BROOKFIELD, Ohio — Phillip Vaccaro considers Jesus his best friend.

So to him, Jesus seemed perfect for a writing assignment the 7th-grader got this spring in his language-arts class in Brookfield, Ohio: write a friendly letter to someone who dramatically changed his life.

But his teacher didn’t like his choice of correspondent.

"She told him he could not write that letter because Jesus wasn't a real person -- that he didn't exist," Phillip’s mother, Peggy Koehler, said.

"How dare they throw their atheistic values upon my child?"

But the attorney for the school district said the class assignment was to prepare a letter and mail it to someone else, with the hope the students would get a response. In the attorney's words, it would be difficult to get a written reply from Jesus.

Phillip's mother isn’t buying it. So she has filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against the school district, claiming her son's constitutional right to freely express his religion was violated because he wasn't allowed to write to Jesus.

The Brookfield School District denies infringing upon Phillip's rights.

"It was also suggested that the letter could be addressed to a pastor, priest or church," the school attorney wrote in a statement to Fox News.

Not according to Koehler.

"From the very beginning of this, their stories have changed over and over again," she said.

After the disputed assignment, Phillip’s mother pulled him out of school, and he failed all his classes. He wants to attend a different school next year.

"What do (I) think Jesus would think about what has happened to (me)? I hope he's proud of me. And on my side," he said.

In the attorney's words, it would be difficult to get a written reply from Jesus.
Woah that attorney is cool!!! :grin:

I hope the kid doesn't win. Or if he does his mother is re-adjusted. She pulls him out of school so that he fails the entire year, rather than just failing 1 assignment. What is she on? :confused:

You can laugh at such stupidity... :lol:
or admire that woman's instict for earning $1.5 million so easy... :evil:

Like the kid :good: ...
Hate the mother :evil:

So the kid can't write a letter to Jesus. Just write a letter to someone else. Don't make a big deal out of it and sue the school for 1.5 million dollars. But I guess that is the way for Americans to make money, if you don't have enough cash, just sue somebody.

Yah I don't think big deal is not being able to write to Jesus I think it's how the teacher said Jesus doesn't exist. In school you are not suposed to talk about faith unless you are in a private school. Now me personally am not a real believer in God and Jesus coming back to life and all that crap but if I was a teacher I would never share that to my students. Now 1.5 million dollars that's just nuts just for that isue. I choked on my pop when I read that.

Whoa man what a crappy assignment. That's the kind of crap I hated in school; I am SO glad that is way way behind me! :)

The mother is rather silly for pulling him out of school, but that teacher certainly needs some diplomatic skills. Rather than saying Jesus doesn't exist, she should have just asked where the letter was to be sent. If the kid couldn't come up with an answer, make him choose a new subject; if he says a priest or the Pope or whoever, then just send it to them...

[ August 11, 2002, 20:17: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

I can't say I had any idiotic assignments like that in school, but I have to agree with BTA.

The mother is really stupid for pulling her kid out of school. I hope he can survive on that 1.5M settlement, because he'll never get a decent job. Thanks for screwing up my future mom!

The teacher likewise needs to learn some diplomatic skills. Ask the kid where to send the letter.

This incident occured about five miles from my residence and the local paper has been covering it quite extensively. The School District has repeatedly changed their statements as this story made its way to the press. The truth probably is somewhere inbetween the two parties. At the very least, the teacher should have handled the situation in a better manner. I would not have pulled my kid out of school over the incident, but then again, I NEVER would have my kid in that school district to begin with!

Uh, the teacher is clearly a moron.

Argue over whether he was the Son of God or just a prophet or a holy man or a nut case or what-have-you, but Jesus clearly existed. We have an overwhelming amount of evidence from both religious and secular authorities. We have a scholarly contemporaneous account from the Jewish historian Josephus and an avalanche of other written records.

There is no doubt that Jesus existed.

Unless the assignment was to write to a living person, the teacher's objection is idiotic.

Shralphy, you have to admit that writing letters to dead persons generally doesn't really makes sense - so what do you expect was the point of that assignment? There are four possible theoretical cathegories of reciepients: dead, alive, unborn and things.
Jesus undisputedly lived quite a while ago, he is dead. Dead people and things are unlikely to respond ... leaves unborn as a final alternative ... but since unborns also need a while to respond that also seems to be a kinda ruled out too. The teacher could have been a little more diplomatic though, her point critizising the kid was probably justified ;)

And besides, remember what kina people where the first settlers in america and you'll no longer wonder about weird people like this moronic mom and her son :D

[ August 12, 2002, 15:28: Message edited by: Ragusa ]

I'm with you Mr. Morningmist ... the kid is all heart. However, the mom needs to get a clue.

I love Jesus and he is my best friend.
I pray, I write down stuff, I read the word.
But I don't write him letters in school. All it should have taken was a gentle persuasion from his mom to write the letter to Jesus, and then another one to his Senator asking, "Why can't I talk to Jesus in school?"

Suing for 1.5 Million dollars ... *sigh* gives Christians a bad name. If they win, I hope they tithe :money: :good:

Math, you're a priest, that's why.

Ok, so the kid is just following his beliefs(good thing). He has an idiotic mom who is sueing the school board because of her beliefs(bad thing). The teacher sounds like my english teacher I had for 10 months(REALLY bad thing). Ah well, the atorney is good(REALLY good thing). It's even out. Kill the teacher, send the mom to a atheist asylum, and get the atorney to foster the child, putting him back in school of course. :)

I wrote letters to Smokey the Bear and to Santa Claus when I was in 2nd grade - I received replies from both of them!!!

Kind of :yot: but I though I'd include it. I can't believe the teacher made such a big deal about who the kid writes to - They're kids!!! Sheesh! I mean, I'd like to write a letter to Britney Spears, who is a real live person, but I doubt I'd get any kind of response!

What's really sad about this is the attention its getting...other stupid hicks might catch on.

The problem is not so much the attention but the type of lawyer involved at the suers side. Personally I find the kind of lawyer disgusting who offers his assistance on the basis of sharing the compensation with the victim - like: my support won't cost you anything, but if you win I'll get 50% ... iirc that is pretty common among compensation lawyers in the US.

IMO there is something seriously wrong with the US legal system ... but that's just my opinion. In germany a lawyer working like that would risk loosing his admittance/ license by decision of the professional association of lawyers.

Bel, Brittney didn't respond to you?

I got a signed picture in the mail with a letter that says, "Timmy, hope you grow up into a fine young man. You're handwriting is very nice for a 3rd grader."

I responded that I was actaully a 31 year old... and got a restraining order overnighted to my attention.

She's very prompt! :grin:

I don't think the mom believes in God, she just sees her 'religion' as a way to suck money from the system. :money: Not a very moral woman. As for me, I'm a semi-Santiana Catholic. (My dad's a true Santiana Catholic; grew up in a Catholic family, later decided he didn't beleive in God, yet he believes that the Catholic religion is good for humanity/society/etc. I share his belief there, though I wasn't raised as he was.)

I was thinking how could the mom sue can she see the kid is either a smart ass or has no commen scence. If he's the first one she should ignore the whole thing. If he has no commen scence it shows because it's obvious Jesus can not write back to him hey little buddy Jesus is dead. So no this kid is not sweet he is either a smart little devil :evil: or he is just dumb :confused: .

I don't even know how to begin to respond to that. This kid is a christian. In christianity, Jesus is still alive, sitting beside his father as God. Don't attempt to throw around slander like that and apply it to other people, please. While you are more than welcome to believe what you will, don't try to tell someone that their God is dead just because you believe that.

The kid is not at fault here. I agree that the mother is just trying to sue to milk the system. The teacher was stupid as well for not handling the matter diplomatically. The kid is the victim here. He'll likely be traumatized by this whole ordeal.

I think Tal should start a international lawsuit against the school and the mother; for $3 million USD. For emotional suffering inflicted during the discussion on his forum.

*IMAGINE* what kind of bandwidth he could afford after that little donation.

OC-48?

ej, Great Idea! :)

But Tal should sue the school for 1.5 mil, because of the jerk of a teacher, and the Mom for 1.5 for her stupidity over taking her kid out. That away the school is out 3mil, and the Mom is back where she started, so she will have to move somewhere else to put her kid in a different district!

The truly immoral part of this is that she is suing the school district... So they might end up paying insane amounts of money for attourneys and possibly also for a settlement. I mean, if you want to milk McDonalds, I can in some way relate, but public schools? That's kind of evil, taking money from the needy children and all.. :(

Heh, ej, he'd probably win that lawsuit too. Since when are schools child shelters? I dislike the idea of milking anyone for that kind of money. That's the problem with America, nobody is willing to work for their money.

Rastor, your uninformed, sweeping generalizations are beginning to piss me off. How the hell can you say
That's the problem with America, nobody is willing to work for their money. Once again, you are wrong.

[ August 19, 2002, 18:25: Message edited by: SlimShogun ]

Hmmmm,
To all those who are confused as to who i am, im Sephiroth_2, renowned for typos, and other random swearin and sh**.

I personally vbelieve, that someone, somewhere, is the great great great grandson (with only a few mre greats) and hes sitting there thinking, when my Great(x78) Granpappy wrote that, it was just fer a laugh, lol

SUCKERS!

(as you can tel, im not religious, but im not prejudiced either, i hae everyone the same) :p :D ;)

SlimShogun, maybe *you* are, and maybe *I* am, but I have seen far too many people milking the system to not be convinced that the laziness of Americans is going to end up being our downfall.

Anyway, if you don't like the posts, don't read them. It's real simple.

Rest assured, that I have formed my own opinions about the quality of life in our nation. I am not attempting to influence yours and I encourage you to disagree with them if you feel otherwise. Please do not get all emotional over it.

[ August 20, 2002, 20:15: Message edited by: Rastor ]

A couple of points here:

The point of the assignment was not to get a response. The point was to write a letter.

Also, the mother is suing to make a point. Suing for $15 does not make a point. Suing for $1.5 million makes a point. If the school district does not want to pay it, then it can change its policies. Suing for $1.5 million also makes it national news, brings attention to your cause, and encourages other school districts not to make the same mistake.

It's not a matter of taking money from public schools, because all they'd have to do is allow a kid to send a letter to Jesus. Big freakin' deal. Instead, the school district decided to take an idiotic moral stand. The bureaucrats deserve to get sued for far more than $1.5 million.

[ August 20, 2002, 21:28: Message edited by: Shralp ]

What he said, only minus the long confuzzkling words :s

[When all you have to contribute to a topic is nothing, consider not posting in the future - BTA]

[ August 20, 2002, 23:23: Message edited by: Blackthorne TA ]

You're correct, Rastor. I must've forgot my Ritalin/Motrin/Children's Tylenol/Birth control pill when I wrote that post, because I *sure* was emotional! I also made a completely incorrect statement about 270 million+ people. Oh wait, that was you! It's probably because of my rampant emotions. Oh and if you don't like this post, please don't read it.

Actually, Shralp, suing for $15 WOULD make a point. And that point would be saying "I'm not greedy, I just think this is wrong". The case is, by its nature, such that it will get national attention. Anything that exposes the conflict between education and religion is newsworthy these days, and rightly so.

I do think that this woman is trying to make a buck here. That doesn't mean that she doesn't feel strongly about this, but I do believe that greed has a part in it.

Also, I'm unsure about this, but what would happen if the school would just about now change their mind, and say, "fine, send in that letter"? Would the lawsuit also disappear? I'm not so sure.

No, it wouldn't. The school district would pay the $15. End of story. It dies and goes away. And they then continue their same policies, which is exactly what the mother is trying to change.

I do not know if she's a greedy person or not. I've never met her. But I do know that what she is doing is what one must do in order to change the system.

I also made a completely incorrect statement about 270 million+ people. Oh wait, that was you!Completely incorrect, eh? As of April 1, 2000 the population of the United States was 281,421,906. Since you're the type that always wants proof, here it is: http://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html . But, this is completely :yot:

I never thought of the idea that the mother was attempting to make a political statement. I do agree that $15 is not going to prove anything. $1.5M is a bit excessive though, simply to make a point.

[ August 21, 2002, 17:34: Message edited by: Rastor ]

Hey, Rastor! Do you know what 270 million+ means? IT MEANS MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY MILLION. That's why there's a + (plus) sign. A PLUS sign means more than.

[ August 21, 2002, 18:44: Message edited by: SlimShogun ]

Why dont she sue the teacher? If anyone made a mistake it was him/her. What really upsets me is that this gets any attention at all. Religion is a personal thing that should be kept to oneself. Sure a kid should be allowed to write a letter to his religious hero, but come ooooon, whats the big deal? Lets keep religoun in our homes shall we? And with people of same mind.

It sounded although you were saying that my estimate of 270 million+ people that I posted in another thread was wrong. My apologies.

Jesus may not personally respond, but the kid might get his letter published in that "Letters to Jesus" book that releases a new edition every year. That thing is a riot.

And if you think that the fact that the woman *suing* for 1.5 million dollars is ever going to *see* that amount, then you don't know much about the law. Shralp's absolutely right about that...anybody ever read the Constitution? I'm sure there's something in there about "petitioning the government for a redress of grievances"...or something to that effect.

Slim, you kill me. Keep it up.
Rastor: Take a pill.