News Release

May 12, 2000

Centerville, Utah

Contact: Paul W. Mortensen, 801 298-7856

Separation of religion and government was violated when Ohio first-grade students, assisted by Vice President Al Gore, were required to write a letter to Mother Earth pledging to take care of her.

This is the finding of a summary report issued by the Jefferson 21st Century Institute which is available at www.j21c.org. The report resulted from reporters' accounts of Gore's campaign visit to Avondale Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio on April 11, 2000.

After hearing a story of woods and animals being displaced by a commercial development, the class of students jointly composed a letter to Mother Earth, which stated, "Dear Mother Earth, We will pick up trash. We can take care of our town. We promise to take care of you. Sincerely, Room 5." Gore, using a pointer, led the class in reading each sentence as it was written on a blackboard by a teacher.

"There's nothing wrong with teaching children to respect the environment, but the line is crossed when children are required to devotionally address Mother Earth and to pledge to take care of her," said Paul W. Mortensen, executive director of the Institute. "Mother Earth worship has repeatedly been recognized as religion by the courts."

In 1999 a New York federal court concluded that exhorting students to do something "to make Mother Earth smile" violated the religious rights of Catholic students. Also in 1999 a Utah school district apologized after submitting students to devotional declarations by Native Americans that the Earth was their Mother.

Reporters who covered the Gore visit found the activity to be "really weird" such that they questioned Avondale Principal Mary Ann Burns whether the activity had been prepared to correspond to beliefs held by Al Gore. Principal Burns stated that the activity was of the type the school usually would hold in anticipation of Earth Day which occurred subsequently on April 22, 2000. Principal Burns failed to respond to a letter from the Institute which offered her the opportunity to clarify the situation.

The Institute's report notes that Gore's 1992 book "Earth in the Balance -- Ecology of the Human Spirit" advocates the belief that the earth is sacred. The report states, "In the context of Vice President Gore's publicized visit, the school's eagerness to engage its students in writing a devotional to Mother Earth is of greater concern as it served to impress young children and the public generally that the public school system sponsors and favors spiritual beliefs which are not held by Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists and others who are unwilling to accept creation as divinity to be worshiped."

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