A public school teacher in Broward County, Fla., banned religious books including the Bible from being read in her classroom during "free reading time," according to a report from the Liberty Institute.
The school official even went so far as to publicly shame 5th grader Giovanni Rubeo by forcing the 10 year old to call his father in front of his classmates so that the classroom infraction could be reported on the spot.
The teacher left a remarkable voicemail detailing her hostility toward any religious materials in her taxpayer-funded classroom:
"Good morning Mr. Rubeo, Mrs. Thomas. Uh. Uh. Giovanni called you because I asked him to. I noticed that he has a book – a religious book – in the classroom. He’s not permitted to read those books in my classroom. He said, if I told him to put it away you s-- … you said not to do that. So, please give me a call, I need to have some understanding on direction to him about the book he’s reading as opposed to the curriculum for public school. Mrs. S. Thomas. Thank you. Have a wonderful day. Bye-bye."
Audio of the voicemail can be heard here.
The Liberty Institute sent a letter to the Broward County Public School District on behalf of Giovanni demanding that the ban be lifted and an apology be issued to the Rubeo family as the teacher's policy violates Establishment Clause, the Free Speech Clause, and the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution.
In light of Monday's Supreme Court decision affirming town councils' right to open meetings with a public prayer, this case highlights how individual religious rights can so often be trampled by ideologically intolerant government officials who still confuse the First Amendment's freedom of religion with their own desire for a religion-free society.
Thanks to Giovanni Rubeo's courage to stand up for his rights, we know about the heavy-handed intolerance of his teacher. And thanks to the Liberty Institute, his right to free exercise will be enforced. But the case makes one wonder how many "Mrs. Thomases" are out there in public schools all around the country bullying their students into hiding their bibles and other religious books lest they be disciplined for violating a school's unconstitutional creation of a religion-free zone.
(H/T Ken Klukowski, Breitbart)