A federal judge has awarded $150,000 in damages and legal costs to a former Chicago Public Schools student who claims he was forced to take part in a “Hindu ritual” that violated his constitutional religious rights.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly ruled last week in favor of Mariya Green, who had sued for allegedly feeling coerced into participating in a quiet time meditation program at Ashburn’s Bogan High School despite her Christian faith.
Green’s lawyer, John Mack, said in a statement that the program was a “thinly ostensible Hindu religious program” that asked participants to “pay homage in various ways to members of the Hindu pantheon.”
“Given Mary Green’s Christian faith and devotion to Jesus Christ, such idolatry is inconceivable,” her lawyers said.
Mack said Green felt he had to participate in the program because he was told his cooperation would count toward his grades, but he didn’t want to be kicked off the basketball team for poor grades — he’d transferred to the school for the basketball program.
A CPS spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the district eliminated the program from schools in 2020 but “continues to maintain that quiet time does not violate students’ constitutional rights.”
The judge’s decision was the result of a “voluntary settlement between the parties that was amicable,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “The district has always denied, and continues to deny, any liability resulting from quiet time, and no finding of liability has been made by a judge or jury in this case.”
The lawsuit names both the Chicago Board of Education and the David Lynch Foundation, which developed the program. The Chicago Board of Education is liable to pay $75,000, as is the foundation, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.
The foundation’s website says the meditation program aims to reduce “toxic stress levels” in young people’s lives, which could lead to higher graduation rates and fewer out-of-school suspensions overall.
Greene alleges in his lawsuit that the “Transcendental Meditation” program took place during school hours and that students were required to take part in an initiation ritual called a “puja” – an “expression of gratitude” to the founders of the practice.
According to the lawsuit, during the “puja”, the instructors recited “Sanskrit phrases acknowledging the powers of various Hindu deities and invoking their fellow Hindu deities to bestow their powers” but did not inform the students of their meaning.
Green learned of the “hidden religious nature” of the program and passed the information on to other CPS students and teachers at Bogan. When teachers warned her to meditate, she told them it was “not normal” and asked why the students weren’t learning, the lawsuit alleges.
Green, who graduated from Bogan High School in 2020, said she felt “alone and angry” because her opinion about the program was not respected and she was not given a choice about whether to participate. Mauk said the program was “a flagrant violation of Marija’s religious rights.”
“I thank the court for recognizing the serious constitutional issues at stake here. Mariya Green’s concerns were valid, her voice was heard and violators have been held accountable,” he said.
