By Brian Blackwell, Message Staff Writer
BOSSIER CITY – Northwest Louisiana is the sight of yet another battle for religious freedom in public schools.
The Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union recently sent a letter to the superintendent of the Bossier Parish Schools, accusing Airline High School of “engaging in a pattern of religious proselytization.”
The letter states that prayer boxes with Christian symbols have been established throughout the school and religious messages have been included in newsletters posted on Airline High School’s website. After the letter was sent to Bossier Parish Schools, the ACLU learned information from a source was not entirely accurate.
“We had a photograph of those boxes and were told that they were scheduled to be installed the next day, which did not happen,” said ACLU Louisiana Executive Director Marjorie Esman in an email to The Baptist Message. “Our goal is, as it always is, to ensure compliance with the law. I hope you will make clear that the ACLU has a long and proud history of defending the religious rights of all Americans.”
The ACLU also states in the letter they understand that Airline High School Principal Jason Rowland has encouraged students to “pray to the Almighty God.”
“This letter is to inform you these practices violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and comparable provisions of the Louisiana Constitution, and they must stop immediately,” the letter states.
But that is not the case, according to Mike Johnson, a Shreveport attorney and founder of Freedom Guard, a legal group that defends Christian individuals and businesses.
“This is typical of the ACLU,” said Johnson. “They’re on a seek-and-destroy mission for all things religious. The law is still on our side. There is no reason to give into these secularists.
Johnson, who has offered to defend Bossier Parish Schools pro-bono, said the ACLU is ‘overstepping.’
“What they hope is when local bodies receive a letter, they bow to the pressure,” said Johnson, a member of First Baptist Church in Bossier City. “But what they’ve done is awakened a sleeping giant. This is not what the ACLU had in mind.”
Bossier Parish Schools released a statement on Sept. 25, acknowledging Superintendent D.C. Machen had received letters from the ACLU and Johnson. He then forwarded them to the school board’s legal counsel for review.
The school board met on Oct. 1 and voted to reject the demands of the ACLU, determining nothing improper happened at Airline High School.
“The Board’s counsel has investigated the allegations raised by the ACLU and found them to be without a factual or legal basis,” according to the school board statement read at the meeting. “At the same time, the Board wishes to publicly reaffirm its intent to operate a successful school district in which equal access is recognized and the legal rights of all students are respected, including those of its students who wish to engage in student-lead, student-initiated religious expression.
“… The Board and its administration welcome meaningful discussion of this and any issue but will base their decisions on the law and facts as they know them to exist. Decisions in the best interest of our students can never result from threats and intimidation.”
Community support
Soon after news broke about the ACLU sending a letter to Bossier Parish Schools, those in support of Rowland and religious liberty took to social media to voice their opinion.
The Facebook page, Praying for Airline High School, announced a prayer rally and organizers estimated that a few thousand students and community members attended the event on Oct. 3.
John Fream, pastor of Cypress Baptist Church in Benton where Rowland is a member, is among those voicing his support for the principal.
“Jason Rowland is a great man of God, who serves our community and our church,” he said in an e-mail to the Baptist Message. “He is one of our best Sunday School teachers and is consistently a man of God. The prayer rally came about from God stirring in the hearts of three ladies from our church. It started with about 10 people gathering to pray and through social media has grown to hundreds, probably thousands to come together on Saturday at Airline High School to pray. Mostly, Christians are just tired of having our rights stomped on and we want to stand in the gap as we seek God and support Jason Rowland.”
The incident is the second this year regarding religious freedom in a Shreveport-Bossier City public school.