Faith under fire: Student told to remove rosary

[pnwmom]

204. You're confused. The case in the OP was at James Monroe Elementary

in California, a school that banned all rosaries, not just ones with 13 beads.

The Loveland case you cited, involving a rosary with 13 beads (which some Catholics do use, by the way -- it was one variation of a Catholic rosary long before it was ever used by a gang) has not yet been adjudicated, unlike the case in CA. And this Denver newspaper's opinion is that the school's action is unlikely to be upheld.

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_21546292/editorial-school-rosary-ban-may-go-too-far

The key federal court case on the issue is one from 1997 out of Texas, Chalifoux vs. New Caney Independent School District. The court decided the school in question had violated the students' First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.

The court noted school dress codes can be used to restrict gang activity on campuses but concluded the rosary ban unduly burdened the students who brought the legal action because they were not affiliated with a gang.

That case turned on whether the students were engaging in a "sincere expression of their religious beliefs." The court found they were.

And that may very well be the legal linchpin in the situation in Loveland.

Was Vigil affiliated with a gang, or was he wearing the rosary to help him deal with the recent murder of his uncle, as his mother said?


SNIP