CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower-court ruling that it is unconstitutional for a Tennessee school district to allow devotional Bible education in the classroom.
The suit was filed by the parents of two students in the Rhea County school system. The church-state separationist organization Freedom from Religion Foundation joined the fray as a co-plaintiff.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Allan Edgar stated “public school elementary students are being taught what might well be a Sunday School class in many of the Christian churches in Rhea County.”
In what the school district called the Bible Educational Ministry, Bryan College students taught weekly 30-minute classes at three area elementary schools, in which students memorized Bible verses, acted out biblical stories and sang Christian children’s songs, according to the 2002 ruling.
Travis Ricketts, director of practical Christian involvement at Bryan College, oversaw the student teachers. According to the decision, faculty at the elementary schools did not review the curricula.
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