Halting of Religious Reading Draws Lawsuit
A Massachusetts teacher who asked her pupils to bring a book to class about their Christmas traditions violated a student’s rights when she stopped her from reading a passage on the birth of Jesus Christ because it was religious, according to a federal lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses the Leominster Public School District and some of its officials of violating 7-year-old Laura Greska’s right to free speech and her exercise of religion, according to a complaint filed by the American Center for Law and Justice.
The lawsuit contends the second-grader’s teacher told students to bring a book to class about their Christmas traditions. The teacher, however, stopped Laura Greska from reading “The First Christmas,” a book that details the birth of Jesus, the lawsuit claims.
Officials at the Leominster school district were not available for comment about the December 2001 incident.
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