CUPERTINO, Calif. — These have not been the happiest of holidays for Stevens Creek Elementary.
The Silicon Valley school has been engulfed in a media storm of allegations that it prohibited lessons on the Declaration of Independence -- even banned it from classrooms -- because the hallowed document contains religious references.
"It's been there for years," school secretary Kathleen Garfield said as she pointed to a framed replica of the declaration on a library wall, a few steps from a row of books devoted to religious customs. "This has just been devastating."
The Stevens Creek experience, complete with raging talk show commentary and a deluge of angry e-mail and telephone calls, is a primer on how painful and divisive the debate over God in public schools can be.
Some e-mail and calls have been vulgar and threatening, frightening school staffers and parents in this San Jose suburb. And though the initial furor has eased -- the campus curtailed extra security patrols -- a lasting resolution might be some time off.
The turmoil began when fifth-grade teacher Stephen Williams brought a federal civil rights lawsuit Nov. 22, accusing the Cupertino Union School District of illegally forbidding him to instruct students on the religious context of America's founding.
A self-described orthodox Christian, Williams claims he is being discriminated against because of his faith.
Excerpts from the Declaration of Independence are among the materials he is not allowed to teach, according to the suit.
District officials have denied the charges. Their formal response to the suit is due in court Jan. 14.
The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal group representing Williams, announced the suit with a news release headlined, "Declaration of Independence Banned From Classroom."
The release and some early media accounts did not mention that the full declaration is part of the Stevens Creek curriculum, that it is presented in the fifth-grade history textbook or that it is displayed on walls throughout the district.
The assertion that the declaration had been barred proved enough to make Stevens Creek fodder for reasoned discussion about the line between church and state, and Web-fueled attacks labeling the school godless, unpatriotic and communist.
"One guy told me he hoped I burned in hell," said Garfield, who told of crying so hard that she wondered if she could return to work.
