teachers take note; Religious neutrality cuts both ways

[rug]

By Charles C. Haynes
Published 12:05 a.m., Thursday, September 29, 2011

By now, it should be axiomatic that public school teachers can't take sides in religion.

After all, the Supreme Court has been hammering this point home for more than 60 years: Under the First Amendment's establishment clause, public schools must be neutral toward religion — meaning neutral among religions and neutral between religion and non-religion.

But two new court decisions — both from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — suggest that “neutrality” is viewed by some schools and judges as a one-way street. Teacher promotion of religion was struck down as unconstitutional, but teacher denigration of religion got a pass.

In the “promotion” case, math teacher Bradley Johnson was told by the school district to remove from his classroom walls several huge banners with patriotic one-liners emphasizing references to “God” and “Creator.” School officials were concerned that the displays sent a school-endorsed sectarian message in violation of the establishment clause (Johnson v. Poway Unified School District).

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/community/bulverde/article/Teachers-take-note-Religious-neutrality-cuts-2193107.php#ixzz1ZLgF1NUq