Stephen J. Williams says he merely wanted to give his 5th graders an accurate picture of the nation鈥檚 heritage by enriching his lessons with documents containing references to God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ.
But matters didn鈥檛 look quite so clear-cut to the principal of the public elementary school where he teaches in Cupertino, Calif. After getting parent complaints that Mr. Williams talked too much in class about his Christian faith, last spring she started screening the teacher鈥檚 lesson plans and classroom handouts in advance.
Now Mr. Williams鈥� situation has become a causec茅l猫bre. Charging the San Francisco Bay-area district with trampling on his rights because he is an 鈥渙rthodox Christian,鈥� the 38-year-old teacher filed a federal lawsuit that has attracted national publicity.
Conservative Christian groups have denounced the 16,000-student district as bent on banishing God from public education. Meanwhile, advocates of strict church-state separation have applauded Cupertino school leaders, saying the district is just standing up for the U.S. Constitution.
鈥淭he district is simply attempting to cleanse all references to the Christian religion from our nation鈥檚 history, and they are singling out Mr. Williams for discriminatory treatment,鈥� said Gary McCaleb, the senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based legal organization that is backing the teacher鈥檚 case. 鈥淭heir actions are unacceptable under both California and federal law.鈥�
But Donya Khalili, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the district was right to block what she described as Mr. Williams鈥� attempts at 鈥渋ndoctrination.鈥�
鈥淭he right to teach your children about religion belongs to parents, not to your 5th grade teacher,鈥� she said.
Documents at Issue
A handout with three short excerpts from the Declaration of Independence鈥攐ne referring to God, another to 鈥渢heir Creator,鈥� and a third to 鈥淒ivine Providence鈥濃�攚as among a variety of Colonial-era documents that school officials objected to, according to Mr. Williams鈥� lawsuit.
Among the other materials deemed unsuitable for distribution by the teacher were a National Prayer Day proclamation by President Bush, George Washington鈥檚 prayer journal, and a sheet titled 鈥淲hat Great Leaders Have Said About the Bible.鈥� That handout quotes nine presidents praising the Bible, followed by a scriptural passage quoting Jesus.
Mr. Williams鈥� lawsuit says that he is being singled out for censorship of his classroom materials because of his religion. Only about 5 percent of his handouts 鈥渃ontain references to God and Christianity,鈥� the suit says, and in past years he distributed those materials without interference.
Terry L. Thompson, a lawyer representing Mr. Williams, said the district was guilty of 鈥渁n overreaction to any mention of God or Christianity in the schools.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 really a separation of school and common sense,鈥� he said.
For their part, district officials have declined to discuss the case, other than to deny that they violated the teacher鈥檚 rights. But they have accused him and his supporters of fostering the false impression that the district had banned the Declaration of Independence, thus causing the district to be showered with thousands of e-mail complaints and unfavorable media coverage.
The Cupertino Unified School District has at no point instituted such a ban, said district spokesman Jeremy Nishihara, noting that the state-approved social studies textbook used in Mr. Williams鈥� class at Stevens Creek School reprints the Declaration of Independence in full.
鈥楥lose to Proselytizing鈥�
Filed Nov. 22 in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif., Mr. Williams鈥� suit says the Stevens Creek principal voiced concern at the start of the 2003-04 school year that the teacher would try to evangelize in class. The lawsuit says the teacher responded that 鈥渂ecause of his religious belief regarding submission to authority, he does not attempt to proselytize his students during instructional time.鈥�
But Cupertino parent Michael Zimmer, whose daughter was in Mr. Williams鈥� class last year, said the teacher devoted an inordinate amount of class time to religion, 鈥渘ot only in history class, but also in math and science and English.鈥�
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 very close to proselytizing,鈥� said Mr. Zimmer, who complained to the district about Mr. Williams. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that he was actively attempting to convert people, but he was trying very hard to get a message that he thought was important across.鈥�
