ACLU
sides with girl in 'religious freedom'
case
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 •
By TOM QUIGLEY • The
Express-Times
FRENCHTOWN -- Eight-year-old borough
resident Olivia Turton picked out the song
herself.
"It was a song she heard on the radio,"
said her mother, Maryann Turton.
One verse in the song "Awesome God" by
the late Rich Mullins goes like this: "Our God is an awesome
God. He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power and
love. Our God is an awesome God."
When the music teacher heard the
second-grader sing it during a rehearsal for a May 20
after-school talent show, he became concerned about the
religious nature of the song, Maryann Turton said
Tuesday.
She said the Frenchtown elementary school
music teacher told the principal and the principal told the
board of education.
"The very next day they pulled (Olivia)
out of her classroom and told her she couldn't do that song
because it was a religious song," Maryann Turton
said.
She said her daughter was upset when she
came to pick her up after school.
Maryann Turton later went to a district
Board of Education meeting seeking reconsideration. She said
her answer came in the form of a multi-page letter from the
school attorney stating the song could not be
sung.
Turton said she was told the song could
influence "impressionable young minds."
Next came an appearance in U.S. District
Court in Trenton just hours before the talent show. But the
federal court judge denied a request for a ruling forcing
the school to allow Olivia to sing the song.
That same day, Maryann Turton filed a
federal suit with the assistance of the Arizona-based
Alliance Defense Fund. The legal group is involved in such
issues as religious liberties, traditional family values and
the sanctity of life, according to its Web site.
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties
Union filed a motion seeking the federal court's permission
to join in the case on the side of Olivia Turton.
"There is a distinction between speech by
a school and speech by individual students," said ACLU-NJ
cooperating attorney Jennifer Klear in a prepared
statement.
"The Constitution protects a student's
individual right to express herself, including the right to
express herself religiously," said Klear, an attorney with
Drinker, Biddle & Reath in New York City.
Citing the lawsuit, an ACLU spokesperson
said the talent show was open to any students in grades one
through eight who wanted to play solo instruments, dance,
perform a skit or sing to karaoke. Students were permitted
to select their own songs or skits as long as they were not
offensive.
"Because the school left the choice of
songs up to each individual student, no reasonable observer
would have believed that the school affirmatively endorsed
the content of each student's selection," Klear said.
"Therefore it would not constitute a violation of the
separation of church and state. Rather, it's an issue of
religious freedom."
Maryann Turton said she never expected
her daughter's taste in music to create so much
controversy.
"I never did foresee this would be a
problem," she said. "I didn't expect an 8-year-old child to
be censored in a talent show."
She said the situation "put us in
position where we just needed to stand up and defend her and
do what's right."
Maryann Turton said the real purpose of
the lawsuit is to protect other children's right to express
themselves. She said her daughter is a smart girl who
understands the issue and wants her mother to continue with
the case.
Jeff Shafer, a Washington, D.C., attorney
with the Alliance Defense Fund, is actively involved in the
case. He said Olivia Turton is the victim of
discrimination.
Shafer said it's rare for his
organization and the ACLU to be on the same side of an
issue.
The attorney said that goes to show how
"egregiously the school board erred."
The lawsuit charges that the school board
in the Hunterdon County borough violated Olivia's
constitutional rights to freedom of speech and due
process.
District school board attorney Russell
Weiss said he would attempt to issue a statement on behalf
of the school district on Tuesday night. No statement was
received from the attorney.
Reporter Tom Quigley can be reached at 908-475-8184 or by
e-mail at tquigley@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
|