District taking money, but censoring Christians?

A lawsuit has been filed accusing Palm Desert High School in Palm Desert, Calif., of taking money from Christians who bought paving stones as part of a fund-raiser, but then refusing to include them in the final project because of the Christian "verbiage" the stones contained.

A spokeswoman for the school in the Desert Sands Unified School District told WND that it was an outside organization, the parent teacher organization, that was running the fundraiser and the school did not have a responsibility.

"We were surprised because the ADF had brought the issue forward to us [and we] were reviewing it to see what we could do. We're very sensititve to the First Amendments rights to speech and religion," said Cindy McDaniel

But the accusations were spelled out in a complaint filed just days ago in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Eastern Division-Riverside by the the Alliance Defense Fund.

It explains that small paving stones were sold for $100 and large ones for $250 in the school fund-raiser, and purchasers were allowed to include messages such as:

Be the change that you want to see in the world. Gandhi
God bless you babe
Dream big
Make it happen
"Showtime"
Carpe Diem
Believe

But two Christians who bought stones, one was the purchase of five small stones for $500 and the other was the purchase of one large stone for $250, were refused permission to have their stones displayed along with the others.

According to the lawsuit, Lou Ann Hart bought five small pavers and had inscribed Bible verses including:

Tell everyone about God's power, Psalm 68:34
No one can serve two masters, Luke 17:13
If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31
…the old life is gone. A new one has begun, 2CO. 5:17
…be kind to each other ... forgive one another. Eph. 5:32

The lawsuit explains the women were told that there was a complaint from within the school about the "religious verbiage" on their pavers, so they would not be included in the project. Nor was their money refunded.

"The government cannot single out Christians because their religious viewpoint does not coincide with campus orthodoxy," said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman. "Christians have the same First Amendment-protected rights as everyone else does on public school campuses, and their messages are no less worthy of exposure than other individuals'."

The project was launched in February 2010 by the Palm Desert parent teacher organization. It was approved by the principal, board and superintendent.

"No limitations were given as to the content of the messages on the pavers – other than the length – and the fundraiser policy stated that the messages could be used to pay tribute, create a legacy, commemorate a special event, or give recognition to various entities," the ADF explained.

Hart and Sheryl Caronno shortly later made their purchases, "for which they later paid."

Then in August the bricks were made, but the two purchasers "were notified that their pavers' inclusion on the walkway was denied because they quoted Bible verses," ADF said.

District officials cited their perception of the "separation of church and state" as a reason, presuming "erroneously" that the Bible verses would establish an unconstitutional establishment of religion, the ADF said.

The ADF said the district did, however, accept other religious messages, such as a Hindu quote from Mahatma Gandhi and even a Bible quote, "Yes, it is possible," in Spanish.

It was a memo from Karen Rohrbaugh of the parent teacher organization that raised concerns about the "religious verbiage."

The principal, Patrick Walsh, agreed. "We need to respectfully decline the donation of bricks quoting scripture from the bible," he wrote. "I'm sure most parents will understand the constitutional protections regarding the separation of church and state."

The paving stones then were handed over to the purchasers, the case explains.