7 Fundamentalist Families Win $50,000 in Suit Over Textbooks

A federal judge today awarded seven fundamentalist families more than $50,000 in damages for having to send their children to Christian schools to avoid public school textbooks--including “Macbeth,” “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “The Wizard of Oz”--that offended their religious beliefs.

U.S. District Judge Thomas G. Hull delivered his ruling after testimony ended in a brief hearing on how much the families were due in the case they won in October.

“The money spent was a reasonable expense. They had to go somewhere and they had to go fast,” Hull said.

Hull’s ruling includes money for school lunches, mileage to and from the Christian schools, and wages lost when the parents had to attend legal proceedings.

The parents testified today, and Hull agreed, that their children could never go back to the Hawkins County schools because of animosity caused by the lawsuit in the community.

The parents’ attorney, Michael Farris, sought only reimbursement for the families’ out-of-pocket expenses and did not seek punitive damages.

Hull ruled Oct. 24 that the school board had denied the families’ civil rights by requiring the children to read books the parents said taught evolution, secular humanism, feminism and 13 other concepts they considered anti-Christian.

The judge ruled that the school system must provide the families with a free education that does not violate their First Amendment rights to religious freedom. The school board is appealing the decision.

Nat Coleman, attorney for the school board, said after Hull’s damage award that the board will appeal the damage verdict on the ground that it requires public schools to pay for private school tuition. He alleged this violated the Constitution’s ban on the government establishing religion.