GOODYEAR, Ariz. — A mandatory high school assembly held earlier this month in Goodyear took some students and teachers off guard. The star of the assembly mixed his message of perseverance with Christian views, according to two parents and a teacher who spoke with 12News. After the assembly was over, volunteers distributed booklets containing The New Testament, Psalms, Proverbs and founding U.S. documents to hundreds of students.
Principal apologizes to parents
Millennium High School Principal Nichole Bundy issued an apology letter to parents the following day, saying administrators were not aware religious content would be distributed.
“We take this matter seriously and will be reviewing our guest speaker selection and screening processes to prevent such incidents from happening in the future,” Bundy wrote.
A spokesperson for the Agua Fria High School District tells 12News administrators booked the performer at the request of the school’s student council and there was no cost for the appearance.
Former American Idol contestant performed
The assembly’s presenter was former American Idol contestant Scott MacIntyre, who runs Scott MacIntyre Ministries. Born with vision impairment, Macintyre gives inspirational messages about overcoming odds. A video on MacIntyre’s website advertises his desire to perform at churches and schools across the world in order to spread a message of hope and “to share God’s love with a broken world.”
The book provided to students is called Student Life Reference Manual, published by Go Therefore Ministries. It contains the subtitle: “New Testament, Psalms & Proverbs, The Declaration of Independence & The U.S. Constitution.”
The book’s website states the manual includes categories such as “How can I be saved?”, “Finances” and “Relationships.”
“Our country has 521 religions”
One parent who spoke with 12News on Thursday said she had no problem with the distribution of the Christian books.
“I want my kids to be exposed to a variety of cultures, beliefs and ideas,” said Jamie Mathews, a mother of two students at the school.
An attorney with the nonprofit Secular AZ Alliance said the event likely violated the constitution and the rights of students and parents. In a country with 521 religions, the government should not appear to endorse one, she said.
“Schools absolutely cannot proselytize. They cannot,” said attorney Dianne Post. “That is a violation of the First Amendment and for 50 years the Supreme Court has said, ‘no you cannot do this’.”
The Supreme Court ruled in the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education decision that government cannot promote religion and simultaneously cannot be a religion’s adversary.
Parents who have complained to Secular AZ are often in minority religions, Post said.
“They say we aren’t comfortable with this.”
Nonprofit says Christian Nationalism prompting similar incidents
Post says her organization has requested public records related to the school assembly to determine how the event was advertised, promoted and carried out.
“First you have to find out what really happened, and then you try to resolve the situation without filing a lawsuit,” Post said.
The assembly is the latest in a series of complaints alleging violations of the First Amendment’s establishment clause that Secular AZ Alliance has fielded this year. The number of complaints has been increasing or several years, according to Post.
“Already this year, in October, I’m up to 42 complaints,” Post said. “It’s because of the Christian nationalists and the United States Supreme Court that has leaned in the direction of supporting the Christian nationalist viewpoint.”
“Let’s see how else we can push this”
Gregg Leslie, Executive Director of ASU Law School’s First Amendment Clinic, says two decisions by the current makeup of the Supreme Court siding with “religious freedom” have likely emboldened religious groups to push for expanded rights overall.
“With the decision about where a high school coach can lead a prayer, and how a web designer can discriminate, the court has shown it wants to allow for expression,” Leslie said. “But it becomes a tougher question about whether you are allowing for establishment of religion.”
Leslie says the court’s decisions have made interpretation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause more ambiguous.
“I think those court decisions have emboldened a lot of people to say, well let’s see how else we can push this,” Leslie said.
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