Idaho

An Idaho first-grader's plan to perform a song by worship singer Chris Tomlin using sign language for a talent show is back on track after the school's principal originally banned the entry, deeming the song "too religious."

Lena Whitmore Elementary School reversed its decision after the Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter to the school and district officials pointing out that banning the performance would be unconstitutional.

The Christian-based lawyers group released a statement on Friday that said ADF remains concerned about a district policy that will allow free speech violations to continue if it is left unchanged. more >>

The U.S. Supreme Court will not review Idaho's ban on books and documents in public schools deemed to be religious, it was announced Monday.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, asked the Supreme Court late last year to review a case in Idaho in which judges ruled that a publicly-funded charter school was violating the state constitution for using the Bible as a textbook in a secular history class.

The Idaho Public Charter School Commission issued a ban in 2009 on all religious texts after Nampa Classical Academy attempted to instruct students with the Bible. The ban was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit earlier in 2011, which said in its decision that because NCA is a publicly-funded school, it is "subject to the supervision and control of the state, and exists at the state's mercy," and therefore can be restricted in which textbooks it uses in the classroom. more >>

The Alliance Defense Fund has lost another round of court battles in an ongoing struggle to bring religious texts into the public school curriculum in Idaho.

Upholding a lower court ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Nampa Classical Academy against the Idaho Public Charter School Commission.

The lawsuit was filed back in 2009 following a decision by the IPCSC to ban religious texts from the public school curriculum. The commission threatened to revoke the NCA’s charter if it used the Bible or any other religious books as resources in their classroom. more >>

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit heard oral arguments Tuesday on whether or not to uphold a 2010 decision to prohibit Idaho public schools from using religious texts and documents despite their historical value.

Attorneys asked the court to throw out the full ban against the use of the Bible as a resource in school curriculum. The ban was implemented by the Idaho Public Charter School Commission to keep Nampa Classical Academy charter school from including the Christian text in its curriculum.

Attorneys advocating against the ban say the commission overreacted in its decision. more >>

A charter school in Idaho is considering an appeal against the dismissal of its lawsuit, which challenged the ban on religious texts in its curriculum.

Alliance Defense Fund, the legal representative of the charter school Nampa Classical Academy, said it is “considering all available options for appeal” of the ruling made by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge’s on Monday.

Lodge dismissed the NCA’s lawsuit against the Idaho Public Charter School Commission, which decided last year that the academy could not use the Bible and other religious texts in its curriculum. more >>

A national humanist group has unveiled a new billboard that replaces the word “God” in the national motto so that the new phrase reads “In Good We Trust.”

The new billboard, which features an image of a U.S. quarter with the revised motto, went up last week in Moscow, Idaho. It is the latest in a series of billboards in the area sponsored by the American Humanist Association, which promotes the idea that one can be good without a belief in God.

"This billboard nicely sums up two of the main messages of the American Humanist Association," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the AHA. "First, that you don't have to believe in God to be good –in fact, humanists and other non-theists see being good as one of the most important of responsibilities in our one and only life. Second, that church and state should remain separate for the benefit of us all." more >>