Tenn. Mother 'Proud' of Son for Standing Up for Right to Read Bible in After-School Program
A mother said she was "proud" of her son for standing up for his First Amendment rights when he refused to put away his Bible at the recent demand of staff members during an after-school program in Cannon County, Tenn. The publicly-funded program has since educated its workers on students' constitutional rights to religious freedom.
Lisa Koepfgen recently expressed pride in her 9-year-old son, Austin Grayson, who attends the after-school REACH program in Woodbury, a part of Cannon County, Tenn. The American Civil Liberties Union contacted the after-school program to defend Austin after he was reportedly told by staff members that he could not read the Bible during a free-reading period. The staff then tried to take the boy's Bible, telling him they could lose their state funding if they allowed him to read it.
"I am so proud of my son for standing up for his right to read the Bible during free reading time at his after-school program, despite multiple staff members wrongly telling us it was against the law," Koepfgen said in a statement to The Blaze. "Clearly the REACH program also realized that they needed to retrain their staff on the Constitution's protection of students' religious freedom."
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Although staff told Austin to put away his Bible, the 9-year-old reportedly refused, telling workers that it was his First Amendment right to read the Holy Book. "Free country, free religion," Austin reportedly told the staff, according to News Channel 5.
The ACLU sent a letter to the REACH program administrators, requesting that they review with their staff the constitutional rights of students and allow Austin to continue reading his Bible during student activity time.
"Tennessee public school students cannot be denied the right to engage in religious activities during student activity times, recess and other free time, provided they do not cause a disruption or interfere with the education of other students. Reading the Bible, or any other religious text, during a free-read period would fall within these protected freedoms," the letter stated.
The after-school program reportedly complied with the ACLU's request that it better educate its staff on the constitutional rights of students. The staff also circulated the letter sent by the ACLU and will continue allowing Austin to read the Bible during a free-reading period.
Thomas H. Castelli, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, said in a statement that he is "pleased" with the outcome of the incident. "We are pleased that the REACH program has trained their staff on their obligation under the law to safeguard their students' religious liberties without imposing religion on them."
"We will continue monitoring the program to ensure that students' religious freedom is protected."
