A federal judge in Illinois ruled that a state school district is not responsible for the actions of a teacher who allegedly proselytized students in a public school classroom, leading a Muslim student to convert to Christianity.
Judge Iain D. Johnston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, ruled that officials of Community Unit School District 300 were not responsible for the teacher’s actions, as he was disciplined and later resigned after being confronted by those public school officials.
The ruling is the latest twist in a long-running legal dispute over religion at Jacobs High School in Algonquin, Illinois — a northwest suburb of Chicago — and, in particular, the conversion of a teenage Muslim student.
Yosuf Chaudhry and Amena Alvi, who are Muslim, sued Community Unit School District 300 in 2020 after learning their then-teenage daughter converted to Christianity as a student at Jacobs. While at the school, their daughter, referred to in a complaint as “B.D.,” allegedly met with a teacher named Pierre Thorsen, who taught world history and world religions and also sponsored a student Christian group called Uprising.
Popular teacher also named in complaint
Thorsen, a popular teacher who was named Educator of the Year for Kane County, Illinois in 2015, was also named in the complaint.
“Thorsen would repeatedly engage in conversations with students before, during, and after school where he would advocate for his faith and cast doubt, belittle or discount other faiths,” the complaint alleged.
After the couple’s daughter converted, Thorsen allegedly also introduced her to members of his church who offered to take her in if her family disowned her because of her change in religion. She also received a Bible from her teacher, according to a revised version of the couple’s complaint, filed in 2023.
‘Goal was reconciliation’
In his answer to the lawsuit filed by Chaudhry and Alvi, Thorsen acknowledged giving lectures in churches but denied using his role as a teacher to try to convert students. He also denied that he criticized non-Christian faiths but did acknowledge giving the couple’s daughter a Bible after she requested one. He also said she had used a borrowed Bible during Uprising meetings. He acknowledged putting the daughter in touch with people outside the school who could help her if her parents were angered by the conversion.
“The goal was reconciliation and not legal emancipation,” according to an answer to the parents’ complaint. “The Bible and contact information were provided after B.D. already professed conversion to Christianity, and after B.D. read the Bible on her cell phone provided by her parents.”
Thorsen defended discussions of religion in a public school and said he did not try to persuade B.D. to convert but instead suggested she speak to other Muslims about her faith questions.
School officials argued that they confronted Thorsen about his actions after Chaudhry and Alvi complained and that he was disciplined and resigned soon afterward.
The judge agreed. Johnston said the couple had repeatedly failed to make a case that the district was responsible. He also said no other teachers appeared to have promoted religion, making it unlikely the district approved of such conduct.
Countersuits still active
The couple’s lawsuit against Thorsen remains active, and an attorney for the couple said they plan to also appeal Johnston’s ruling but it will have to wait until the case against Thorsen is decided.
After Chaudhry and Alvi told their story to the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper, Thorsen sued the couple for defamation.
Thorsen also has sued the school district, alleging school officials discriminated against his Christian faith and saying they misled him into thinking he would be fired if he did not resign. In his lawsuit against the district, Thorsen claims that any discussion of religion took place in a “legitimate pedagogical way” and that he was pressured to quit because talking about Christianity made people uncomfortable.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This article was written by Bob Smietana for Religion News Service and first appeared at religionnews.com. The full version of the article has been trimmed down and is reprinted with permission.
