On The Front Lines
Institute Defends Teen Artist's Right to Religious Expression!
Rutherford Institute Attorneys Appeal to 11th Circuit in Defense of Fellowship of Christian Athletes Student and Religious MuralATLANTA--Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute today presented oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, asking the court to uphold the right of a Florida high school student to free religious expression and equal treatment. Institute attorneys argued that school officials at Boca Raton Community High School violated the First Amendments to the U.S. Constitution when they forced high school student Sharah Harris to paint over religious words she had included on a school mural.
In an effort to beautify the campus, the student council of Boca Raton High came up with a project to permit individual students to decorate temporary construction panels on school grounds. Officials informed students that the content of the murals was to include the students' own expression. The only limitation placed on the content was that the messages could not be profane or inappropriate. Sharah Harris, along with other members of the student club Fellowship of Christian Athletes, chose to express religious views. Their painted panels reflected their religious beliefs with messages that included "Jesus has time for you," "God loves you," and "What part of 'Thou shall not' didn't you understand?" Shortly after the murals were painted, school officials pulled Sharah out of class and instructed her to paint over all religious symbols and language. For example, Sharah was forced to change "Jesus has time for you" to the more obscure "He has time for you." Institute attorneys filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in May 2002. They argued that by choosing to open a limited public forum for expression by students, the school was bound to respect the limitations on censorship of student speech imposed by the First Amendment. Thus, the principal's actions violated the students' rights to free speech and equal protection under the law. However, the district court ruled that the First Amendment did not preclude school officials from censoring certain religious symbols and phrases from the mural painting project on the grounds that some observers might regard the views expressed as offensive. Institute attorneys have asked the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the lower court ruling on the grounds that the school's actions constituted religious viewpoint discrimination.
"Boca Raton High School officials are out of step with the U.S. Supreme Court, which has repeatedly ruled that personal religious speech like Sharah's mural is as protected as other types of speech," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "Our public schools should be teaching students to value their First Amendment free speech rights, not teaching them that certain viewpoints--especially Christian viewpoints--are deserving of lesser treatment."
The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.
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