Compare and contrast these two stories......simply unbelievable!
Bible-Reading Student Gets Lesson in Litigation
Washington Post ^ | October 3, 2006 | Eric Rich
washingtonpost.com
Amber Mangum was a frequent reader during lunch breaks at her Prince George's County middle school, silently soaking up the adventures of Harry Potter and other tales in the spare minutes before afternoon classes. The habit was never viewed as a problem -- not, a lawsuit alleges, until the book she was reading was the Bible.
A vice principal at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Laurel last month ordered Amber, then 12, to stop reading the Bible or face punishment, according to a lawsuit filed Friday by Amber's mother. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, alleges that the vice principal's actions violated the girl's civil rights.
"Amber's a new Christian, and she's trying to learn all she can," said Maryann Mangum, the girl's mother. "She reads her Bible and she goes to Sunday school. . . . It really upset me when she was not allowed to read it on her own time."
John White, a spokesman for the school system, said administrators learned of the lawsuit Friday and were not prepared to comment on its claims. "We're just beginning to look into it," he said.
Mangum said her daughter was reading her Bible on Sept. 14 when Vice Principal Jeanetta Rainey approached. According to Mangum and the lawsuit, Rainey told Amber that reading the Bible violated school policy and that she would face discipline if she continued to do so.
Later that day, Amber recounted the episode to Mangum, who is her adoptive mother and also her biological grandmother. James Baker, a family friend, sent a note to the school asking that the principal identify any policy barring students from reading the Bible during their free time...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ....
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Supreme Court declines case challenging classes on Islam
kvia.com
SUPREME COURT The Supreme Court has refused to consider a lawsuit by parents objecting to a three-week class for seventh-graders on Islam.
Jonas and Tiffany Eklund say pupils at a public school in Byron, California, were given pages from the opening chapter of the Quran to read and studied Islam's Five Pillars of Faith.
The Eklunds argued that the world history unit violated separation of church and state. Their lawyers charged that the public school "had children become Muslims for three weeks."
School Superintendent Tom Meyer denies that the classes amount to indoctrination.
The Ninth U-S Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the Islam program activities were not overt religious exercises and therefore did not raise constitutional concerns. |
