6-year-old Isaiah Martinez's Christmas gift to fellow students included a candy cane and note describing how the Christmas candy represents the life of Jesus.
Posted on 01/07/2014 1:51:42 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Parents are threatening legal action against a Southern California school district after their six-year-old son was told he could not pass out candy canes with religious messages taped to them because "Jesus is not allowed in school."
Isaiah Martinez, a six-year-old student at Merced Elementary School in West Covina, Calif., arrived to school on Dec. 13, planning to pass out candy canes with religious messages to his fellow students in celebration of the upcoming Christmas season. After the boy's teacher consulted with the school principal, he reportedly told the student that he could not pass out the religious messages because "Jesus is not allowed in school." The boy was still allowed to pass out the candy canes, but the teacher reportedly threw the religious-themed messages in the trash.
The messages, which were written on tiny slips of paper and attached to each candy cane, told of the legend of the candy cane and how it was created. The messages said that each detail of the peppermint-flavored candy is meant to represent the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. Martinez had reportedly learned of the candy cane legend from his sister, who helped him create the messages and attach them to each holiday candy.
"I pray that this symbol will again be used to witness to the Wonder of Jesus and His Great Love that came down at Christmas and remains the ultimate and dominant force in the universe today," the message included with each candy cane reportedly read.
The Martinez family is now being represented by Robert Tyler, general counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a nonprofit group that seeks to protect religious liberty. Tyler said in a recent letter to the West Covina Unified School District that Isaiah's family demands a written apology, as well as the implementation of a school policy that protects students from experiencing "hostility" from school staff regarding religious affiliation. The proposed policy would also require teachers and other school officials to be trained on the First Amendment rights of their students at least once a year. If the school district does not respond by Jan. 13, Advocates for Faith and Freedom will be forced to take legal action, the letter concludes.
"The pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction that public schools are becoming a place of hostility toward Christian and other religiously-based worldviews," Tyler said in a news release discussing Martinez's case. "It's time to push the pendulum back in the right direction where kids can experience true tolerance without religiously motivated hostility from their teachers and school officials."
Tyler added in the statement that his nonprofit group has received a surge of phone calls from parents across the country who say their students are victims of religious bullying, not by fellow students but rather by teachers and school officials.
After his parents addressed the incident with the school, Martinez was reportedly allowed to hand out the candy canes, equipped with the religious messages, days later outside of school property.
Superintendent Debra Kaplan said in a statement that the district is still in the process of investigating Martinez's claims.
"The District's overriding concern was and is to honor and respect the beliefs of all students in matters of religion. To that end, the District strives to maintain neutrality in matters of religion, and to observe students' rights of expression, in a manner that does not conflict with the rights of other students," Kaplan said. "During the holiday season, and particularly when young elementary students are involved, this can require difficult balancing."
Kaplan added that the issue is still being investigated, and the district will respond to Tyler's letter "in a manner consistent with our policies and the rights of all students of the district."
A similar incident took place in 2003, when a school principal in the Plano Independent School District in Texas prevented a third-grade student from passing out candy-cane shaped pens including a similar message detailing how the origins on the candy cane symbolize the life of Jesus Christ. Parents filed a lawsuit against the school district for violating the boy's First Amendment rights to religious freedom, and the case is still winding its way through courts.
In another recent case, a 10-year-old student at Lucy Elementary School near Nashville, Tenn. was forced to throw out her school assignment after she described God as her idol. The teacher reportedly told her she could not write about God in school, and made her take her assignment off school property. The girl's second choice of Michael Jackson as an idol was approved by the teacher. The Shelby School District has since apologized for the incident, saying the teacher and school officials had been confused about how to handle the situation.
sad and pathetic. But5 it’s public school after all.
He said that all must lend a hand
To make this country strong again
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said we must be fair today
Equal work means equal pay
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said that we must take a stand
To make sure everyone gets a chance
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
He said red, yellow, black or white
All are equal in his sight
Mmm, mmm, mm!
Barack Hussein Obama
Yes!
Mmm, mmm, mm
Barack Hussein Obama"
FoxNews clip on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leoqa9i-5Jk
I’ll bet that same school would go out of their way to welcome Allah and his murderous minions.
I agree with the school. You can’t pass out theological messages at public school. I would not want my child to receive one of those, as you wouldn’t want your child to receive a message from his Jewish classmate saying that the New Testament is not one of the Holy Books, etc.
It’s not as if the first graders were going to be able to read the attachment, anyway.
I bet the little guy was so happy to give that to his classmates and this neo-marxist scum up and destroyed his gift. Makes me so mad just thinking about it.
We owe some HUGE apologies to the giants who gave us our Constitution and our centuries of success and Freedom.
Since Jesus Himself was a teacher, I imagine He would have a small, sad chuckle at the irony of this.
Whatever happened to separation of church and state? The State doesn’t have the right to prohibit this boy’s free speech and religious rights and the ability to demonstrate them. Maybe his parents should lawyer up with an organization like Pacific Justice Institute or the ACLJ.
Whoops! Just read:
“...The Martinez family is now being represented by Robert Tyler, general counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a nonprofit group that seeks to protect religious liberty...”
Unfortunately, we have to start fighting back legally like the Left has been doing for years. A lot of ground to take back!
RE: you wouldn’t want your child to receive a message from his Jewish classmate saying that the New Testament is not one of the Holy Books
I don’t think the comparison is the same.
The child is making a POSITIVE case for Jesus, not a NEGATIVE case against any religion.
If a Jew or Buddhist were to pass a message to my child ( and I am a Christian ) telling her the POSITIVE case for their religion, why should I take offense?
Take a box of Korans to school and try to pass them out and see what happens...
Nonsense. It is not responsible to censor personal religious expression. I want my child to recognize that there are people who believe differently than her. I also want her to be a strong advocate for her beliefs.
Parents are threatening legal action against a Southern California school district after their six-year-old son was told he could not pass out candy canes with religious messages taped to them because “Jesus is not allowed in school.”
Silly teacher.. You can not keep Jesus out of the school or anywhere else. Can you keep oxygen out? Thought out? We carry Jesus in our hearts. He is in your classroom every day..
Jews have always rejected Jesus as Messiah and Christians always knew it and NO ONE ever got too upset about it.
PC came into being sometime in the '60's and it got completely out of control.
Now that some people understand the tactics of the enemy, their desire to cut off the head of the serpent is met with threats of prosecution.
Until THAT attitude and power is eliminated, we'd better accept the progressive destruction of God's precious gift to the world.
I wouldn’t send mine to public school, if I had any.
The phrase therefor does not exist in our Constitution. Anywhere. Just saying.
as you wouldn’t want your child to receive a message from his Jewish classmate saying that the New Testament is not one of the Holy Books, etc.
Why? If done out of love then my child could accept the gift for what it was. Would not change their relationship with Jesus.
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