On The Front Lines
Rutherford Institute Warns Middle School Principal Against Creating Hostile Workplace Environment Towards Religion, FCA Club
FISHERSVILLE, Va. -- In a letter to Don Curtis, the principal of Wilson Middle School in Fishersville, Va., John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, warns the school administrator against creating a hostile workplace environment towards religion and discriminating against religious student groups such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). Several members of the community asked the Institute to intervene after Curtis emailed teachers advising them that they could be subject to termination proceedings should they assist students in forming an FCA club at their school.
A copy of the Institute's letter to Principal Curtis is available here.
"By intimidating teachers, through threat of termination, into refusing to provide the same types of administrative assistance to the FCA as are made available to other student groups, Principal Curtis has pitted himself in direct opposition to the spirit of the First Amendment" said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "School administrators need to act immediately to correct the erroneous impression conveyed by the principal's e-mail that religion has no place in the public schools."
Responding to the formation of a Fellowship of Christian Athletes club at Wilson Middle School, Principal Don Curtis advised faculty and staff against supporting or participating in religious activities while in the official role of a teacher. "As I trust common sense and your elementary knowledge of the law should remind you, the Constitution includes an amendment that expects 'The government will not establish any religion,'" Curtis wrote in an email. "Be as religious as you want when you're not in your official role as a teacher. Your official role as a teacher starts anytime you're involved with students. Please check with me or your attorney if you need clarification so I can avoid termination proceedings for those of you that don't believe me or wish to test this concept. I'm being somewhat of a smart a&*, but I trust 'You're feeling me!'"
Taking issue with Curtis' misrepresentation of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, John W. Whitehead pointed out that while the First Amendment does prohibit the government from establishing a religion, it likewise prohibits the government from exhibiting hostility towards religion, interfering with the free exercise thereof, and discriminating against expressive activities based on the religious viewpoint of the expression.
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