items of interest

with contributions from Rita Ann Miller, Dauglas Jacobsen

When first-grader Zachary Hood was told he could read a favorite story to his class, he chose the account of Jacob and Esau in the Bible. His teacher, however, felt that wasn't a suitable choice for a public school classroom. Zachary's responded by filing a lawsuit against his former teacher and the Medford, New Jersey, public school system.

It's possible that the case will go as far as the Supreme Court; but even if it doesn't, it is requiring people to think more deeply about what "separation of church and state" really means.

"Schools are so afraid of religion that they just wipe out everything," explains Robert O'Neil, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Protection of Free Expression at the University of Virginia. "[I]t's not a safe harbor to just avoid religion altogether."

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