Residents at Lake Local Schools continue to clash over whether “belief in God” should be included under the public school’s values statement.

More residents are telling the Lake Local Schools Board of Education that they believe in God and don’t want the district’s values statement to change.

School board members are wrestling with whether they should drop the phrase “belief in God” from the district’s values statement.

A dozen residents addressed the school board at a meeting Monday night, and 11 urged the district to keep the statement. Ironically, the only person who recommended dropping the phrase is a minister.

The board delayed making a final decision on the issue, primarily because of residents urging the district to fight.

“There’s no hurry here,” Bill Jelen, the school board’s president, said after the meeting.

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Briefs have been filed in the on-going trial over whether Judge James DeWeese of Richland County may continue posting relgious documents on the courtroom wall.

A second constitutional challenge to an Ohio judge’s display of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom is making its way through the court system.

At issue is whether a new, self-designed and framed poster put up by Richland County Common Pleas Judge James DeWeese in his Mansfield courtroom is constitutional. He says it is. Advocates for church-state separation say it isn’t.

The judge hung the poster in 2006. That was after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 let stand previous lower-court rulings that his first poster, which he hung in 2000, violated the constitutional separation between church and state.

Students, leaders and community members at Lake Local Schools are struggling with how to respond to a recent letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation that takes issue with part of the school’s values statement that promotes belief in God.

Mackenzie Michalk and Alex Looney don’t want the Lake Local Board of Education to change the district’s values statement.

The Lake High School juniors also dislike that an outside organization — the Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., is threatening a lawsuit if the school board doesn’t make the change.

Michalk considers the threat a bully’s move. She dislikes that Freedom From Religion Foundation members are trying to “impose their belief in having no beliefs.”

Michalk and Looney have responded by letting folks know their beliefs. The pair are selling T-shirts to fellow Lake High students and area residents that read: “We value a belief in God.”

A report on what some Ohio schools are doing to ensure their holiday programs do not unfairly endorse one religion over others.

As superintendent of the Jefferson Local School District in Madison County, William Mullett doesn’t worry too much about being politically correct at Christmastime.

The district has allowed Christmas trees as school decorations and Christmas carols at holiday concerts.

Teachers don’t push Christianity or partake in religious observances in the classroom, but secular celebrations of the season don’t raise an eyebrow.

That’s probably because the district is homogenous and almost exclusively Christian, Mullett acknowledged.

“It’s really never been a big issue here,” he said.

That’s in contrast to his seven years in the Sylvania City Schools, near Toledo. The district had a large Jewish population, and the rules on winter holidays were precise. For example, Christmas trees were OK on a staff member’s desk but not in a hallway or on a classroom floor.

Great news from Shelby, as the mayor acts courageously and vetoed unconstitutional legislation that unfairly promotes partiular religions.

Mayor Bill Freytag has vetoed the ordinance that would have required City Council meetings to open with a prayer.

He e-mailed council members about the decision Wednesday.

“Over the past several weeks, we have all engaged in a long and serious debate concerning legislative prayer at our council meetings. In addition, I have received numerous phone calls and letters on this issue from both residents and non-residents of the city of Shelby,” Freytag wrote. “After discussing this further with council member (Steve) Schag and Law Director (Lee) Shepherd, it would not be wise to enact this legislation under such a cloud of uncertainty.”

The ACLU mourns the loss of longtime civil libertarian and Youngstown ACLU Chapter founder Bishop John H. Burt.

The Rev. John H. Burt, 91, retired bishop of Ohio for the Episcopal Church, died Tuesday at his home on the southern shore of Lake Superior.

The Rev. Mr. Burt served seven years at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Youngstown, where he received the Arvona Lynch Human Relations Award. He was also the founding president of the city’s American Civil Liberties Union.

When he left Youngstown in 1957 to become rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif., The Vindicator wrote an editorial calling his departure “a matter of public regret” and saying the city was better for his having been here.

Another religious liberty issue percolating in the Mansfield area involves legislation approved by Shelby City Council to authorize prayer before every meeting. The mayor is currently weighing whether to veto it or not.

A controversial issue over prayer at council has left Bill Freytag with what he called “the toughest decision I’ve been faced with since I became mayor.”

Shelby’s chief administrator said he is giving serious thought to vetoing an ordinance passed Monday at council permitting prayer at the start of council meetings.

“I’ve been asked by one council member to use the veto, and I have 10 days to decide,” Freytag said Thursday. “Both sides have compelling arguments.”

Freytag said he met Tuesday with city Law Director Lee Shepherd, who has called the ordinance unconstitutional. The mayor said the two will meet again this week.

The ACLU was once again successful in it’s pursuit to ensure Richland County Judge James DeWeese does not inappropriately endorse one religion over another in his courtroon.

Judge James DeWeese must take down a framed poster of the Ten Commandments — for the second time.

Finding for the Ohio ACLU on Thursday in its second lawsuit against the Richland County Common Pleas judge, federal district court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan ordered DeWeese to remove the display as it unconstitutionally endorsed particular religious views over others.

DeWeese could not be reached for comment.

[…]

“We are pleased the court saw through this transparent attempt to sidestep the Constitution. Even with a few minor alterations from his original 2002 display, it was clear that Judge DeWeese’s intentions to promote a particular religion remained the same,” Ohio ACLU Executive Director Christine Link said Thursday.

“We feel very strongly about this because the First Amendment is extremely important,” ACLU attorney Mike Honohan said. “I don’t think it’s any coincidence our forefathers put the freedom of religion and speech together in the First Amendment, and we certainly don’t want to allow these rights to erode.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has asked a Canton-area school to remove a reference to the belief in God in its mission statement.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation wants Lake Local Schools to change its values.

The school district’s mission statement includes the phrase “we value” followed by a list that includes “belief in God and religious freedom.” The statement is on the front page of a newsletter mailed to Lake Local residents this month.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president, called the statement “shocking” and “one of the most egregious” violations she has seen of the Constitution’s language separating church and state.

The ACLU takes a stand against an unconstitutional provision in Ohio’s proposed budget, which would strip school districts of the power to decide if the Pledge of Allegiance will be said in the classroom. It also forbids individuals from adding or removing words to the pledge.

The ACLU of Ohio is calling on lawmakers to remove a provision added to the state budget bill that would prohibit Ohio’s 613 public school districts from passing policies against reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in classrooms.

[…]

In a landmark free speech decision in 1943, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that students could not be required to recite the pledge. The legislation would still allow individual students to choose not to recite the pledge.

“I hope they come to their senses or there’s just going to be a lot of expensive and unnecessary legal work coming forward,” Link said.

American United for the Separation of Church and State issued a letter to officials at Southeastern High School in Ross County urging them to suspend the use of prayer during graduation.

Southeastern Local Schools has received notice from a Washington group that it would be a violation of the Establishment Clause to include a prayer at the graduation ceremony.

[…]

The ACLU of Ohio appears to agree with the AU’s assertions in its letter to Southeastern. In its brochure “Students! Know Your Rights” it states student-led prayer is not acceptable at graduation and schools are permitted, and should, censor student speeches to prohibit religious talk. The ACLU also uses its interpretation of U.S. Supreme Court rulings to support its stance.

At Unioto High School, senior class adviser Nancy Shaw said the school doesn’t have an organized prayer at graduation, but student’s are not prohibited from including religious speak in their speeches.

Local sports writer Ryan Ernst examines whether high school sports teams should have organized prayer as part of their program.

They do it the same way every Friday night.

After the football players go through the postgame handshake line with the opposing team, one will yell, “Circle up!” Players and coaches hold hands and form a large ring that takes up a third of the field. Then they pray.

[…]

“If you have any kind of position in a public school, you must remain neutral,” said Gary Daniels, the associate director for ACLU Ohio. “In that position, you’re not acting as an individual, you’re acting as an instrument of the state.”

ACLU Ohio tackled its most high-profile case in 1999, filing a lawsuit against the London City School District. In that case, which was settled out of court, London High School head football coach David Daubenmire admitted to leading the football team in postgame prayer, passing out scripture passages to players, allowing ministers to lead team prayers and using Bible stories in team meetings.

Daniels said although most cases don’t go as far as the London case, which was scheduled to be heard in federal court, his organization knows that plenty like it exist.

“We get more complaints than just the ones that go to court,” he said. “But the problem is, you can have people complain about it, but oftentimes in situations like this, people are very hesitant to step forward. They don’t want to be outcasts in their community or school.”

Findlay Schools appear to have decided to continue their unconstitutional and unfair practice of aiding the distribution of Gideon bibles at public schools. Check out the video as well as the text of the story.

The ACLU of Ohio claims the district violated the First Amendment when it allowed members of an evangelical group to distribute Bibles to students. A policy committee took a look at the district’s procedures.

No one will be handing out Bibles this year, but next year it could be back on. Late last March members of the evangelical group Gideons International passed out Bibles to fifth grade students while they were leaving school. It happened at all five intermediate schools. The district’s superintendent told us the distribution had been going on for at least 15 years. Last year the ACLU heard about it and sent a letter to the district’s superintendent. In part it reads:
“The distribution infringes on the First Amendment rights of every student to receive such information while on school time.”