School settles with FFRF over classes
A long-running FFRF lawsuit against a West Virginia school district has finally been settled.
FFRF filed the federal case in 2017 on behalf of Elizabeth Deal and her daughter to stop Mercer County Schools from continuing to teach “Bible in the Schools” classes to elementary school students. The bible classes had been ongoing for more than 75 years despite Supreme Court precedent banning public schools from undertaking religious instruction.
“We are pleased that this violation involving the illegal proselytizing of youngsters has come to a mutual resolution,” says Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president. “But it should not take a lawsuit and years of effort to stop blatantly unconstitutional school programs.”
Pursuant to a settlement, U.S. District Judge David Faber dismissed the lawsuit on May 16. The Mercer County Board of Education, through its insurance coverage, agreed to pay $225,000 to cover the costs and attorneys fees of the plaintiffs. Those payments will reimburse two private law firms and FFRF for hundreds of hours of time spent by attorneys litigating the case.
FFRF itself is awarding the student in the case with the Richard & Beverly Hermsen Student Activist Award and a $5,000 scholarship. The eighth-grade student, who uses a pseudonym in the lawsuit, had been targeted by other kids when she opted out of bible classes. She now attends school in a neighboring school system
The tumultuous case has ended, but it leaves a legacy in Mercer County and for future legal challenges
In 2018, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in favor of Deal and held that she could pursue an injunction against the bible classes and remanded the case for further proceedings
Following the appeals decision, the school board voted to permanently end the “Bible in the Schools” program. Judge Faber ruled in 2020 that Deal had lost the ability to pursue an injunction against the program because it had ended, but she could continue to pursue a claim for nominal damages for past harm.
The school system had defended the curriculum by claiming the lessons taught history and literature. However, much of the program was fundamentalist Christian instruction. For example, a lesson on Adam and Eve featured the pair with a dinosaur in the background. It asked students: “So picture Adam being able to crawl up on the back of a dinosaur! He and Eve could have their own personal water slide! Wouldn’t that be so wild!”
A lesson titled “Jesus in the Wilderness” told of Jesus resisting temptations from the devil and responding with affirmations of faith in God. These statements were written out for the students on a visual aid used in class.
FFRF thanks Elizabeth Deal and her daughter, who bravely took the case. FFRF also thanks the attorneys who handled the case, including Marc Schneider with the Pittsburgh-based firm Steele Schneider, FFRF Attorneys Patrick Elliott and Chris Line, and Kristina Whiteaker, with the Grubb Law Group, PLLC in Charleston, W.Va.
