There are, no doubt, many quiet cases of religious discrimination that never make headlines. A submission to the News Wire alerted me to this one, but I was unable to post it on the Wire, because the story is told in three separate installments on a blog.

The story begins on 27 April, when high-school student Reed Braden lends one of his atheist friends a copy of The God Delusion, incurring the wrath of his friend’s father. Subsequently, Braden’s principal opens an investigation on Braden and threatens him with punishment, for, among other reasons, forcing the school into an establishment clause violation, and bringing to school a book not in line with the school’s curriculum. The principal goes so far as to assert that Braden would be breaking a rule if he himself were to read The God Delusion (or, for that matter, The Grapes of Wrath) on campus. Finally, two full months later, Braden gets the administration to back off.

No word on whether the principal has officially apologized to Braden for wasting his time. I suppose apologies aren’t in line with the school’s curriculum.