- BOSTON (Reuters) - A Massachusetts teacher who
asked her pupils to bring a book to class about their Christmas traditions
violated a student's rights when she stopped her from reading a passage
on the birth of Jesus Christ because it was religious, according to a federal
lawsuit filed on Monday.
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- The lawsuit accuses the Leominster Public School District
and some of its officials of violating 7-year-old Laura Greska's right
to free speech and her exercise of religion, according to a complaint filed
by The American Center for Law and Justice.
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- The lawsuit contends the second-grader's teacher told
students to bring a book to class about their Christmas traditions. The
teacher, however, stopped Laura Greska from reading "The First Christmas,"
a book that details the birth of Jesus, the lawsuit claims.
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- "The teacher stopped Laura from reading further
saying the book was not permitted because it was religious," according
to a statement by The American Center for Law and Justice.
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- The girl's parents tried to resolve the issue with the
school superintendent, according to the lawsuit, but they were told religious
books were not permitted.
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- Officials at the Leominster school district were not
available for comment about the December 2001 incident.
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- The public interest group is asking the U.S. District
Court in Worcester, Massachusetts, to declare the school district's alleged
action unconstitutional. The group also wants to prevent the school from
further incidents of alleged religious discrimination.
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- The complaint comes on the heels of a federal appeals
court decision in California in June that found the Pledge of Allegiance
unconstitutional because the phrase "one nation under God" violated
the separation of church and state.
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- The decision sparked public outrage, including from President
Bush, and the judge who issued the decision stayed it pending further review.
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- http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=humannews&StoryID=1268988
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