by James A. Bacon
A Loudoun County school teacher has been told to remove a Bible verse from the signature block of her work email. She contends her constitutional rights are being violated, according to the UPI news service.
Loudoun County Public Schools maintains that the quote — “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16” — runs afoul of the Establishment Clause, which prohibits governmental establishment of religion.
If anyone runs afoul of the Constitution, it’s the Loudoun school system for using its power to expunge a personal expression of religious belief. An individual school teacher acting in her private capacity is not the government. Expressing her faith in an email signature block is not establishing a religion.
I’m an atheist and have been most of my life. But when I encounter idiocy like Loudoun’s ban, I’m tempted to start attending church as a form of cultural and political resistance. I don’t put any stock in Christian theology, but I have a deep appreciation for the moral system that the Judeo-Christian tradition has bequeathed our society. And I don’t want to see militant secularism enthroned as the new government-sanctioned worldview.
Militant secularism is a religion in all but name. It has a distinct view of the cosmos, of the existence (or non-existence) of spiritual entities, and a system of values that flows from those beliefs. Militant secularists want to define “religion” as a word that applies exclusively to belief systems predicated upon the existence of a God, gods, nature spirits, or whatever. In their view, it’s OK for a government to favor militant secularism because, by their definition, militant secularism is not a religion.
But atheism constitutes a distinct worldview that is the functional equivalent of a religion. Militant secularists are determined to drive all “religion” from the governmental sphere leaving atheistic secularism as the only belief system to remain standing.
There is also the issue, of course, that the teacher, who is unnamed in the article, has had her right to free speech infringed upon. Liberty Counsel, a Florida organization backing her legal plea, says Loudoun’s rationale overlooks the rights of teachers to free speech and free expression.
The scripture appearing in the teacher’s signature block could not be more inoffensive. Loudoun’s action smacks of puritanical pettiness. What’s next? Prohibiting teachers from bringing personal Bibles into classrooms? What principle of logic would dissuade militant secularists from sliding down that slippery slope?
As an atheist, I consider the ban an act of gross overreach, part of an ongoing campaign to drive Christianity from the public sphere. Loudoun County Public Schools needs to back off.
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