A public school district in Uniontown, Ohio, erred by listing "belief in God" in its mission statement as a district "value," the Freedom From Religion Foundation says. The Foundation sent a letter Aug. 26 to Lake Local School District after one of its Ohio members alerted FFRF, which has about 350 Ohio members and 13,900 nationwide.
The suspect wording was included in the August 2009 issue of Blue Streak News, a district publication.
In the Foundation's letter, staff attorney Rebecca Kratz said no public employee may urge religious points of view upon students. "Listing 'belief in God' as an important value violates the First Amendment because it imposes religious sentiments upon students and their parents within the school district."
An earlier district mailer, sent to all postal customers, had the same language. The complainant also told the Foundation that Lake Local had the same words on the home page of the district's Web site but has removed it. However, "belief in God" is still included on Lake Elementary's site.
The violation is flagrant and egregious, Kratz said. "The School District's promotion of religion over non-religion impermissibly turns any non-believing Lake Local School student, parent, teacher, or staff member into an outsider."
The form to contact the district is here. Please be polite and concise and include your name for maximum effectiveness.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is a national association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics) that has been working since 1978 to keep church and state separate.
Comments
This is an outrage!! Do you people have nothing better to do than than stick your nose in to other peoples bussiness? I have lived in Lake Township my whole life and treasure the fact that this great community was build on cristian beliefs. We need God now more than ever. Every time we turn around jobs are being lost, property values crumbling and crime is on the rise. We as people have the right to have some sort of hope and if our township chooses God than that is our right. Please stop your communist propaganda and get on bettering your on lives and leave our peaceful community alone. I am proud to live in LAKE TWP. and will be upset if we give in and let our children loose hope and the BELIEF IN GOD. (go back to Wisconsin)
I am a current student at Lake High School andireally like my school. In no way has religion ever been forced upon me or down my throat or have I been looked upon as an outcast for my religion (or lack thereof). God is not included in any curriculum. We say I pledge of allegiance to the flag and the nation under God it represents. I happen to be an atheist. Sure some of my Christian peers can be annoyingly charismatic sometimes but I have no quarrel with God being in the mission statement. It is more of just having teachers and staff who try to be good role models than it is indoctrinating kids with Christian ideals. Lake has excellent test scores and 90% of Lake students go on to pursue higher education after high school.
So agree with the overly angry Brian. Wisconsin can worry about Wisconsin. Lake School District can take care of itself thank you.
I live here in Louisville, and while I was a high school student, no form of religion was pushed down on anyone's throats. Sure, we talked about religion and what people believed in in some of my classes, but overall, nobody felt alienated, angry or convicted by what someone believed in or didn't believed in or got into extreme arguments over which religion was right. There definitely were disagreements and concerns about what people believed in and why some religions didn't feel comfortable to be a part of, especially after 9/11. People won't agree 100% with everything that a school district feels should be part of their mission statement or list of values, and probably never will, but I fell that it should ultimately be the school board's decision in what they should values should be, let the parents know of their decision and that they understand the concerns of some parents, but communication and understanding has to go both ways in order for things to work out.
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