Federal ruling against Christian and Muslim parents may spark a new campaign in education

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

It was just a matter of time before choice became mandatory.

A federal judge recently denied a request by parents of students in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Montgomery County, Maryland, to be able to remove their children from classrooms when books containing LGBTQ characters are read aloud.

Christian and Muslim parents had sued the school system, claiming such books force religious parents to either abandon what they believe their faith teaches, or leave the public school system.

This is indoctrination and the judge’s ruling violates the First Amendment’s “free exercise” clause, which “protects citizens’ right to practice their religion as they please, so long as the practice does not run afoul of a ‘public morals’ or a ‘compelling’ governmental interest.”

It took Judge Deborah Boardman 60 pages to try to make her case. She claimed parents failed to demonstrate how the no opt-out policy would “result in the indoctrination of their children or otherwise coerce their children to violate or change their religious beliefs. 

“With or without an opt-out right,” Boardman ruled, “the parents remain free to pursue their sacred obligations to instruct their children in their faiths. Even if their children’s exposure to religiously offensive

View Source