District Backs Teachers, Students in Lawsuit Brought by Humanists

By Michael F. Haverluck

In a bold stand for its teachers and principals, a Colorado school district is going head-on against an atheist organization that is suing district employees over their support of a Christmas programs that collect gifts and provide for the needs of poverty-stricken children.

Attorneys for the Douglas County School District (DCSD) are fighting against the American Humanist Association (AHA), which in October brought a lawsuit against various schools within the district, claiming that participation in the Operation Christmas Child and Adventures in Missions programs constitute the promotion of religion.

Organized by Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse, the annual Christmas outreach encourages children and adults to put together shoe boxes filled with small gifts for children from disadvantaged and poverty-stricken regions around the globe.

Because the program focuses on giving tangible gifts to show love for underprivileged children and provide for their physical needs — as opposed to proselytizing — school district officials see absolutely nothing wrong with what their principals and teachers are endorsing.

“Douglas County School District supports student-driven community and fundraising efforts to aid those in need,” school district officials declared through a media statement.  “We applaud our students for being leaders and giving back to others, and will vigorously defend their right to continue to do so. We are also proud of our employees who, on their own time and with donated resources, selflessly serve those who are less fortunate.”

Keeping anything associated with God out

However, AHA is intent on banning students and staff members from participating in the programs because they are connected to Christian charitable organizations, which it says is synonymous with promoting Christianity to the exclusion of all other religions.

“The public school district seems to be on a mission to promote Christianity, using taxpayer dollars for evangelical and missionary purposes,” reads a statement issued by David Noise, who serves as AHA’s legal director of the Appignani Humanist Legal Center. “As state entities, public schools must educate students in a neutral environment, not push one particular religious belief.”

AHA’s complaint alleges that DCSD teachers and principals are taking advantage of their positions of authority in order to compel students into supporting Christian-based missions. It also argues that two DCSD schools unlawfully engaged in a trip to Guatemala that was sponsored by Adventures in Missions, a Christian outreach that plans and organizes trips to help disadvantaged countries across the globe.

In response to the lawsuit brought against the Colorado school district, Operation Christmas Child domestic director Randy Riddle asserted that anyone wishing to put together and donate shoe boxes, including students and teachers, is invited to be a part of the program.

“Our purpose is to show God’s love in a tangible way to needy children around the world,” Riddle explained. “We do this by distributing millions of shoe box gifts to hurting kids to let them know that they are not forgotten. Operation Christmas Child is open to anyone who chooses to participate in this Christmas project.”

Specific schools targeted

One of the schools pointed out in AHA’s claim is Sky View Academy, which the humanist organization says was involved in the endorsement of the gospel message through Operation Christmas Child. AHA emphasizes that evangelistic material in the form of small booklets titled “The Greatest Gift of All” is included inside the shoeboxes, which it says constitutes outright proselytization using the gospel message.

Along with Sky View Academy, AHA asserts that Flagstone Elementary School and Chaparral High School also participated in the Samaritan’s Purse program in recent years. Part of AHA’s claim argues that the Chaparral High School social studies teacher overseeing the school’s canned food drive emailed other staff members and provided an incentive for students to participate in Operation Christmas Child.

Also targeted in AHA’s lawsuit are Cougar Run Elementary School and Highlands Ranch High School, which allegedly encouraged students to participate in a program organized by Adventures in Missions. The suit claims that the schools advocated sponsoring a mission trip to Guatemala — an outreach that the schools’ Fellowship of Christian Athletes also sponsored.

Included in the lawsuit is the allegation that two Highlands Ranch teachers traveled with students on the mission trip to Guatemala, where they participated in evangelical activities and went to dinner with a pastor and his wife. It was not disclosed whether the high school students on the trip were already part of a local church sponsoring the event.

As for Cougar Run Elementary School, AHA argues that it donated profits from the school newspaper to help fund the Guatemala trip. The humanist organization alleges that parents were told by the school that the Guatemala trip was linked to the sixth-grade Latin American social studies curriculum at the school. According to documents presented in the suit, Cougar Run Elementary School officials provided details of the trip via a flyer that was handed out to students and parents.

“This effort was born out of desire for our sixth-grade students to make real-world connections with their Latin American social studies curriculum,” reads part of the flyer distributed by the school that summarizes how students and parents can donate to the Guatemala trip.

The district insists that students and parents were in no way compelled to participate in any of the programs, which it says were strictly voluntary and transparent about their objectives and associations.