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NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 20, 2004

CONTACT: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355

TRADITIONAL VALUES GROUP URGES DISTRICT NOT TO LIMIT FREE SPEECH

(Harrisburg) -- Today in a statement sent to the Warwick School District in Lancaster County a traditional values group urged the superintendent and school board not to limit the free speech of Christian students. "Our concern is that the new poster policy to be voted on this evening may limit the religious speech of the student-run Warwick Bible study group," Diane Gramley, president of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), commented.

In the past the group has been prohibited from placing posters for the See You At The Pole event which takes place at the beginning of the school year. The administration viewed the posters as too controversial. In addition Bible verses are not permitted to be included on the group's posters.

"Christians do not have to drop their constitutionally protected free speech at the schoolhouse door. The student Bible study group has the same rights as the other extra curricular clubs and organizations," continued Gramley.

If the board votes to limit the poster content of the Bible study group, the school may be engaging in viewpoint-based and/or content-based discrimination. It is the hopes of the AFA of PA that the administration and school board will see the necessity of allowing the Christian group the full range of its protected religious speech

"The district's mission statement is 'to enable all students to acquire the knowledge, skills, and the values necessary to become responsible, productive, and resourceful citizens.' Our hope is that the district sees the integral part that the student Bible group plays in fulfilling this mission statement and will not interfere in any way with it ," Gramley concluded.

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