Religious-Themed Candy Dispute Resolved in Nevada
Robert B. Bluey
Staff Writer
/(CNSNews.com) - A student Bible club at a Nevada high school will be able to distribute candy canes with the message "Jesus Loves You," following the intervention of a religious civil-liberties group.
The California-based Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) touted the incident as censorship of student speech and threatened to sue the school district involved. The matter was quickly resolved, however, and described by the school attorney as merely a misunderstanding.
Bible club member Jenna Wirshing, a sophomore at Reno High School, said the club has passed out the candy canes for the last four years without resistance from administrators. But when the club's members asked principal Bob Sullivan for permission, Wirshing said it was denied, most likely because of the religious message.
Washoe County School District attorney Jeff Blanck said that is not exactly how the dispute arose. He said Sullivan is new to Reno High School and had no intention to prohibit the candy canes.
Blanck said the Bible club members approached Sullivan about placing candy canes in teacher mailboxes, but the school does not allow "mailbox stuffing." Following that discussion, he said there was a misunderstanding between Sullivan and the club about distribution of the candy canes during lunch.
The Pacific Justice Institute questioned the school's reasoning and downplayed Blanck's theory. Brad Dacus, president of PJI, said his group's letter threatening a lawsuit prompted the school to change its mind.
As a result of the Bible club's struggles, Dacus said all students would now benefit from greater freedom.
"Christian speech is by far the most suppressed, but the school's reversal serves as victory for all students and their right to engage in free speech," he said.
Wirshing said the Bible club, which has between 10 and 15 members, is planning to distribute about 1,400 candy canes next week -- one for every student at the high school.
"Some of the students were asking if we were going to pass them out again this year," Wirshing said. "The kids enjoy them and it's something they look forward to."
Blanck said this was the first free-speech dispute he has dealt with in his five years as the school district's attorney. He said the school has no policy governing distribution of items bearing a religious message and has no plans to restrict such activity in the future.
"Any student is allowed to pray or take part in a religious club," Blanck said, "and as long as there is not a disruption like blocking an entrance or exit, the school will not intervene."
The dispute at Reno High School is not the first in the U.S. involving religious-themed candy.
Last year, a student at Cushing Elementary School in Delafield, Wis., settled a similar dispute after she was told she could not hand out candy with a religious message at a classroom party. Another religious civil-liberties group, the Liberty Counsel, rushed to student Morgan Nyman's aid.
"We have no problem with school districts regulating their schools. What they can't do is start picking on religious expression and silencing it," Liberty Counsel attorney Joel Oster said. "The same restrictions that apply to passing out a flyer on the summer baseball league must apply to a religious club."
Oster said his organization receives dozens of calls around Halloween, Christmas and Easter from students who claim their school has prohibited distribution of religious-themed candy. Most disputes, he said, are resolved before they ever go to court.
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