Yearbook censors 'God' from pages

Yearbook agrees to stop censoring 'God'
Officials had told parents congrats to graduating son might offend others

A high school in California has agreed to stop illegally censoring "God" from paid advertisements in its yearbook and pay an estimated $8,000 to reprint the pages that had been edited of such Christian references, according to a law firm that worked on the case.

"We applaud the school district for revisiting this issue, and making the decision in accordance with the law," said Kevin Snider, chief counsel for the Pacific Justice Institute.

Liberty Union School District Superintendent Dan Smith told WND that the school had in the past edited references to violence, gangs, drugs and alcohol, and the yearbook advisor, Lloyd Cornwell, had decided this year to edit any religious references to avoid "controversy."

"He was using his good intentions to try to make sure that the yearbook did not create any controversy," Smith said. "It was not his intention to slam the religious."

The issue developed when Jeff Renner and his wife paid $175 for an ad in the yearbook, in which they wanted to tell their son: "May God bless your life," according to the law firm.

"The only guidelines provided to those purchasing a yearbook ad were as follows; 'Liberty Annual Staff reserves the right to change or rearrange any ad, which is not appropriate for the yearbook without notifying you. This includes but is not limited to the exclusion of photos and text,'" according to the firm.

But the Renners were then notified – by another parent – that that parent's ad had been altered to remove a religious reference, and when Renner contacted the district, he was told "that only religious references were prohibited, as they are not appropriate and may be offensive to others."

The yearbook changed the reference to "God" to a reference to "He."

PJI responded with a letter to the district explaining the legal precedents for such speech, and suggesting a quick resolution because of the printing and distribution deadlines that are looming.

Snider had said he was surprised with the censorship, because the ad was privately sponsored.

"The courts have consistently chided school officials who seek to ban all mention of God from our schools. 'Separation of church and state' simply does not prevent private individuals from expressing their faith, even in the public school context," said Brad Dacus, president of the PJI.

The letter noted that other nearby schools have allowed such references to God, and a refund simple doesn't take care of the offense. "It cannot compensate for this once in a lifetime opportunity to provide a lasting message to his graduating son in the high school yearbook," the letter said.

The letter noted that the dispute involves the First and 14th Amendments, specifically the freedom of speech and religion provisions of the First and Equal Protection Clause of the 14th, and cited decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court which call for schools to allow such congratulatory message.

"A school district cannot exclude a message with underlying religious content when it allows messages on that same subject matter from a secular perspective," the high court has concluded.

But in this case, "In only removing religious references from messages of parents who were sending an encouraging word to their son or daughter, but allowing all other messages which did not mention 'God' or any other religious reference, the school expressed hostility to parents' religion and excluded messages based on the religious content. This is clearly a violation of Mr. Renner's freedom of religion," said PJI's letter.

The letter also notes that the school clearly has designated the yearbook a "limited public forum" in which a variety of opinions can be expressed.

"The purpose of the Liberty Union School District's yearbook ads were to allow parents to purchase ad space in order to express their love, pride, and congratulations to their graduating son or daughter. Mr. Renner was informed that all messages which included religious references in the message of love, pride and congratulations were excluded, on the basis of being inappropriate. This is clear evidence that Mr. Renner's message of love, pride and congratulations to his son, which was an otherwise permissible topic, was excluded only because it contained religious references," the letter said.

Smith said when the school was notified of the problem, officials worked to resolve it.

"The decision has been made by the school yearbook advisor, and the high school principal, and supported by me as district superintendent for the yearbook class to pay $8,000 to have the paid ads reprinted in their original form," he said.

WND recently reported on another battle over censorship at a school, a battle won by the student. One of the high schools profiled in a WND report about educators censoring free speech because of its Christian and pro-life content recanted, and decided to allow the distribution of those messages on the same basis as other messages, according to a law firm involved in that disagreement.

Lawyers for the Alliance Defense Fund said Penn Cambria high school and Penn Cambria School District officials have decided that messages including those relating to the student-led Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, a project of Stand True Ministries, now will be treated as other communications within the district.

No resolutions have been announced yet, however, in other cases that were profiled from Virginia and New York.