The Liberty Council, affiliated with Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, launched its annual “Friend or Foe” Graduation Prayer Campaign on Tuesday. The group and the campaign seek “to educate and, if necessary, litigate to ensure that prayer and religious viewpoints are not suppressed.” But before Christians begin picketing graduations, we should ask an important question: could a push for religion in schools actually backfire?

Conservative organizations do need to fight for religious free speech. The ACLU is roving the country, devouring any case with even the slightest fragrance of progressivism, liberalism, and anti-Christian sentiments. But treating religion as a deposed king and advocating for its return to the throne within public schools might have far greater consequences than many realize.

A case in Mount Vernon, OH highlights the difficulty. There, the community is divided over middle school science teacher John Freshwater. His display of a Bible on his desk led to an investigation after some parents accused him of proselytizing. Understandably, people see this as an attack on Christianity and are outraged. But the local paper reported that many parents and students, in their fight for religious expression, have ignored the elephant in the science room: “Religion” means more than Christianity.

A fight for Christianity in schools is a fight for religious expression, and that includes religions other than Christianity. If Christianity is allowed in schools, there’s a strong case to afford Hinduism, Islam, and Wiccan the same opportunity. Christians advocating the Bible be put back in the classroom have to ask themselves if they are alright with the Book of Mormon receiving the same status. And as the Mount Vernon case shows, many are not.

Still, there seems a double standard. Mention the Bible in public schools and the ACLU cries for equality. Mention the Quran, and it falls silent. As Lynn Vincent points out over at worldmagblog, Christians find themselves in a dilemma, “While the ACLU does seem to butter its bread by barring from public school classrooms the Bible and any talk of the Christian God, ‘other’ religions seem to get a pass. But should Christians fight the inequity by quashing the public display of other religions or advocating for equal time?”

In this day and age, it can be tough to be a public school science teacher who believes in the Bible and questions evolution. I’m sure that many, so that they can keep their jobs and not be “Expelled,” quietly follow the dictates of their local school districts. John Freshwater, who teaches middle school science in Mount Vernon, Ohio, has had his share of run-ins with his bosses in the 21 years he’s taught in the Mount Vernon school system over his views of evolution versus intelligent design.

Last week, Freshwater agreed to a directive from the school district and his principal that ordered him to take down a poster of the Ten Commandments from his classroom door and posters featuring Bible verses from the walls, and to remove Bibles from a shelf, but he has refused to get rid of his personal Bible he keeps on his classroom desk. “[That Bible is] something he draws personal inspiration from,” R. Kelly Hamilton, one of Freshwater’s attorneys, told The Columbus Dispatch. “It just so happens that it’s a Bible. For some people it’s a personal photograph or a coffee mug.”

The school district, of course, fears that a Bible sitting on a teacher’s desk shows favoritism toward a particular religion and violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. (In its statement, the school district did not address any concerns it had over its denial of the Free Exercise Clause.) And, not surprisingly, the ACLU has weighed in, coming down on the side of the school district.

On Thursday, hundreds of supportive students held a rally at the high school and started a petition drive for the teacher who’s affectionately known as “Fresh H2O.” They also made a statement by bringing their own Bibles to school and plopping them down on their desks.

Barbara Smith, a mother of one of Freshwater’s former students, told the Mount Vernon News, “If he was doing something wrong I could understand it. He’s not doing anything wrong. They have taken everything away out of the schools. … When I was in school, we prayed in the morning. Now, they don’t. That’s what’s wrong with the schools today. The discipline has gotten so out of control. The kids have gotten so out of control. They’ve taken everything [the values] out.”

And, of course, we have things like this happening (or, in this case, almost happening) in schools today.

UPDATE (April 23): Today’s Mount Vernon News reported on an investigation of Freshwater’s conduct. (HT: Erasmus)