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Thomas More Law Center Asks Supreme Court To Decide How Far Schools Can Promote Islam And Disparage Christianity

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May 15, 2019  

   ANN ARBOR, MI – As a Christian and 11th-grader at La Plata High School in Maryland, Caleigh Wood was taught that “Most Muslims’ faith is stronger than the average Christian.”  She was also required to profess in writing, the Islamic conversion creed, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Ms. Wood believed that it is a sin to profess by word or in writing, that there is any other god except the Christian God.  She stood firm in her Christian beliefs and was punished for it. The school refused her request to opt-out or give her an alternative assignment.  She refused to complete her anti-Christian assignment and consequently received a failing grade.

   As a result, in January 2016, the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Wood claiming the school had violated the First Amendment Establishment Clause and her right not to be forced to profess faith in another religion.  Both the Federal District Court and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the High School’s Islamic curriculum.

   In response, on Monday of this week, (May 13), TMLC filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari asking the Supreme Court to decide whether any legal basis exists to allow public schools to discriminate against Christianity while at the same time promote Islam.    

   Richard Thompson, TMLC’s President and Chief Counsel, observed: “Under the guise of teaching history or social studies, public schools across America are promoting the religion of Islam in ways that would never be tolerated for Christianity or any other religion. I’m not aware of any school which has forced a Muslim student to write the Lord’s Prayer or John 3:16: ‘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.’”

   On the other hand, schools have become willing instruments of Islamic indoctrination, and in Caleigh Wood’s case, the weapon of choice was the PowerPoint presentation. Caleigh and her 11th grade classmates were taught:

  • “Most Muslim’s faith is stronger than the average Christian.”
  • “Islam at heart is a peaceful religion.”
  • Jihad is a “personal struggle in devotion to Islam, especially involving spiritual discipline.”
  • “To Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism.”
  • “Men are the managers of the affairs of women” and “Righteous women are therefore obedient.”

   Those statements came directly from the PowerPoint presentation to Caleigh’s class. The underlining was in the PowerPoint.

   Thompson continued: “Many public schools have become a hot bed of Islamic propaganda.  Teaching Islam in schools has gone far beyond a basic history lesson. Prompted by zealous Islamic activism and emboldened by confusing court decisions, schools are now bending over backwards to promote Islam while at the same time denigrate Christianity.  We are asking the Supreme Court to provide the necessary legal guidance to resolve the insidious discrimination against Christians in our public schools.”

Read TMLC’s Petition for Certiorari here.

Thomas More Law Center Files Supreme Court Brief In Last-Ditch Effort To Save The Bladensburg Cross Erected Over 90 Years Ago

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July 30, 2018

   ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center (“TMLC”), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, last Friday, June 27, filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, in a last-ditch effort to save the forty-foot Bladensburg Cross, erected over ninety years ago.  The Cross was erected by the American Legion and the grieving mothers of the forty-nine soldiers from Prince George County, Maryland, who were killed in World War I, in commemoration of the soldiers’ service to the Nation.

   The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling suggested that the Cross must be destroyed, or some other arrangement made to avoid a violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

   The forty-foot Cross, which now stands on land at a busy intersection in Maryland, was erected in the 1920s.  The Cross sits on a rectangular base which includes the words “Valor,” “Endurance,” “Courage,” and “Devotion.”  The Cross also contains a bronze plaque stating, “This Memorial Cross Dedicated to the Heroes of Prince George’s County, Maryland Who Lost Their Lives in the Great War for the Liberty of the World.” The plaque includes the names of the forty-nine soldiers memorialized by the monument and a poignant quote from President Woodrow Wilson: “The right is more precious than peace. We shall fight for the things we have always carried nearest our hearts. To such a task we dedicate our lives.”

   The use of the Cross reflected the custom in Europe during World War I where the cross became the principal grave marker in cemeteries where soldiers were buried, as described in the opening lines “In Flanders Fields,” a famous poem of the time whose opening lines begin “In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row.”

   The Bladensburg Cross now stands in Veterans Memorial Park and is surrounded by numerous other monuments erected over the years commemorating those who died in our Nation’s conflicts.

   Nevertheless, the Fourth Circuit based its decision that the Bladensburg Cross was in violation of the Establishment Clause on its finding that the cross is the “preeminent symbol of Christianity,” and that while a cross may generally serve as a symbol of death and memorialization, it only holds that value because of its affiliation with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

   TMLC claims that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision ordering the removal or destruction of the Bladensburg Cross simply because it is a religious symbol of Christianity, shows a hostility toward religion, particularly Christianity, not intended by the Constitution, and puts at risk hundreds of memorials with similar symbols including those at Arlington Cemetery where crosses of comparable size commemorate America’s fallen soldiers.

   According to TMLC’s brief:

   “We cannot change the stories of the dead to appease the all too easily offended living. Any harm respondents feel they incur due to seeing the shape of a cross when they happen to drive past the Bladensburg memorial, pales in comparison to the real and lasting harm that destroying such memorials will cause to this country as a whole, to veterans’ families, and to the memories of the men and women who are honored by them.”

   TMLC writes, that in this case, the primary purpose of the Latin cross is to honor the dead using a historical symbol of death and sacrifice. The decision to destroy this memorial, simply because the plaintiffs claim to be offended by the memorial’s use of the Latin cross, evidences an intolerance to Christianity that is wholly inconsistent with our nation’s history and with the purpose and meaning of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.

   TMLC stands with The American Legion and its fight to preserve the Bladensburg memorial to respect the decision of the bereaved parents, who nearly a century ago chose to honor their deceased children with the monument as it currently stands.

    Click here to read TMLC’s entire brief.