Liberty Institute Encourages More U.S. School Districts To Permit Students' Free Speech

Responds to Atheists Groups' Bullying Tactics to Stifle Religious Expression

PLANO, Texas, Oct. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Liberty Institute is responding to misinformation being disseminated by atheist groups to public school districts throughout the country. In legal information letters mailed this month, Liberty Institute encourages and reminds school administrators that the Constitution still protects the rights of students to engage in free speech and religious expression at various events.

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Despite Liberty Institute's high-profile court victory in Kountze, TX last week — where its attorneys successfully obtained a temporary injunction to allow cheerleaders to continue displaying religious messages on their run-through banners — the Freedom From Religion Foundation continues to send misleading and bullying demand letters to school districts in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Alabama.

"We are writing to affirm that public school administrators are acting appropriately and lawfully when they allow student-led, student-initiated forms of speech, even if that speech happens to be 'religious' in nature," said Liberty Institute Senior Counsel Mike Johnson. "No student should ever have to leave his or her religious beliefs or expression at the school house gate. Thanks to the precedent set with our victory in Kountze, superintendents should feel empowered to resist the bullying tactics of atheist groups, because federal and state law prohibiting government censorship of students' free speech is well established."

In the letters, Liberty Institute, which enjoys a 99 percent-win rate over its hundreds of cases litigated over the past decade, offers pro bono assistance to defend school districts against on-going threats from the FFRF or similar groups.  So far, Liberty Institute has provided its legal information letter and pro bono offer to school districts in five states, and its attorneys are prepared to respond anywhere the atheist groups create a similar controversy.

Liberty Institute is a nonprofit legal group dedicated to defending and restoring religious liberty across America — in our schools, for our churches and throughout the public arena. Liberty's vision is to reestablish religious liberty in accordance with the principles of our Founding Fathers. For information, visit www.LibertyInstitute.org.

SOURCE Liberty Institute