MOJO-JOJO

From Focus on the Family today;

Boy Stopped from Distributing
Creation Video
By Bob Kellogg, correspondent

A second-grader coercing classmates by giving them a
videotape on creation? That's what the attorney for a
California public school district said in prohibiting the young
student from passing out the tapes.

During a student gift exchange in his second-grade class, a
young Palm Desert, Calif., boy was stopped from distributing
videos to his peers. After learning the gifts were religious
videos about creation, the principal prohibited the
second-grader from passing them out, according to Brad
Dacus, of the Pacific Justice Institute.

Dacus' group then filed an administrative complaint on behalf
of the boy's family.

"Their legal counsel looked at it and came back with a
response that, frankly, really shocked us," Dacus said.

He said the written response contended the distribution of the
tape could disrupt classroom operations, invade others' rights
and be potentially coercive. However, the child was allowed to
distribute a different video.

"The irony is the child was allowed to pass out a video only
after it was determined that (it) was not religious," Dacus said.

Stuart Roth, of the American Center for Law and Justice, said
the situation constitutes a violation of basic free speech rights.

"What distinguishes America from nations that . . . we're at
war (with) is our ability to follow a Constitution which allows us
the right to free speech," Roth said.

It is now up to the school board to respond. Dacus said that
the case is more important than one might think at first glance.

"Many people may look at this and say it's just about one
second-grader, just about passing out videos. But what it's
really about is the ability of our children in public schools to not
be silenced and squelched and intimidated because they're
Christians and because they have a religious perspective."

Dacus said if the board's decision is unfavorable, he will take
the matter to a federal court.

Chrestomathy

...And I'm sure it was entirely the 2nd grader's idea to pass out the videos. Who's more of the hapless pawn here?

Dan

Writer@Large

I hate to say it, but I'm on the side of the little boy here. If this tells it truthfully (not that I'd expect FotF to twist the truth ), the distribution was uninitiated by the school, unsupported by the teacher, and not forced on anyone. If he chose (or if his parents chose for him) to give the video as his gift, it's his perogative.

Regardless, it was entirely legal for him to distribute him. Besides, he'll get his. I know how second-graders are; he'll be forever known as "the kid who gave the crappy gift." For them, that gift probably ranks right down there with books and educational videos on the list of "cool things for the gift exchange."

--W@L

Chrestomathy

Well I definitely see your point W@L, and it definitely happens that way, but it also brings up a point that many of us have harped and complained about regarding our own upbrings. We were too young to know better and were used and exploited to further something we didn't have enough information to understand.

Dan

nogods4me

I wonder what side FOF would have come down on had the youngster decided to give copies of the PBS series "Evolution" or one of the Discovery Channels specials on dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures and how they evolved?

But I am with W@L on this one, if the school's not involved, the kid can give them out.

Writer@Large

I don't doubt that was the case here; in fact, I'd love to be able to ask the kid, point blank, how much he knew about the video he was distributing. Unfortunately, the schools have no control over that kind of bad parenting.

--W@L

MOJO-JOJO

Wonder if it would be okay for him to give a Veggie Tales video to someone?

nogods4me

Well it could have been worse, he could have been distributing that terrible homosexual propaganda THE TELE-TUBBIES

[ April 02, 2002: Message edited by: nogods4me ]</p>

RufusAtticus

I really don't know what to think since, based on passed experience, I'm not convinced that FOF is revealing the whole truth here. Is there any sort of policy that the child (or his backers)violated by passing out the subject matter? I don't see a problem with preventing pseudoscience from being distrubed at school functions. The school would have be wrong to prevent him from passing it out based on religious messages. But the tapes were probably anti-educational, a the school does have a civic responability to prevent such miseducation.

I know that some student in NY (?) was prevented from passing out pencils with religious messages and "Family" and "Religious Freedom" organizations were outraged. They however never commented on whether the was a policy in place that prevented a child from passing out anything in class which I believe was the problem there. Although this case is slightly different.

-RvFvS

Id

Were I the parent of one of the children who would have received the video, I would have exercised MY right of free speech and crushed the tape into 10 different pieces, then put it into the boy's mailbox.