Often I say Americans do not realise how good their lot is in this world. Luckily, it is one of the few nations on earth where a case like this would turn into a lawsuit and the boy’s family might actually win.

If this was in Ghana or a ton of other religious nations worldwide, everyone would gleefully line up to punish that young boy. And a lawsuit? You have gotta be kidding me!

A 7 year old student in Indiana was ‘banished’ from sitting with other students at lunch after he expressed a non belief in God.

The child told a mate who asked him why he did not go church, that he did that because he did not believe in God. One teacher who found out banished him to sit by himself at lunch for three straight days in a row.

According to RawStory, the family of the boy, noted in the lawsuit as ‘A.B’, are suing the teacher in question. The punishment reinforced to the little boy that he had done something wrong, and he faced stigma due to the banishment.

“The defendant’s actions caused great distress to A.B. and resulted in the child being ostracized by his peers past the three-day ‘banishment.’”

“Ms. Meyer (the teacher) asked A.B. if he had told the girl that he did not believe in God and A.B. said he had and asked what he had done wrong,” the lawsuit explained. “Ms. Meyer asked A.B. if he went to church, whether his family went to church, and whether his mother knew how he felt about God… She also asked A.B. if he believed that maybe God exists.”

Several days later, Meyer sent A.B. to talk to another adult at the school, who “reinforced his feeling that he had done something very wrong,” the lawsuit said.

“On the day of the incident and for an additional two days thereafter, Ms. Meyer required that A.B. sit by himself during lunch and told him he should not talk to the other students and stated that this was because he had offended them. This served to reinforce A.B.’s feeling that he had committed some transgression that justified his exclusion.”

“A.B. came home from school on multiple occasions crying saying that he knows that everyone at school – teachers and students – hate him,” the suit continued. “Even now A.B. remains anxious and fearful about school, which is completely contrary to how he felt before this incident.”

The lawsuit is seeking damages and attorneys’ fees.

I know a lot of us would not get the point of this, but America is a secular state. Whilst the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, it also guarantees freedom from religion. The point is that everyone is free to practice whatever they want and the state would not choose sides, a teacher employed by the state is not supposed to choose sides. That is the ideal and what the rest of us should aspire to.

I don’t see why that is so difficult for the Christian right to get through their thick skulls.