A Louisiana school is being targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union for letting athletes set up prayer boxes around the school, calling it unconstitutional “religious indoctrination.”
The ACLU sent an open letter to Airline High School in Bossier City saying the school violated the Constitution for allowing the Fellowship of Christian athletes to set up prayer boxes, which had religious symbols, around the school. The ACLU also took issue with the school’s principal signing a message on the website with “May God Bless You All.”
Now the ACLU is demanding they stop.
“There is no question that the principal has violated these legal mandates by invoking God, prayer, and Christianity in school publications and on school grounds,” the ACLU said in the letter. “This unlawful religious coercion is improper from any school employee but it is particularly egregious coming from the school principal, whose job is to teach and uphold, rather than violate, the legal rights of all.”
The prayer boxes had a cross on them and allowed students to drop in prayer requests.
Louisiana state Rep. Mike Johnson offered free legal services to the school, the Shreveport Times reports.
“This is typical of the ACLU,” Johnson said. “They’re on a seek-and-destroy mission for all things religious.”
The ACLU ends its letter with a list of demands:
- Immediately remove all references to prayer from the website of Airline and any other schools in the Bossier Parish school district;
- Immediately remove the “prayer boxes” and any similar devices at Airline and any other schools in the Bossier Parish school district;
- Educate all school staff regarding the Constitutional protections of students and staff from religious indoctrination; and
- Instruct the principal of Airline that neither he nor his staff may include religious references of any kind in school communications.
The ACLU has a history of suing institutions for refusing to comply with these kinds of demands.
The school will address a threat from the ACLU at its Thursday school board meeting.
“In the meantime, please understand that the Bossier Parish School System enjoys an established record of achievement,” the school district said in a statement. “Such success is due in large part to the fact that, as in this case, the system respects both the law and the religious beliefs of all its students and employees.”
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