Christian Educators Group Stands Up to 'Goliath' ACLU
Christian Educators Association International (CEAI), which has filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed earlier this year by the ACLU against a Florida county school district, says it is the "David" in its battle for religious freedom and that the ACLU is the "Goliath."
"The ACLU is engaged in a well-financed, systematic campaign to intimidate Christian educators across the nation," said CEAI Executive Director Finn Laursen on Monday.
"We feel this case is so important that we must take a stand," Laursen added.
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Last week, Christian legal group Liberty Counsel filed the motion on behalf of CEAI, insisting that an overly broad consent order against the Santa Rosa County School District essentially bans all employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities, whether before, during, or after school hours.
"Not only does the ACLU want to strip public school employees of their rights to free speech while working, the ACLU is now arguing that they lose their rights after work and off campus ," stated Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law.
Last year, in August, the ACLU filed the complaint against the School Board for Santa Rosa County for the district's alleged sponsoring of prayer at school events, orchestrating of religious baccalaureate services, and proselytizing of students during class and extra-curricular activities.
In response, the school district attempted to settle the suit by joining with the ACLU and presenting the court with a consent order that "permanently enjoined" school officials from "promoting, advancing, endorsing, participating in, or causing Prayers."
Without any legal argument or briefing, the judge signed the order, which also bars school officials from "orally express[ing] personal religious beliefs to students during or in conjunction with instructional time or a School Event."
"The Court's order, based on the defendants' own admissions, will help ensure that public school officials do not inject their personal religious beliefs into the students' education," said Daniel Mach, director of litigation for the ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, after January's ruling.
Liberty Counsel and CEAI, however, argue that the order is so broad that it unconstitutionally infringes on the rights of teachers, administrators, and students.
"The ACLU's consent order broadly defines prayer, school events, and school officials so that employees who bow their head or fold their hands, pray over meals during their lunch, or voice agreement with another's religious discussion at any time on school property or at any school event can be found in contempt of court," Liberty Counsel reported.
"When private third parties use school facilities for after-school religious events or church services, no district employee on his or her own private time may participate or communicate agreement in any prayer or religious discourse, even if he or she is attending the event voluntarily, outside of school hours," the legal group added.
Moreover, as CEAI's Laursen noted, the order also forces CEAI members to infringe upon the rights of students and others.
"If we just sit by and allow constitutional religious freedoms to be bullied out of public schools, we will end up surrendering them all together. We are not willing to sit by and see this happen in Santa Rosa County," Laursen added.
As a professional association for Christian educators founded in 1953, CEAI has historically encouraged its members by informing them that they do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse door and that schools are not religion free zones.
In print, through technology, and in workshops and seminars across the country, CEAI also corrects the misconception that prayer has been banned from public schools and that teachers are limited in their religious expression on their own time.
