'Let 10-year-old read
Bible at recess'

Attorneys for a 10-year-old student asked a federal court yesterday to order a Tennessee school district to allow him to read and study the Bible during recess.

Luke Whitson and his parents, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, claim Principal Cathy Summa at Karns Elementary School in the Knox County district violated constitutional rights by stopping a playground Bible study.

Attorneys with ADF filed a lawsuit in June after Whitson and his parents were unable to resolve the policy with the officials through legal counsel.

ADF Senior Legal Counsel Nate Kellum, based in the group's Memphis office, filed for a temporary injunction yesterday to ensure Whitson can read his Bible with friends during recess as the case continues.

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"Apparently the school officials have a fundamental misunderstanding of the Constitution," Kellum said. "The Constitution does not prohibit Bibles during recess; it prohibits the wholesale banning of Bibles during recess."

Summa insists she did not ban Bibles from school, and the Knox County district, through a statement by Superintendent Charles Lindsey, said the principal objected to Bible study at recess, which school officials do not consider "free time."

Lindsey emphasized students can have Bible study groups "outside the classroom environment."

But ADF attorneys, who say school officials have given only an "evasive" response through the media, contend recess is "non-instructional time regardless of how the school system tries to characterize it after the fact."

Yesterday's motion [pdf file] says, "This case is about a 10-year-old child who wishes merely to read his Bible and discuss passages found therein with a friend during recess time at school, and the school officials, who, acting under the authority and weight of the government, refuse to let him."

The lawsuit alleges: "Principal Summa abruptly interrupted certain fourth-grade students while they were in the midst of a Bible discussion during recess, demanded that they stop their activity at once, put their Bibles away and from that point forward, cease from bringing their Bibles to school."

Previous stories:

Student sues after Bible study banned

Bible study banned on playground

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