Nazareth Area School District sued over religious notes removed from Valentine's Day cards
By Rudy Miller | The Express-Times
on April 08, 2014 at 11:19 PM, updated April 08, 2014 at 11:28 PM
An Upper Nazareth Township couple has sued the Nazareth Area School District for allegedly refusing to allow their son to distribute religious notes inside his Valentine's Day cards to his first-grade class.
According to the suit filed Monday in federal court by Donald and Ellen Abramo, their son, identified in court documents as J.A., was not allowed to distribute his religious-themed Valentine's Day cards at Shafer Elementary School in Nazareth earlier this year. The suit says the district's policy banning the dissemination of religious materials in the schools violates the Abramos' right to free speech.
The boy and his family prepared Valentine's with candy to hand out in class, but when they found out candy was not permitted for distribution, they decided to replace the candy with notes about the history of St. Valentine, according to the suit.
According to the suit, the note for each child read, "St. Valentine was imprisoned and martyred for presiding over marriages and for spreading the news of God's love. In honor of St. Valentine's Day, I want you to know that God loves YOU!!!!" The note ends with the passage from the Bible, John 3:16.
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/nazareth/index.ssf/2014/04/nazareth_area_school_district_36.html
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