Phillychief of the outstanding You Make Me Say It is publicizing a Freedom From Religion Foundation Call to Action. School Children in Van Hise Wisconsin were sent home with flyers promoting a local Christian church. Teachers were required to stuff children's backpacks with the flyers in violation of their own School Policy.
There's an issue of a school district sending kids home with flyers with the message "Plant the Seeds of Faith in Jesus in Your Child at our Sunday School" which is an ad for a lutheran church. You can read more about it here and here. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is asking individuals to write to the school district and the school board about this policy.
"No organization should benefit from free delivery of their advertisement at the expense of instructional or teacher preparation time."
The Freedom from Religion foundation is asking for help.
Please send succinct and to the point e-mails or letters. Be firm but polite. We enjoy seeing your letters and responses, but for maximum effectiveness, write as an individual and send only "blind" copies of your e-mail to FFRF. Please use your name. "Local" taxpayers should identify themselves by mailing address as well. Thanks!
Contacts:
Madison Metropolitan School District Supt. Art Rainwater
Madison Metropolitan School District
545 West Dayton Street
Madison, WI 53703-1995
Voice: (608) 663-1879
Fax: (608) 204-0342
comments@madison.k12.wi.us
Members of the Madison, Wis. School Board (some are sympathetic).
Arlene Silveira, President
asilveira@madison.k12.wi.us
Carol J. Carstensen, Treasurer
ccarstensen@madison.k12.wi.us
Maya Cole
mpcole@madison.k12.wi.us
Lucy Mathiak
lmathiak@madison.k12.wi.us
Lawrie Kobza, Vice President
lkobza@madison.k12.wi.us
Beth Moss
asilveira@madison.k12.wi.us
Johnny Winston, Jr., Clerk
jwinstonjr@madison.k12.wi.us
Joe Carlsmith, Student Representative
c/o MMSD
Phillycheif has an outstanding sample letter called "Propaganda in Backpacks". Scroll down to the bottom of his post for the full text of the letter.
I want to encourage as many atheist bloggers as possible to spread the word by cross posting this article and participate in the letter writing campaign. I don't know if 400 voices will make a difference, but at least we will have tried.
