Christian lobby
hits schoolsCampuses across the
state are deluged with
Christian literatureJust days after "Jesus" videos landed in mailboxes across the state, the effort to spread Christianity moved onto public school campuses this week -- to the shock of some students and staff.
As part of the Jesus Hawaii Project, teenage students launched a statewide effort Monday to hand out 70,000 "Student Survival Kits," featuring a Christian video, a CD, the New Testament and other literature promoting the faith.
Although some parents and teachers have complained, school officials say students are free to exercise their free speech by passing out the packets during noninstructional time.
"Students as individuals have a constitutional right to distribute literature as long as it is done in a peaceful manner and does not disrupt the learning environment," Greg Knudsen, Department of Education spokesman, said yesterday. "If adults are coming along on campus with the students and organizing and coordinating the activity, that could be prohibited." He said a few instances were reported where adults crossed the line, and the department has made clear that should not occur.
Nonetheless, the campaign has angered some parents and teachers who say adults pull up to campuses with vans loaded with bright yellow packets for distribution and are clearly orchestrating the project.
"This is not individual students whipping something out of a backpack to show friends," said the mother of a sixth-grader at Kealakehe Intermediate School in Kailua-Kona. "This is an organized event coordinated by adults. I'm severely disappointed that the state Department of Education allowed this to happen."
She said her son was asked, "Hey, do you want a free CD?" and he was so excited he took two packages "because they looked so nifty." She asked that her name not be published because "Kona is a small town," and her son or business in Kona could suffer repercussions.
The Jesus Hawaii Project is a joint effort of 185 Christian churches in the state, which funded the distribution of the "Jesus" video as an "Easter gift" to Hawaii households and is paying for the school kits.
Roughly 1,500 teenagers are passing out the kits at all public middle and high schools as well as most private schools, said Kelii Akina, project chairman and executive director of Hawaii Youth for Christ.
"It is a teen-to-teen-driven event," Akina said. "The adult role was basically to purchase the materials."
He said the students were trained in how to exercise their First Amendment rights without imposing on others, and were told not to allow adults to accompany them on campus. The campaign is supposed to wind up in early May.
Some teachers and staff have groused privately about the proselytizing but are reluctant to go public because they do not want to contradict Department of Education policy. In a memo dated April 8, Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto alerted school administrators to the project and reminded them of students' rights.
"As you are aware," she wrote, "students have a constitutional right to distribute literature in a peaceful manner as long as the materials are not libelous, obscene, likely to create substantial disorder or invade the rights of others."
The department has fielded complaints from both parents and staff members, Knudsen said. Principal Bob Gentzel at Kealakehe acknowledged that the effort "did create strong reactions from some individuals."
Civil liberties groups also received unhappy calls but say they support the department's stand in favor of free speech as long as no favoritism is shown by school staff. While school officials and teachers are forbidden to lead prayer or promote religion, students are free to do so as long as they respect other students' rights to an education.
"I can understand why people would be offended that religious literature is being passed out at school," said Brent White, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii. "However, that is what free speech is all about. We all get to express our opinion. Those students who would like to convey a different message have the same right."
Michael Golojuch Jr., vice president of Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church, said the decision to allow the Jesus Project opens the door to other speech that may be less palatable to authorities.
"We are really happy to see that the DOE has now made it a firm policy of freedom of speech for students," he said. "We hope that they will apply this policy equally and fairly across the board, so when students pass out literature about gay rights, for example, they're not going to be struck down. Basically, anything goes now, as long as it's student-initiated."
Akina said students have been allotted enough kits to cover roughly two-thirds of the students at each school "so there is no attempt to force students without interest to take one." Some students reported they had exhausted their supplies on the first day, he said.
State Department of Education