As the American Civil Liberties Union conducts its "Religious Freedom Goes to School" campaign, allegedly to preserve religious rights, a conservative organization says the effort does just the opposite.
The Alliance Defending Freedom says the campaign paints an inaccurate picture of religious rights that students, teachers and administrators have. Legal counsel Matt Sharp gives one example involving the misleading advice the ACLU is giving South Carolina educators.
"The ACLU said that the Bible can never -- the Bible or any religious text -- can never be used in the study of history … science or anything like that at the school, and that's absolutely false," Sharp asserts. "In fact, the Supreme Court has said that the Bible is worthy of study for its historical qualities, for its literary qualities."
In response to the campaign, ADF has sent out letters to school districts to correct the distortions.
"Our concern is that ... schools can be misled into restricting religious liberties rather than guaranteeing the full spectrum of religious liberties that our Constitution grants students and teachers," the attorney shares.
Sharp encourages anyone, whether in South Carolina or elsewhere, who has a concern about his or her religious freedoms at school to contact Alliance Defending Freedom.