The ACLU of Tennessee is preparing to file suit against members of the Sumner County school board and other school officials, claiming a widespread violations of church-state separation deprived plaintiffs of the religious liberty freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. The Tennessean reports:
The complaint cites several examples of the school system promoting Christianity, including the distribution of Bibles in at least two schools; a teacher who displayed a cross on a classroom wall; sectarian prayers over school loudspeakers and at school events; and holding graduation ceremonies for three high schools at Long Hollow Baptist Church.
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The complaint further alleges a youth minister from Long Hollow Baptist Church at least once a week signed in to the front office at T.W. Hunter Middle School as a lunch guest of a church member.“Once given access to the lunchroom, however, he visits every table in the cafeteria, joining students as they eat lunch (whether invited or not) and speaks to them about his church, his ministry and faith in Jesus,” according to the complaint. It claims that three of the students were subjected to unwanted proselytizing during lunch on a “weekly, if not daily basis.”
In previous litigation, the state's ACLU won a suit charging Wilson County with church-state violations.
