Humanist group: Rankin Co. teacher ridiculed atheism

A new complaint suggests the Rankin County School District has again muddied the line that separates church and state.

The American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center says an unconstitutional promotion of Christianity has continued in the district.

On Oct. 13, the association sent a letter to district officials and attorneys describing an alleged incident involving a teacher at Northwest Rankin High School mocking atheism in the classroom.

Sent on behalf of an atheist student, the letter says her teacher, who is also a pastor of a church, told the classroom on Oct. 8, “Atheists are throwing a fit because they don't have their own day. They do have their own day; it’s called April Fools’ Day, because you are a fool if you don't believe in God.”

Monica Miller, senior counsel for the Appignani Humanist Legal Center, said the mother who brought the complaint to the association and her daughter wish to remain anonymous.

“The mother contacted us, obviously concerned about the behavior of the teacher in her daughter’s school,” Miller said.

The teacher, Miller continued, has continuously made the student “feel extremely unconformable,” with “various remarks in favor of Christianity and hatred toward atheists.”

RCSD has a history of promoting Christianity in its schools and has come under fire in recent months after U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves found the district had violated the policy it adopted to ensure its schools conformed with the First Amendment.

In July, Reeves ordered the district to pay a plaintiff $7,500 for the violations, in addition to attorneys' fees and costs, and ruled it is permanently prohibited from including prayer or religious sermons in any school-sponsored event. The order also states if the district violates the agreement in the future, it will pay a $10,000 fine per violation to the plaintiff.

The American Humanist Association represented the plaintiff in this case.

“The school district’s repeated insistence on promoting religion in a public school shows a complete disregard for non-Christian students’ right to learn free from religious coercion,” Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, said in a statement.

The letter has requested that the school officials warn the teacher to stop the behavior or be subject to disciplinary measures. Miller said the association has not received a response from the district acknowledging receipt of the letter.

This is not the first time the American Humanist Association has criticized activity within the Rankin County district. In October, 2014, the humanist group sent a letter to Kara Killough, principal of Northwest Rankin Elementary School, objecting to her decision to ask fifth-grade teachers to take students through the school's lobby, where Gideons were handing out Bibles.

In May 2014, the group represented a senior at Northwest Rankin High School who filed a contempt motion against the school after she felt pressured to participate in prayer in Christian-themed assemblies held at the school. This came after a 2013 lawsuit regarding similar assemblies in which the district agreed it had violated the student's First Amendment rights and settled the lawsuit by entering into an agreement and paying the plaintiff's attorney fees.

The May 2014 filing led to the most recent court ruling in July.

Though the Rankin County district has been in violation of First Amendment policies, Miller said she was still surprised to hear the teacher’s remarks, which come so soon after the most recent court ruling.

Miller questions the district’s diligence in educating its faculty about how to follow rules regarding the First Amendment.

School district spokeswoman Robin Haney and school board attorney Freddie Harrell did not return several calls and emails Tuesday.

Contact Anna Wolfe at (601) 961-7326 or awolfe@gannett,com. Follow @ayewolfe on Twitter.