TRI In The News

Supreme Court Turns Away Free-Speech Case

From Wings of the Wind
Original article available here.

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow - 1/25/2010
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider another free-speech case involving a school and the reading of the Bible.

The case, which concerns a Pennsylvania mother and child, has been in the courts since 2004. John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute tells OneNewsNow that Donna Bush was invited to attend a special event at kindergarten with her son, Wesley.
"The event was 'The All About Me Week," he explains, "which features a student -- and the mother would come in and read from their favorite book. Wesley's favorite book was the Bible."

The attorney explains that Bush planned to read Psalm 118, about how God is good and watches over all of us.
"[But] when she started to enter the classroom, she was told by the teacher that they didn't think she could read from the Bible, that it may be illegal -- and they told her it would violate the separation of church and state," Whitehead adds.

The principal agreed with the teacher -- so The Rutherford Institute filed suit in federal court. "And true to form," says the attorney, "the courts now basically are ruling that whatever [public] schools want to do...in terms of religious speech with Christians, they can restrict it. We appealed to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case."
Whitehead believes the problem is epidemic now in federal courts across the country.