The parents of a fifth-grade boy filed suit claiming their son was wrongly barred from giving his classmates slips of paper bearing Bible verses during his Christmas party at a Satsuma public school.
An attorney for Robert Dowd and his parents say they not trying to "rip the school system off" over the incident, which occurred in December.
"We just want this child to have what we believe is his legal right," said George Arnold, the family's lawyer.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money and a ruling stating the boy can pass out religious messages at school.
An attorney for the school system disputed the lawsuit's claims.
According to the suit, Robert and his mother, Suzette Dowd, made "joy jars" for him to give classmates at a Christmas party at Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Satsuma on Dec. 18. The gifts were small jars stuffed with slips of paper containing Bible verses and positive messages about Jesus.
But while students were away at recess, teacher Myra Lucas opened the jars and removed the slips after discussing them with Principal Deborah Altman, according to the suit.
Lucas later told Robert that "because there are Muslims and all sorts of religions, Downtown won't let you bring those things," the lawsuit claims, apparently referring to system administrators and rules against promoting religion in public schools. Altman later told Suzette Dowd essentially the same thing, the suit states.
The family sued Lucas, Altman, Mobile County Superintendent Harold Dodge and the school system in federal court.
Altman said school system policy prevented her and Lucas from discussing the suit, but an attorney for the school system, Derek Atchison, said officials "disagree with the version of the facts as presented by Mr. Arnold."
"We feel like the school system complied with federal law regarding this matter," said Atchison. The system had not filed a written response on Tuesday to the suit, filed Feb. 12.
Guidelines issued by the state to explain court rulings on religion in the classroom say students can distribute religious material in the same way they are allowed to distribute other material unrelated to class. Schools, however, cannot support one religion over another.
"I think you really have to stretch your imagination to say that a child handing out gifts at a Christmas party is government endorsement of religion," Arnold said.
The Dowds' daughter, Kelsey, passed out virtually identical jars in her third-grade class at the same school on the same day with no problems, according to the lawsuit. Arnold said the girls' teacher apparently was unaware of the slips of paper.