Student's Right To Sing "Awesome God" In Talent Show Upheld

On Monday, a federal district court in New Jersey held that a second-grade student's free expression rights were violated when her elementary school refused to permit her to sing "Awesome God" in an after-hours school wide talent show. (Alliance Defense Fund release.) The school had said that the overtly religious message and proselytizing nature of the song made it inappropriate for the show. In O.T. v. Frenchtown Elementary School District Board of Education, (D NJ, Dec. 11, 2006), the court held that the limited oversight of the talent show by the school meant that the performance could not be considered school-sponsored speech. The court held that the school board was prohibited from engaging in viewpoint discrimination in the talent show, regardless of whether it is categorized as a limited public forum or a non-public forum. Finally it distinguished this case from cases involving prayers at school graduations and concluded that the talent show did not create Establishment Clause problems. Today's Newark Star-Ledger reports on the case, pointing out that the ACLU filed an amicus brief in the case in support of the student's right to perform the song.