Media, school begin backlash

Poor Stephen Williams of Stephens Creek school in Cupertino, Ca. He's the teacher who was forbidden to use the Declaration of Independence and other government documents to demonstrate the reliance on God by the founders of our country.

Now the media and school officials are lashing back in a story that claims that Williams' real crime was to over-emphasize religion at the expense of other core subjecs like math and science.

Stevens Creek has received hundreds of angry phone calls and more than 3,000 e-mails -- some vulgar, others threatening -- since Nov. 22, when one of its teachers, Stephen Williams, filed a federal lawsuit against the school. The fifth-grade teacher alleges his civil rights were violated when school principal Patricia Vidmar ordered him to stop distributing documents to his students "because of their religious content."

Among the banned documents, the suit says, were religious excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, various state constitutions and writings by George Washington, John Adams and William Penn.

Vidmar also banned a document Williams created called "What Great Leaders Have Said About The Bible." It quotes Jesus Christ and nine U.S. presidents. According to the handout, John Adams said, "The Bible is the best book in the world."

In his lawsuit, Williams, 39, said he merely wanted to use historical documents to explain the role of religion among the nation's founding fathers. But he said he was singled out because the principal knew he was a self-professed Christian

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Administrators said the materials are inappropriate for 10- and 11-year-olds. They question why Williams included writings from a 17th-century Swiss jurist who tried to explain natural law by tracing its origin to God.

"Our job is to ensure that students are given information in an appropriate way, consistent with their age and their level of sophistication," said district Superintendent William Bragg.
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But more troubling for parents at one of the region's top public schools, Zimmers said, was that Williams' focus on religion took time away from math, science and other subjects. "Anything that takes away from the basic curriculum in the classroom puts the children at a competitive disadvantage," Zimmers said. "That was really what this was all about."

As if there were any doubt the overall slant of things now, the article says teachers blame Williams for all the turmoil and publicity. It's he's fault, after all, he's the Christian!

The publicity has taken a toll in the Silicon Valley town, which prides itself on diversity and tolerance. Sarah Beetem, a Stevens Creek fifth- and sixth-grade teacher for nine years and herself a Christian, said some teachers blame Williams for unleashing turmoil.

"This is a quiet, suburban community," Beetem said. "Why is our school being attacked? We are nice."