First Amendment Not Applicable at School

Why is it that, even as our society is supposedly becoming more enlightened, our rights as American citizens seem to be eroding away before our eyes?

Sure, we hear loud voices in society calling for and demanding "rights" to this and "rights" to that...but are they looking for rights, or are they really just looking for license? License to live without restraint and without regard for the cost to our civilization? License to undermine good order, good health, and the stability of family and society?

Even as some cry for the "right" for one man to shack up with another man and call it "marriage," and the "right" for men to use women's restrooms, people on that same side of the political aisle are working to quash the rights to keep and bear arms to defend themselves and keep themselves free, and even the very right to life itself--rights which are defined in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

Now comes word of the latest example of another area where the Left is attempting to quash the defined rights of Americans.

A lawsuit has been filed by the Alliance Defense Fund on behalf of a Wisconsin student who was given an art assignment at school, but the school rejected his project because it contained a reference to the Bible.

From the ADF release:

A student at Tomah High School drew a landscape picture for an art class containing a road, clouds, and mountains with a cross in the background and the words “JOHN 3:16 – A sign of love” written in the sky. The teacher of the class told the student to either remove the scriptural reference or cover it up with a border.

According to the complaint, the teacher told the student that the Scripture reference "infringed on the rights of others in the class and was offensive."

I'm not sure what right the Scripture reference was violating. Was that the right not to be offended--which Amendment guarantees that? Was it the right not to be exposed to the religious beliefs of another person--which Amendment guarantees that right?

The only reference to religious expression in the United States Constitution--the document upon which all our laws should be founded and which outlines our freedoms--says

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

How a student's drawing can be equated with "Congress mak[ing a] law respecting an establishment of religion," I cannot fathom. To the best of my knowledge, the student in this case is not a member of congress, and even if he were, I can't understand how his personal drawing would constitute a "law respecting an establishment of religion."

Some religious drawings are apparently "okay" with the school, however. Other students drew demonic graphics and a Grim Reaper with no complaint from the school.

The complaint also states that one of the teachers had Hindu and Buddhist figures displayed prominently in the classroom and a teacher's assistant said that teacher “teaches Hinduism to his students with a passion.”

So it would seem that the only religion unwelcome in this school is the one whose principles this nation was founded on, the one ascribed to by more than 80% of Americans.

Our schools are supposed to be a place where children learn not only the basics of a modern education, but learn what it means to be an American citizen. It goes without saying that what they learn should be true and factual.

When we teach our children that they have no right to religious expression--or more specifically, to Christian religious expression--outside the walls of their church or their home, we are teaching them a LIE.

Not only are we teaching them something contrary to the United States Constitution, we are teaching them that their faith is something to hide, something to be embarrassed about, something that is simply not allowed in public.

In other words, we are teaching them their religion and its values are IRRELEVANT.

We obtain our morals, values and ethics from our religion. When we tell them that Christianity is irrelevant in the "real world," why are we surprised when our children cheat, use drugs, have sex outside of marriage, and blow each other away with whatever weapon is most convenient? They are simply following what they are being taught to its logical conclusion.

After all, we've taught them that all those values like honesty and the value of human life just don't matter.

I wonder, for those who have worked so hard to sanitize religious values from the public square, if the day comes that they're staring down the barrel of a gun held by those who have no values, will they have enough sense to regret the fact that they are the architect of their own demise?