The Atheist Left Coast
Posted in Politics, Religion on February 20th, 2009An Orange County, CA counselor with eighteen years of experience with foster children was suspended from her job for six (6) weeks because she took four teen girls from an Emergency Shelter Home for abused, abandoned, and neglected children, the Orangewood Children’s Home, on a field trip during the summer of 2006, first to a 5 kilometer run and then to the beach – where the girls overheard Christian music.
Upon returning from the outing, the counselor was ordered into a “disciplinary meeting” that focused on the inappropriateness of Christian music. There was no punishment imposed immediately, but weeks later after another meeting at which the same subject was reviewed, the counselor was suspended six weeks for “exposing children to unapproved religious activities.”
The counselor, after exhausting California state administrative remedies, has filed a lawsuit against Orange County.
A lawsuit has been filed against Orange County by a veteran group home counselor who was suspended six weeks for exposing four teenagers to Christian music. The counselor is represented by affiliate and staff attorneys of Pacific Justice Institute.
The lawsuit states that, in the summer of 2006, the counselor took four teenage girls from the Orangewood Children’s Home on an approved field trip to a 5K run and then to the beach. At the beach, the group encountered a “Surf Jam” taking place at the Huntington Beach pier. The group also overheard Christian music for about ten minutes while they were eating.
Following the beach outing, the counselor, an eighteen-year employee, was summoned to a disciplinary meeting focusing on the Christian music. Several months later, the same incident was brought up again and the counselor was slapped with a six-week suspension for “exposing children to unapproved religious activities.”
After many months of exhausting state administrative remedies, the counselor filed suit late last week in Orange County Superior Court to recover the financial losses she suffered from the suspension and to vindicate her constitutional rights. The counselor is represented by John and Laurie Messerly Stewart, attorneys in Orange, California, and the Pacific Justice Institute.
Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, commented, “What happened to this counselor was insane and unjust. Allowing teenagers to overhear a few minutes of Christian music while at the beach should not result in a six-week suspension.”
— Pacific Justice Institute
Press Release – February 18, 2009
So…A woman who performs an vital service to the community, who most likely is underpaid, under-respected, and forced to work a caseload far above what would be optimal, was suspended because children in her care in a public venue overheard Christian music. How exactly does this make sense outside of the context of an institutionalized anti-theist attack?
Some times you have to wonder how far the secular Left will go in their vicious white-collar jihad against the religions in America. One also has to wonder how long Americans will continue to tolerate it.