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.
On his attorney's advice, Williams, who continues to teach, no longer gives interviews.
He became an overnight darling of the Christian right thanks to coverage by programs such as Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes," which traveled to Cupertino for a broadcast on the suit.
"It's just sad to me that the separation of church and state has been just kind of warped to mean that we can't even include some of our founding documents in the classroom," Williams said on the show.
In the suit, Williams says he had no intention of proselytizing.
Parents have accused him of doing just that.
Their complaints prompted Stevens Creek Principal Patricia Vidmar in May to begin screening Williams' lesson plans for religious content.
According to court documents, Vidmar, who declined to be interviewed because of the litigation, disallowed a batch of writings by George Washington, John Adams and William Penn, as well as a list of what nine presidents have said about the Bible (Thomas Jefferson: "The Bible makes the best people in the world.").
In addition, Vidmar ordered Williams not to assign an Easter exercise.
Several parents said the lesson would have involved reading the Easter story in the Bible, reviewing some teachings of Jesus Christ and interviewing Christian families and church workers.
Cupertino schools Supt. William Bragg, who monitored Vidmar's dealings with Williams, said she excluded the Declaration of Independence passages from Williams' lesson plans because "they were embedded in all this material" that mainly focused on religion.
Bragg added that he had grown concerned that the 38-year-old teacher was overemphasizing religion to the point of violating the rights of students and parents.
And he said much of the material Williams wanted to use was far too sophisticated for fifth-graders, such as a selection from "The Principles of Natural Law," in which 18th century Swiss jurist and professor Jean Jacques Burlamaqui addresses the existence of God.
"We had no inkling a lawsuit was coming," said Bragg, sitting in his office in the district's worn but tidy headquarters. "We try to work through these things. We felt it was under control."
The superintendent said his schools follow state guidelines in teaching students of the historical importance of religion, do not subscribe to the position that "under God" should be removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, and have featured Christian carols in holiday music programs.
