{"id":568,"date":"2009-02-20T10:04:08","date_gmt":"2009-02-20T10:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gospelsoundcheck\/2009\/02\/counselor-suspended-after-teen.html"},"modified":"2009-02-20T10:04:08","modified_gmt":"2009-02-20T10:04:08","slug":"counselor-suspended-after-teen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gospelsoundcheck\/2009\/02\/counselor-suspended-after-teen.html","title":{"rendered":"Counselor Suspended After Teens Exposed to Christian Music at Surf Jam"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AlexGraySurfJam06.jpg\"<\/span>OK, this has got to be one of the weirdest stories I’ve read in a while.
\nApparently, a Southern California woman who is a counselor for foster kids was suspended after four teen girls who were on an approved outing with her overheard Christian music at the beach.
\nSeriously, the world has gone crazy.<\/p>\n


\nThe woman, who, according to a press release from Pacific Justice Institute,<\/a> had almost 20 years of experience, took four girls for a 5K run and then stopped at the beach. While eating lunch there, they were exposed to the music from a beach fest called Surf Jam at the Huntington Beach Pier<\/a>.
\nWhen they got back from the field trip, the counselor was ordered into a disciplinary meeting and when the incident was reviewed months later, was suspended for six weeks for “exposing children to unapproved religious activities.”
\nYou’re kidding me, right? She was suspended for that?<\/em> She has filed a lawsuit against Orange County to “recover the financial losses she suffered from the suspension and to vindicate her constitutional rights.” Good for her.
\nThe incident and event took place in 2006, so I did a little searching for Surf Jam to see what, exactly, the festival entailed. According to the Surf Jam website,<\/a> the event was “a mix of top professional surfers, celebrities from the world of stage and screen, and Surfrider Foundation activists from across the country, to surf and compete with one another, all in an effort to help raise awareness and support for our nation’s beach and coastal environments.”
\nWhat the kids probably heard was Switchfoot, who is listed on the list of athletes\/celebrities attending. The guys are really into surfing so I can why they’d be there. I don’t know if the band played live, or if the event just played the band’s music over loudspeakersm or if that’s even what they heard. Sure, the guys in Switchfoot are Christians. But also on the list was Incubus. This was clearly not a Christian event, or an evangelistic event. Besides, Switchfoot is a very mainstream act.
\nWhat if she’s taken them shopping and they’d been in store and heard Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take The Wheel”? Would that also have been an unapproved religious activity worthy of suspension? GIve me a break.
\nYou can read more about this at the Pacific Justice Institute’s website<\/a>. The Pacific Justice Institute is a non-profit 501(c)(3) legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom, parental rights, and other civil liberties. The organization works free of charge.
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\nGospel Soundcheck posts about Switchfoot<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, this has got to be one of the weirdest stories I’ve read in a while. Apparently, a Southern California woman who is a counselor for foster kids was suspended after four teen girls who were on an approved outing with her overheard Christian music at the beach. 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