The No. 1 selling book of all time -- not welcome at Gateway High
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. — 2 Timothy 3:12
The persecution of Christians in America continues to swell. But now some are challenging it. Kenneth Dominguez a 16 year old High School student at Gateway East High School in El Cajon, California was suspended in January 2010 for sharing the Gospel with his friends in school and defying an order from a school administrator to not bring his Bible onto school grounds. As the Christian Post reports, Dominguez is now suing the school for its punishment.
At the time of the suspension, Dominguez was a newly saved believer, who was excited about his faith and wanted to share it with his friends at school. Upon his return from Christmas break, he did just that. But soon he was reprimanded by a school official and told not to discuss the Gospel because of “separation of church and state.”
According to the attorney from the Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing Dominguez in this case, the young Christian man was not disrupting any school procedures. He did not preach during class or shout out to anyone. He limited his witnessing of the Gospel to his lunch time as he sat with his friends. There were also no complaints from any other students or staff about Dominguez.
After the warning, Dominguez continued to share the Gospel and bring his Bible to school. He was then informed by the administrator that he was not allowed to bring his Bible onto school grounds. When he continued to bring it, he was issued a two-day suspension.
As the article stated:
Defending the student, attorney Michael J. Peffer, who heads PJI’s Southern California office, contended, “No student should be forced to leave his faith and Bible at the gate when he enters school grounds. We are looking forward to this opportunity to vindicate Mr. Dominguez and protect students throughout California.”
It seems ludicrous that a school would prevent students from bringing books they like to read onto school grounds. In addition to this being a clear violation of this young man’s free speech based on the facts presented, it presents a greater spiritual issue. Many public schools all over the United States are seeking to silence the voice of Christian students as they attempt to erase any reference to the God of the Bible or Jesus Christ completely. Even though at the same time, public schools are catering to Muslim students by providing foot baths and prayer rooms for them to use during the school day, Christians are not even permitted to speak about their faith. How do prayer rooms for the Muslim faith not be an issue of “separation of church and state”?
Such hypocrisy is just the result of a spirit that is growing in this age. And that spirit wants the church silenced and the Word of God removed from American society — which of course will allow sin to flourish. We do not have to “fight” the system, God fights for us. But we do have to preach the Word as we are commanded by Jesus Christ our Lord. And Christians need to stand on their faith be ready at any moment to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for this young man to keep his faith through this time and for the success of his lawsuit. And also pray to God for your own faith to keep sharing His message of love and eternal life in an age where the stakes for even speaking about it are getting much higher.
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
— 2 Timothy 4:3
I know here in NY , we are permitted to have Christian clubs at school, provided they are after school, and have a teacher advisor, and wenowfound out we needed it to be approved by the board. When my DDinquired how long that would take, they were told they could not give us a time frame….so now Yoth for Christ has beena big help and call dailyto get updates, then and if the time comes they willstep in again.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled in a church-state battle Monday that religious groups must be allowed to meet in public schools after class hours.
In a 6-3 decision that lowered the wall of separation between church and state, the justices said a New York public school district must let a Christian youth club have after-school meetings for children to pray and study the Bible.
Justice Stephen Breyer, usually a moderate-to-liberal vote on the court, joined the five most conservative members — Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas —
How many of us on this forum believe for a moment had this kid been a Muslim, these same people would have told him to not bring the Koran on school grounds? I can say with almost 100% certainty, that would not have happened.