MAILBAG: Keep standing up to Freedom From Religion

I read the article "Freedom From Religion leader frustrated with Rio." I read the online copies of the correspondence between the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Rio Community School District. As a result I have to publicly praise Mark McGuire, RCSD administrator, and Alice Marquardt, president of the Board of Education, for frustrating Laurie Gaylor of FFRF and her attempts of coercion.  

While Gaylor says that the district is in violation of Article 1, Section 24 of the Wisconsin Constitution, upon closer examination, the article does not mandate a fee be paid by any organization at all. What it does say is that there can be no law created to prohibit a "civic, religious or charitable organization" from using a public school building if a reasonable fee is paid. The article is designed to prevent districts from excluding the kinds of organizations Gaylor wants to uproot. So once again, atheist organizations like FFRF distort what the Constitution says to make it sound like it serves their own purpose. 

The simple answer is this: The majority of the good people of Rio and their elected officials have decided that a reasonable fee for nonprofit organizations serving their children, augmenting the education of their students, giving children a venue to express themselves in ways that are not available in the regular school day, providing valuable services to the community, and giving inspirational and positive experiences is $0. 

I'm not saying school districts would be out of bounds to charge for use of their facilities — costs are rising all the time. But if a school district does charge a fee for facility usage, that fee must be levied equitably (it cannot let one nonprofit group use it for free, but charge another). Districts can have different fees for different types of groups (a for-profit group may have to pay one fee, while a nonprofit group would be allowed to pay a lower fee, or no fee at all.)  

What makes Gaylor think the people of Rio are so stupid that they don't understand they can charge a fee? The leaders of Rio have, in the name of community and education, decided not to.

While I do not want to live in a country with a state-mandated religion, we cannot equate the constitutional decree that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" with a school allowing a Bible study on their grounds. And we cannot forget that Congress (or the FFRF) shall not "prohibit the free exercise" of religion. In a country whose latest catch phrase has become "tolerance," it seems that Gaylor and her FFRF has absolutely no tolerance of our "free exercise of" religion.

I implore all public officials to stand firm against threats from groups like FFRF. If you find yourself facing the FFRF for becoming "entangled" with religious groups, contact Liberty Council (www.lc.org), a pro bono legal organization that will protect our constitutional rights to freely express your religion.  

God bless America.

Patrick Strain, Portage