Vision: why is it okay for Christian colleges (including many Reformed colleges – I’ve done my research, so spare me your incredulity) to offer teacher preparation programs, most if not all of which have as a mission statement something along the lines of: “to prepare students for effective ministry in private or PUBLIC schools”?
I have posed this question before in response to a previous article bashing teachers and have yet to receive any answer. Of course, they will argue that they can choose to respond or not respond at their leisure, and might feel that engaging in conversation over this subject is beneath them and a waste of their time.
Their silence on this issue is speaking volumes (at least to this reader). Notice how DeMar didn’t even give an “attaboy” to Mr. Johnson? Instead, all we get is a backhanded compliment in the form of questioning why a teacher can’t be a “Renaissance Man,” with a closing statement again asking the question, “Why are Christian parents still sending their children to government schools?”
I have a different theory: if we get these hardcore, militant Reformed writers to at least acknowledge that there ARE decent, God-fearing people working to effect change within the public school system, then they will also be forced to acknowledge that they might not be completely correct in their analyses of the issue, and might have to admit that they are WRONG!
What are the Vegas odds of that happening??????
Mike,
Gary DeMar does not say Christians should not work in the government school, in any capacity, only that Christian parents should not be sending their children to government schools. I home schooled my children and one of them is now a teacher in a government school. I never told her it was a sin to use her gifts and education to work for the government, but I did tell her it was a sin for me to not heed God’s command in Dueteronomy 6 to teach my children when I rise up, when I go about my day, and when I lie down at night. The child was intelligent enough to understand the difference, and plans to stay home to raise and homeschool her children if God blesses her with them.
THE TROUBLE WITH AMERICA IS—–THERE IS CONFUSION IN NUMBERS!! NOWADAYS A GOOD PART OF THE LATEST GENERATIONS ARE MENTALLY WANDERING THROUGH LIFE. THERE ARE SO MANY STUPID CITIZENS NOW, THEY HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY OVERBEARING. IN FACT, TOO MANY ARE IN LA LA LAND!! THANK GOD FOR THE 30′S,40′S 50′S. PEOPLE WERE NORMAL THEN. NOW—IN MY LATER YEARS, I AM TOTALLY CONVINCED OF THAT!!
Where’s the footnote/hyperlink for the argument from the court that begins “Just as the Constitution…”?
How have we gotten to the place in America where schools and courts can rule phrases from the Declaration of Independence illegal in public school and expect no resistance?
So sad on many levels. One thing is for certain the Principal should bow now to God not latter. But do know he will bow!
You ask a very good question, “Why do Christians still have their children in government run schools?” We pulled our children out of public school 2 years ago. I may be able to shed some light on it.
1) We are in denial that the atmosphere is hostile to Christians.
Many Christian families live like modern feminist families, where Mom has a career outside the home. They value this and have come to live a lifestyle where this income is necessary and expected.
2) We have long been told that our children NEED the advance science and mathematics that certified teachers are trained to offer.
3) We believe that our children need to learn to defend their faith.
4) We believe that our children’s environment will not really interfere with their personal beliefs.
5) Many Christian families would pull their children out and send them to private schools but they can’t afford it. The increased enrollment of Christian schools in areas where school vouchers are accepted is evidence of this statement.
6) Many Christian families believe much of the propaganda about homeschool.
7) Many people believe that all the extra curricula activities that the public school offers are good for their children.
Now that you’re homeschooling your children HM, let’s see what other areas of life you’ll want to keep your children from:
1). The military. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was ended yesterday, allowing openly homosexual males and females (transgenders have to be allowed as well, just wait and see) into the US military (thank you Ron Paul).
2). You might want to keep a close eye on that church you go to HM, as many are ordaining homosexual clergy and allowing “proud” (i.e. unrepentant) homosexuals and pro abortionists into their congregations. Be prepared to start your own congregation in yours basement HM. Oh, and be careful that you don’t go saying anything that might be considered “hate speech”:
3). It goes without saying that you can’t allow your children to view televison or go to the movies any longer.
4). Youth mentor groups: With the constant attack on pro-God groups like the Boy Scouts of America, you might want to avoid allowing your children to join youth mentor groups. As it is, the Girl Scouts are teaching the “attributes” of lesbianism and communism.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97977
Again, thank an inactive Christian who constantly runs from a fight for the world we all have to live in today.
I think you are missing the point. Do our children have the firm foundations of a Biblical worldview to withstand the onslaught of a naturalistic humanistic worldview? How can we expect our children to engage in the culture without preparing them? I would argue that if we are raising our children with a biblical worldview, then when they mature their convictions should drive them to engage the culture.
All of our education should begin with Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. If our educational systems do not reflect this, then we are fools.
Concerning objection 1. We are talking about children, not adults. What would the military have anything to do with that? A mature Christian adult should be equipped to engage in the current environment of the US Military.
The others I’m not sure what your point is. Of course we should be in churches that honor the words of the Living God. Why would we commune with churches that are committing apostasy? We should be discerning in what we allow our children to watch concerning television and movies and discussing the worldview differences with them. Heck we shouldn’t be cultivating entertainment oriented environment anyway (not saying some is bad).
We as American Christians need to repent of our sins and the sins of our fathers for leaving the family. We have abandoned the family for the state and we are currently under God’s judgment for it.
Lee and E. Harris:
As you’ll see through the link I provided, the books used in public schools contained numerous scriptures from the Holy Bible and many references to God, Jesus Christ, sin and salvation.
They were wisely non-denominational, as it brought many children from different congregations together to acknowledge God’s Word without alienating them to a specific denomination’s ideology (that’s what church is for, to spread their version of Scripture).
By alienating your children from the outside world, you’re not equipping them properly for life once they leave the home.
“Why are you here? What is your purpose? Are Christians meant to eke out a passive existence in this life while they wait to die and go to heaven… or is there something more? The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:28 that God created us to multiply, fill the earth, and take dominion of His creation for His Glory. When Jesus came to earth, He gave his disciples the Great Commission and told them to make disciples of all nations, Baptize them, and teach them to obey all that he had commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). These two mandates form the basis for why Christ’s Church exists on this planet. Every square inch of this world belongs to King Jesus. It is our privilege to serve Him by exercising servanthood dominion in every area of life.”
EVERY SQUARE INCH. Note that it didn’t say “except for public education”.
A wise man once wrote a book entitled “He who controls education controls the world”. While that man and I disagree on public schooling vs homeschooling, it’s obvious that his title is correct, as secular humanism IS controlling the world.
I for one will fight to take back what was once ours.
Of course that is true. I wouldn’t deny it, but that is not the reality today. That freedom has already been taken away. Keeping children in the public schools is not going to change it. The children won’t change the system. Christians in the public school are losing every battle in the courts.
Do you believe that exercising dominion means putting our children in godless institutions to learn how NOT to fear God? This is why things keep getting worse. I am exercising dominion by taking control of the education of my children rather than passing it on to the government.
Keeping all of these Statist solutions is not exercising dominion. It’s exercising idolatry, we are building our very own tower of Babel. We are replacing God with the tyranny of a totalitarian institution. Tyranny and anarchy are the result of a nation that no longer has the fear of God.
Unlike many at AV, I do see hope for public education to open its doors and plead with Christians and parents who are OUTSIDE the institution to come in and pray with the children and teach the children. I think this could happen…when things get so bad, that the school board practically have no school to preside over. Let’s face it, even if a (very small) minority of the students “rise up” and stand for Christian values (as I did) … the only way that change could happen is if the establishment is changed ‘from above’. The war is between the parents and those embedded in the apparatuses that directly feed into the education establishment. Are we going to inject our children into a war-zone, simply so that we have a foothold in this war? If so, you may want to sit your child down for 3-5 hours of additional study per week, so that they can be prepared to counter the assumptions being launched at them FROM EVERY SIDE in the peer-driven atmosphere that is shepherded by teachers who are themselves fed by philosophies from hell.
The fact is, God set authority in the household with the parents – and the buck stops with the godly husband. That remains true, until the child leaves his father and mother, to form his own home. Public schooling exists in order to ‘socialize’ the children AWAY from the home, for the purpose of creating a better and more united citizenry. … that alone should sound a little interesting. In such a realm of openness, who has the authority? Where does the buck stop? Who is supreme? Even if it acknowleges God as supreme…who really holds the reigns as to how God is interpreted and followed…UNDER ‘public’ authority? We forget that the police are there to protect us, we only fall under their authority when we are taken into custody. So who has custody in the public school setting? If it was the parents, then we should truly work toward an education ‘system’ that follows the parent’s lead, and respects THEM and THEIR brand of religion.
Indoctrinating children with a generic brand of christian faith isn’t enough. It’s a slippery slope. Where does the authority reside, in such a place? Who is – uh, what’s the word – the acknowledged and obeyed Sovereign? It’s not God (directly)…it’s always mediated by the state and a million-and-one ambassadors for the state.
Yet, there is only one mediator between God and man – the man Christ Jesus… and the child’s earthly symbol for Jesus (his father) is nowhere around. His mother probably packed his lunch, and told him to have a nice day at the public school, to face all of the fears and pressures that are there.
I’m sure that, left to our own, we can engineer a better way to get out into the open and engage other people. We don’t need to send our children to a wild place that is cultivated by wolves and where sheep are always on the defensive (and have been since “the system” was set up).
E. Harris writes:
“Indoctrinating children with a generic brand of christian faith isn’t enough. It’s a slippery slope. Where does the authority reside, in such a place? Who is – uh, what’s the word – the acknowledged and obeyed Sovereign? It’s not God (directly)…it’s always mediated by the state and a million-and-one ambassadors for the state.”
You’re make false assumptions in two areas E. Harris:
1) You’re assuming that the majority of the school day involves some type of “anti-God” indoctrination. While God isn’t discussed in K-12, it’s in the latter years where the indoctrination part comes. In the early days, most of the day is spent learning the basics of education, the three R’s, as well as leanring to SOCIALIZE with other students. Friendships are created there and LEADERS are made.
Hopefully you will have armed your child with enough intellect and faith to stand up and speak the truth wherever and whenever he or she needs to when it comes to the latter years of schooling.
2) You’re assuming that the school will be the only religious education that a child gets. If you’re assuming that, then you’ve let God down by not properly teaching the Christian faith to your child at home, as well as not giving credit to your church for doing the same.
Most of the indoctrination going on in public schools (and universities) is so subtle it is almost impossible to guard against it. It’s already in the air, in the atmosophere, in what is NOT permissible to say…and to speak up would be a breach of an unspoken bond of peace between classmates and teachers. It’s in the peer-driven atmosphere that has now become the default pop-culture atmosphere of the whole nation.
When we make the state the mediator of truth (between us, or even between the child and the child’s parental authority) we have created a “neutral” space that is in fact a war zone BY DEFAULT. A war zone between parents, factions, ideologies. And it is to this warzone that we send our weakest and most emotional citizens…to learn about society and culture… in the wild.
If you are going to do that, with your children (and fund that with your money) then I recommend at least 3-5 hours per week of mandatory DEEP study and parental engagement in the subconscious issues that the little child is being subjected to on an hourly basis in state-led education.
The slippery slope is this: no matter WHAT you teach in a public school, you will have a faction who is forced to financially support that school who radically disagrees with something that is being taught using their money. Our school system INVITES perpetual ideological warfare… over our very children. It INVITES political intrusion, because that is its nature. I don’t say this gladly, because I actually enjoyed my public schooling years more than my private schooling years. But I know the nature of the beast, for having lived under its secular care.
Many teachers truly care about the students and go out of their way to support them (on their own). Should the parents get too much involvement and say-so, the program becomes LESS important to the state…because the state (other parents and would-be “big brothers”) has less say-so in what is being taught.
It is wise simply to try to cut the cord. Fight the good fight elsewhere. Equip others.
UM…THAT’S part of the Declaration of Independence…RELIGIOUS?!!! MAN!!! These people need to get their heads out of their butts…I am SO sick of all of this DICTATING to WE THE PEOPLE!!!!
Very good Tracie! As of my reply to you, you are the only one with brains enough to see this is part of the Declaration! So, by trying to silence this man’s postings in class, the liberal morons are also trying to silence the words of The Declaration of Independence. This should not be happening.
Just goes to show why education is absolutely a private matter and the Civil authority state or national level has NO business being involved in the area of education.
But it hasn’t always been that way Paul (thank an inactive Christian for today’s society).
“An important yet little known fact about public school education in our country is that the primary purpose for establishing schools in America was to teach everyone to be able to read and understand the Holy Bible.”
http://www.angelfire.com/la2/prophet1/educationamerica.html
I agree that America was more of a christianized place back in the 1800′s. So any arguement toward establishing public education through tax dollars, with an oversight by the state, had to placate the christians.
But the truth of the argument is revealed in the follow-up question: “Whose interpretation of the Bible are we then to teach, as we teach Bible literacy? Who gets the last say in determining the curriculum?” Make no mistake about it, those advancing public schooling had agendas…otherwise they wouldn’t have seen education as necessary. They wanted public schools because they wanted to teach something. I’m sure there were some “bleeding-heart” christians in the bunch…but they weren’t the only ones! Joel McDurmon pointed out that one of the most active among the public school activists were the Unitarians. And I bet their views on the Scriptures differ somewhat from your own. And when it comes to the nature and existence of Jesus Christ… I would rather keep the debate personal and make it about personal choice (to believe) than make it a public all-or-nothing debacle and politicize the matter.
Hence I agree with many at American Vision. It is simply more logical to keep schooling as a matter of parental authority, and parental resources. If anyone wants to get to the kids, they must work with the parents.