Cherry Creek, CO Schools Illegally Urging Churchgoing

Sara Burnett of the Rocky Mountain News reports on this local Colorado story...

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit against Cherry Creek Schools, saying a project aimed at helping students reach their full potential illegally encourages going to church.

The complaint, filed on behalf of two parents who have children in Cherry Creek schools, accuses the district of violating laws regarding the separation of church and state.

Tustin Amole, spokeswoman for the district, said today the district is confident the project is not illegal because it does not mandate participation in any religious activity.

Known as the 40 Developmental Assets, the project is promoted to families as a way to help students grow into "responsible, confident and healthy young people," according to a newsletter sent to parents.

The document says research has shown students with 30 or more of the assets are more likely to exhibit positive behavior.

Among the assets is having family support, doing at least one hour of homework each day and telling the truth, "even when it's not easy."

Recommendation number 19 — which prompted the lawsuit — is "religious community." It suggests young people spend one or more hours each week in activities at a religious institution.

The project, which was created by a private research group and is used nationally, has been in the Cherry Creek district for 18 years, Amole said.

The complaint asks the court to order the district to stop endorsing Developmental Asset 19. It does not specifically seek damages, but asks for any other relief the court deems proper.

Separation of Church and State

Blogswarm is sponsoring a blog promotion about separation of church and state. This isn’t exactly on-topic for this blog, but it is an incredibly important topic. There are active organizations in this country who are trying to undermine the bedrock American stance on separation of church and state. If they succeed, our ability to believe as we want will evaporate. We will become a Christian Nation, which is exactly what they are after.

The most prominent recent successful actions undermining separation of church and state is the faith-based initiative President Bush has put in place and the politicizing of the judicial system. The first is using millions of dollars of taxpayer money to promote Christian values without the checks-and-balances the secular system has in place. The second is an attempt to institute faith-based laws by overloading the judicial system with judges who base their decisions on the Bible instead of the Constitution and rational thought.

If you doubt any of this, try reading any of the following books:

Michelle Goldberg, Kingdom Coming
Damon Linker, Theocons
Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

Or read through some of the material at any of the following:

The Interfaith Alliance Foundation
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
The First Freedom First Foundation
The American Humanist Association