The ACLU has filed suit against Sumner County School Board for the promotion of Christianity. For the record, I live in Sumner county, TN, and my children attend the schools named in the suit.
At the center of the issue is Long Hollow Baptist Church. Again, this is the church that I attend as do a large percentage of this community. It is a small community. Population of Hendersonville (where all schools cited are located) is approximately 40,000. Membership at Long Hollow Baptist is nearing 7,000. The county has approximately 105 churches in total.
Though biased, I believe LHB to be a very special church. What attracted my wife and me was the youth ministry. A majority of the resources of the church are directed at young people. We seem to be in a state of continuous construction as we continue to add faculties for the youth of our community. I remember as a kid having to be dragged, kicking and screaming, to church. More often than not, it seems that my kids are the ones dragging me out of bed to go to church on Sundays. They love it. The staff is continuously planning and holding events and activities for the local community. While Christ is certainly at the center of any church, it is in no way some holy roller brain washing session. The emphasis is more in being Christ like. By this I mean that they (we) concentrate on serving God by serving others. Assistance, clothing, counseling, food, shelter, you name it, we offer it.
As a result, most of the teaches, principles and school board members are members of the church as well. As a large state of the art facility, we offer the use of our grounds at no cost to any of the schools for functions that would exceed the limitations of individual school campuses. Many graduation ceremonies are held on the church property.
Of course, all of this absolutely infuriates the ACLU.
I invite you to read the complaint. As far as I am able to confirm, it is the largest that the ACLU has ever filed as far as individual complaints. It is claimed that it is on the behalf of four families from the county. As an aside, it amuses me that the plaintiffs in such cases are always allowed to hide their identities but the defendants obviously cannot.
Discuss. I will answer as I can to the extent of my knowledge.