An Illinois school district is under fire after they confiscated a little girl’s Bible while she was reading during recess.
The ACLJ did not release much information about the incident. They declined to provide the name of the school or the city where it happened.
The second grader, named Gabrielle, liked to bring her Bible to school and read it during recess.
“Sometimes she reads it aloud, and sometimes other kids listen in and talk with her about what she’s reading,” the ACLJ said. But Gabrielle had her Bible taken away by a teacher and was told, “You just can’t be doing that.”
The school reportedly contacted Gabrielle’s parents and told them that their daughter was not allowed to read the Good Book during recess.
According to the ACLJ — “When the parents pushed back, the school backed off a bit saying she could read it during outside recess but not during inside recess. The school confirmed that no student nor any parent of any student had complained about Gabrielle’s reading or even mentioned it.”
It is believed that public school officials were hypersensitive to the specter of a threat from the ACLU and the often misused claim of this being a violation the “separation of Church and State.”
Instead of threatening the school district with a lawsuit, ACLJ fired off a letter reminding them of a very important Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District.
That ruling held that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gates.”