Court rules against Bible-distributing school

Christian Century, Oct 17, 2001

A Louisiana school board has violated the Constitution by allowing a school principal to endorse religion, a federal judge has ruled. In his ruling handed down September 27, Judge F. A. Little said the Rapides Parish School Board violated the rights of a Muslim child whose parents filed a lawsuit claiming their child was part of a group called into the office of Principal John Cotton last December and given Bibles.

According to the Associated Press, Little said the school board erred in permitting Cotton "to set aside a special time for a religious exercise that it did not set aside for anything else, thereby creating an impression that the school endorsed a particular religious belief: Christianity."

The district's argument that Hesen Jabr could have refused the Bible was "unrealistic," Little said. "The pressure created by the principal in his office was coercive and, thus, illegal," Little decided. "This court can imagine no more intimidating or coercive environment in an elementary school than those conditions in the principal's office."--RNS