In response to a sweeping lawsuit alleging numerous church-state violations in its public schools, Tennessee's Sumner County claims that "inevitable church-state involvement" justifies many of the activities in question. The Tennessean reports:
The suit charges district officials allowed Gideons International to hand out Bibles to students, prayers over an elementary school loudspeaker, a youth pastor’s weekly visits with middle school students during lunch and a middle school teacher’s hanging of a cross over her whiteboard.
…
In its response, the district admitted to some allegations but downplayed most of those, for example, stressing that the Gideons were allowed only to hand out Bibles, not proselytize, the response said. Also, while admitting that school board member Will Duncan opened a meeting with a prayer, it did not amount to a “lengthy sermon” as described by the ACLU, the response said.
As I posted earlier, I'm especially interested to see how the issue of youth pastor visits plays out. The Tennessean's article doesn't indicate the county's response on that claim. As for Gideons, what's so "inevitable" about having them in school? Just say no.
