School district bars teacher from putting John 3:16 in her email signature
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 14 April 2023
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
A Virginia high school teacher has been instructed by school officials that she must remove a Bible verse from the signature of her work email messages. The school district’s position is entirely consistent with the cultural narrative of our day in which religion, to the degree it is tolerated at all, is to be privatized. Despite victory after victory for religious liberty in the courts, it remains the cultural consensus that religious speech must be treated differently than any other kind and must be confined to the personal rather than the public. Why?
Author: Jim Denison, PhD
Narrator: Chris Elkins
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The spiritual journey you began when you trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior extends into eternity. |
| 0:08.7 | That means becoming more like Christ every step every day. |
| 0:13.4 | And we're not without help. |
| 0:15.3 | The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth, and he provided a map, the Sermon on the Mounts. |
| 0:22.3 | St. Augustine described it as a perfect standard for the Christian life. |
| 0:26.9 | In our latest book from Denison Forum, The Path to Purpose, Dr. Jim Denison and Dr. Ryan |
| 0:32.3 | Denison reveal how this relatively short sermon makes our paths straight and changes everything. Join us on |
| 0:40.4 | the journey. Request your copy of The Path to Purpose today at the daily article.org. Make |
| 0:48.6 | every day counts. It's Friday, April the 14th, 2023. Welcome to the Daily Article podcast. Today's article is written by |
| 1:01.1 | Denison Forum, co-founder and CEO, Dr. Jim Denison, and narrated by Chris Elkins. A Virginia |
| 1:08.2 | high school teacher has been instructed by school officials that she must remove a Bible verse from the signature of her work email messages. |
| 1:16.7 | For years since she was first hired by the district, she has included John 316 with her signature. |
| 1:23.5 | However, the district's acting superintendent claims that email sent in her capacity as a school employee |
| 1:30.3 | constitutes school-sponsored speech bearing the ostensible endorsement of the school division. |
| 1:36.3 | In his view, the district's stance avoids a violation of the First Amendment's establishment clause, |
| 1:42.3 | which bars government from favoring one religion over |
| 1:45.5 | another. He added that the district's determination is not based on any particular religious viewpoint |
| 1:50.9 | and would be made with respect to any religious expression incorporated in an employee's email |
| 1:57.0 | signature block. The Christian Legal Group Liberty, disagrees, pointing to a recent |
| 2:02.6 | Supreme Court ruling that it was constitutional for a high school football coach to pray on the field |
| 2:08.2 | after football games and be joined by students in prayer. Liberty Council also cited a unanimous |
| 2:14.8 | Supreme Court ruling that Boston unconstconstitutionally, refused a request to |
... |
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