Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

March 2015 – In October 2013, Walt Tutka, a substitute teacher at Phillipsburg Middle School in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, encouraged a student at the back of a class line with the words, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” The student asked Tutka several times for the source and context of the saying. Tutka eventually told him it came from the Bible, and after learning the student did not have a Bible in his home, Tutka gave the student his personal copy of Scripture.

He was subsequently fired for breaking a school policy prohibiting religious materials from being handed out on campus.

In December 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that the Phillipsburg School District acted illegally, violating Tutka’s religious freedoms.

Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for Liberty Institute, said, “This is a great indication the EEOC is taking religious liberty seriously and they are going to enforce the law. This sends a message to school districts that their allergic reaction to religion is misplaced and is not only wrong, it’s also an egregious violation of the law.”

onenewsnow.com, 1/8/15