A completely demented ruling on religious proselytization in a high school classroom

First, take a look at these photos:

Okay, standard preachy Christian rubbish. Nothing exactly new or interesting, by itself.

But … guess where these banners are located? As hinted by the geometric pie (or whatever that blue divided thingy is called), the posters about calculus and the overall “educative”-like feel of the surroundings, this is actually in … a public mathematics classroom, hung by Bradley Johnson, a math teacher at Westview High School in the Poway Unified School District in California. Because, obviously, what students want to see as they enter a supposedly secular public math class is their very Christian teacher’s public declaration of faith, as opposed to, say, anything that’s actually useful.

As you can imagine, anyone who’s aware of this little thing called the Establishment Clause – ie. Separation of Church and State – can tell you in just how many ways this violates the law. So, naturally, the Poway school district came down on Johnson and forced him to remove the banners. (Note the irony of the term “forced”, seeing as those banners should never have been present in the classroom in the first place.)

Naturally, lawsuits were filed. Because, you know, forcing a teacher at a secular institution of education to remove his proselytizing rubbish from his public classroom surely fits so well with “oppressing his religious freedom!” and all that. But, here’s the true punch to the story: the verdict.

Judge Roger Benitez said teacher Bradley Johnson is entitled to a declaration that his First Amendment rights were violated by the Poway Unified School District.

He also said in a ruling Friday that Johnson should get damages of $10 from each of nine officials he named in a lawsuit filed in 2007.

Benitez also ordered the district to allow Johnson to rehang the banners in his classroom.

*HEADDESK HEADDESK HEADDESK*

As if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, the reasoning behind the ruling is hardly any better:

Benitez said the district allows other teachers to post things on a variety or religious and nonreligious topics without penalty.

He said the action against Johnson amounted to discriminating against a particular point of view, which courts have long said is not permitted.

There is so much that is colossally fucking wrong with this ruling and this moronic lawyer’s arguments that it’s almost hard to believe this was made. First of all, any possible way they have of depicting Johnson being forced to remove the banners by the school district as a violation of the First Amendment is complete bullshit. The First Amendment covers Freedom of Speech/Expression, Freedom of Religion, and all that “freedom of” stuff, really, but in no way does it also enable people to parade or sponsor their faith in public and secular settings like Johnson did. He was not being silenced, nor was he forced to abandon his beliefs; he just can’t promote them in front of all his students like he did. In an ideal world, any lawyer coming up in court and defending an act like Johnson’s under the First Amendment would be laughed right out of the courtroom. It’s beyond ridiculous.

This is nothing more than the opening of a massive can of worms. If Johnson is allowed to display his Christian faith with those banners, especially according to the ridiculous “well, other teachers do it, too!” argument provided by that incompetent lawyer, then this is basically establishing a precedent allowing anyone to promote their own faiths, regardless of what they may be. Personally, I’d very much be looking forward to the day where “No Gods”, or “One Nation Indivisible”, or even “Atheism: The Cure to Your Religion^[1]” banners make the classrooms – why not? If one party can promote their beliefs, then so can the other. It’s just fair, isn’t it?

Except that, no, it isn’t. There should never be any banners (or anything else) promoting atheism or lack of religious beliefs in secular buildings and institutions – just as, conversely, there ought never be any promotion of faith, either. Religion (and lack thereof) and personal beliefs are just that: personal. They cannot and should not be promoted in a public, secular setting, regardless of their nature.

(via Friendly Atheist)

^[1] Actually, that tagline would be awesome anywhere.