A Connecticut school teacher was placed on leave after she refused to take down a small crucifix that was posted inside her classroom.
Marisol Arroyo-Castro, a teacher at DiLoreto Elementary and Middle School, had posted the crucifix next to her classroom desk about 10 years ago.
When school leaders ordered her to take down the cross, she was suspended for two days without pay and placed on administrative leave. The school district says unless she complies, the grandmother of five will be fired.
First Liberty Institute, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty cases, says the Consolidated School District of New Britain has violated their client’s constitutional rights.
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“Mrs. Castro considers the crucifix a part of her personal and religious identity,” the law firm wrote in a letter to the district. “The crucifix was given to her by the family of a deceased friend who gave it to her as a memento because, as a practicing Catholic, Ms. Castro was particularly likely to treasure it.”
In the personal space next to their desks, other teachers display photos of family and friends, images of Wonder Woman and Baby Yoda, a miniature of the Mona Lisa, New England Patriots football team pennant, inspirational quotes, a photograph of a statue of the Virgin Mary, and a mug referencing a Bible verse.
In the letter, the attorneys explain, “Under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and under the Connecticut Constitution, the District may not abridge its employees’ free speech rights, nor their rights to freely exercise their religion.” The letter continues, “Fewer than three years ago, in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court held that a public school football coach could not be fired for engaging in personal prayer, even when he did so visibly at the 50-yard line of the stadium after home games. The plaintiff, Coach Kennedy, was represented by First Liberty Institute, co-signatories to this letter, at the district court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.”
Libs of TikTok pointed out that the same school district vigorously promotes and celebrates LGBT Pride month and the LGBT education agenda.
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“Requiring a teacher to purge their workspace of anything religious is blatant discrimination that violates the First Amendment,” said First Liberty’s Keisha Russell. “The Supreme Court said in the recent Kennedy decision that teachers have the right to engage in personal religious expression under the Free Exercise Clause, including when students are present.”
If teachers can display Baby Yoda and Wonder Woman, there’s no legitimate reason why a teacher cannot post a religious icon. Unless, of course, the school district has been taken over by anti-Christian zealots.
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