Fighting For Equal Time

By ohwesleyang (Chief Contributor)
Tags: equality, religion, faith, ACLU

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Created: 06/24/2008
12:20 AM

The Liberty Council launched in May its annual “Friend or Foe” Graduation Prayer Campaign. The group and the campaign seek “to educate and, if necessary, litigate to ensure that prayer and religious viewpoints are not suppressed.” This highlights that we should ask an important question: could a push for religion in schools actually backfire?

Conservative organizations do need to fight for religious free speech. The ACLU is roving the country, devouring any case with even the slightest fragrance of progressivism, liberalism, and anti-Christian sentiments. But treating religion as a deposed king and advocating for its return to the throne within public schools might have far greater consequences than many realize.

A case in Mount Vernon, OH (not too far from our dear our old Wesleyan...not even an hour), highlights the difficulty. There, the community is divided over middle school science teacher John Freshwater. His display of a Bible on his desk led to an investigation after some parents accused him of proselytizing. Understandably, people see this as an attack on Christianity and are outraged. Strangely, the guy was later accused of even more egregious behavior. An outside investigation has found that the Ohio public school teacher taught creationism in his science class and used a device to burn the image of a cross on students’ arms.

A fight for Christianity in schools is a fight for religious expression, and that includes religions other than Christianity. If Christianity is allowed in schools, there’s a strong case to afford Hinduism, Islam, and Wiccan the same opportunity. Christians advocating the Bible be put back in the classroom have to ask themselves if they are alright with the Book of Mormon receiving the same status. And as the Mount Vernon case shows, many are not.

Still, there seems a double standard. Mention the Bible in public schools and the ACLU cries for equality. Mention the Quran, and it falls silent. As Lynn Vincent points out over at worldmagblog, Christians find themselves in a dilemma, “While the ACLU does seem to butter its bread by barring from public school classrooms the Bible and any talk of the Christian God, ‘other’ religions seem to get a pass. But should Christians fight the inequity by quashing the public display of other religions or advocating for equal time?”