The Need

The painful truth is that most instances where students are denied their rights never make it to press. No one knows about them, except for the student who feels that in his heart something terribly wrong just took place, but can’t put his finger on it. He knows that his faith is the center of his being and knows that he’s commanded to share his beliefs with others… but for some reason has been told that it's wrong and even unconstitutional for him to share it with his classmates. Somehow, religious expression receives the same fate as violence, swearing, and drug use in his public school system- it’s banned. Yet, even though he knows that what’s happened to him is terribly wrong, he doesn’t understand specifically why it’s wrong or how to stand against it… so he does nothing.

The need to inform our students of their constitutional rights as they apply to religious expression is great. If students don’t know their rights, then they won’t know what to protect. Then, once they know what to protect, they need an avenue by which to protect them. That’s where A New Guard becomes a powerful resource.

What Makes A New Guard Different from Other Sites

• A New Guard was designed specifically with high school students in mind (although many parents and teachers find it equally useful);

• Student rights are categorized by context, not by case;

• A New Guard offers free downloadable word documents designed to inform teachers, administrators and board members of when a student’s rights have been violated so that to a degree students can defend their own rights;

• A forum would be in place to try and aid users with any questions they may have concerning their rights;

• Music becomes the primary resource by which students are driven to learn about their rights, which include free downloadable songs, promotion at concerts, and radio advertisements.

We believe that once students know their God given and constitutionally protected rights, that they will inform other students, parents and teachers about what those rights are and will be diligent in defending them.

True Stories

●  A student is suspended by school administrators for two weeks because he refused to quit praying (silently) to God before eating his lunch during lunchtime.

●  A kindergartener is reprimanded for speaking to his friends about Jesus at school.

●  A student’s art work is removed from a high school’s hallway because it depicted Christian symbols, while all other art work was permitted.

●  A Bible Study group is denied the right to meet after school because of its “religious” nature.  Other non-curricular groups like GLESEN (Gay Lesbian and Straight Educational Network) are permitted to use school facilities.

●  A Third grader is punished for giving her friends invitations to church.  All hand-made invitations are collected and destroyed as the child watches and sobs.

Scores Of Christian Students...

are being denied their right to the freedom of religious expression in our Public Schools. Unfortunately, very few students know their God-given and Constitutional rights.  In fact, it’s been reported that over 65% of high school students know very little, if anything at all about their rights. They also find the subject matter “boring” to learn about.  The only answer to this problem is to draw students to an exciting environment where they can discover more about their rights.

Public School Teachers and Administrators...

have very difficult jobs, are burdened with preparing students for standardized tests, and are not frequently informed of a student's right to religious expression in their college/university classrooms.  Under a false perception of the "separation of church and state," many public school officials actually believe that there's a law banning students from religious expression in public schools. There are very few militant anti-Christian teachers and administrators in the US. Frequently, when a teacher reprimands a student for appropriate religious expression, it's out of fear and out of a desire to be as "politically correct" as possible. It's our hope that ANG will help these officials to learn about the religious rights of students.