W.Va. mom says her daughter was bullied after they balked at Bible classes in public school

[jpak]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/w-va-mom-says-her-daughter-was-bullied-after-they-n950901

The chill set in not long after word got out that Elizabeth Deal’s little girl was not taking the Bible class at her West Virginia public grammar school.

Her daughter, Jessica Roe, then a first-grader, felt it first.

When her teacher and the pastor who ran that class realized they didn’t have a permission slip for Jessica Roe to attend, they placed her and another girl who wasn’t enrolled in the county's Bible in the Schools program in a coat closet and gave them iPads “to amuse themselves" during the 30-minute class, Deal said.

In the days and weeks that followed, Jessica Roe brought books from home when she was dispatched to the library or computer lab to sit, mostly by herself, while her classmates were in the Bible program, her mother said.

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[Mopar151]

1. Shunning is religious persecution! n/t

[Takket]

2. wtf? This is literally why there are churches and religious schools

keep that stuff out of public schools!

[dhill926]

3. how christian of them...

fucking assholes...

[TwistOneUp]

4. The fundagelicals never fail to offend me. nt

[Sherman A1]

5. Begging the question

Why was a bible class being held in a public school?

[regnaD kciN]

6. As a Christian clergyman, let me ask...

...”Why the f**k is there a ‘Bible in the Schools’ program in ANY public school system???”

[no_hypocrisy]

7. I met a mother who faced a similar situation more than 60 years ago.

Vashti McCollum.


It was a religious class, not Bible class. Son was put in a place where detention was held for not going to Bibble class.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vashti_McCollum

[MineralMan]

8. Well, it sound like she's not in the coat closet any longer.

That's good, because that's a punishment place. If that were still the case, I'd be talking with an attorney. While I believe that the entire idea of bible classes in public schools is unconstitutional, West Virginia is not likely to recognize that, and you'd be talking about a long federal lawsuit before anything got corrected.

The school library or computer lab probably can't be construed as punishment, so it's a better situation than the cloakroom.

I hate reading these stories. In most states, children aren't subjected to such things. Some places have a "religious release" program, where children who wish to participate go somewhere else for their "bible classes." WV is different, in that it forces the children who do not attend those classes to go somewhere else.

I think a good federal case could be made for such situations, but it will take a long time for that to work its way through the courts. The ACLU is probably already on this situation, along with others. Until a court issues an injunction, though, the non-Bible kids are going to face this isolation practice. It sucks.

ETA: After reading the whole article, it appears that the situation has been resolved for now, and those classes are no longer being held. I doubt they will ever return. if they do, the courts will knock them out for good.

[avebury]

9. My first phone call would have been to an attorney to see

what all legal options are available (criminal and civil) to go after the teacher, pastor, and school district. I would think that putting her in a closet would constitute false imprisonment and restraining her against her will.