Considering that the American currency reads “In GOD We Trust” and that just about everyone loves to intone “GOD bless America” and that “GOD Bless the USA” is pretty much an American anthem… this is one of the silliest “controversies” I’ve come across (in the past few weeks).

Excerpt:

The Wilson County school board is back in trouble with God.

Less than a year after a federal judge ruled that the school district had illegally promoted religion, the board faces a new lawsuit.

This time, they are accused of banning God.

The Alliance Defense Fund, on behalf of four families, filed suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, claiming that the school board censored posters for a student-led prayer event.

The dispute involves posters for a “See You at The Pole” event last September at Lakeview Elementary School in Mt. Juliet. The posters included the phrases “In God We Trust” and “God Bless the U.S.A.”

They also included a disclaimer, saying that the event was student led, not school endorsed.

Lakeview officials objected to the God references as well as an invitation to “come and pray,” the suit says. Before the posters – drawn by students – were approved, all religious language had to be covered over.

That censorship violated students’ freedom of religion, said Alliance Defense Fund senior counsel Nate Kellum.

“Christian students shouldn’t be censored for expressing their beliefs,” said Kellum.

… Charles Haynes, a senior scholar at the Freedom Forum, said that on the surface, the school board’s actions seem out of line.

” ‘In God We Trust’ is the national motto,” he said. “So the school is on shaky ground there.”

Haynes said that schools have the right to set guidelines for posters and flyers from community groups, and is free to ban them.

But if the school allows community groups like the Boy Scouts to put up posters, they must allow religious groups to do the same.

“The key is to treat every group the same,” he said. “When the school gets into editing messages, it’s wrongheaded and bizarre.”

Read the full article here…

I guess”GOD” really is being treated like a four-letter word.