Religion in Public Schools: A Joint Statement of Current Law
Copyright 1994 - 2008 Endtime Prophecy Org
Last Updated : July 23, 2006
Taken from : http://www.schoolprayer.com
The Constitution permits much private religious activity in
and about the public schools. Unfortunately, this aspect of
constitutional law is not as well known as it should be.
Some say that the Supreme Court has declared the public
schools "religion-free zones" or that the law is so murky
that school officials cannot know what is legally
permissible. The former claim is simply wrong. And as to the
latter, while there are some difficult issues, much has been
settled. It is also unfortunately true that public school
officials, due to their busy schedules, may not be as fully
aware of this body of law as they could be. As a result, in
some school districts some of these rights are not being
observed.
The organizations whose names appear below span the
ideological, religious and political spectrum. They
nevertheless share a commitment both to the freedom of
religious practice and to the separation of church and state
such freedom requires. In that spirit, we offer this
statement of consensus on current law as an aid to parents,
educators and students.
Many of the organizations listed below are actively involved
in litigation about religion in the schools. On some of the
issues discussed in this summary, some of the organizations
have urged the courts to reach positions different than they
did. Though there are signatories on both sides which have
and will press for different constitutional treatments of
some of the topics discussed below, they all agree that the
following is an accurate statement of what the law currently
is.
Student Prayers
1. Students have the right to pray individually or in groups
or to discuss their religious views with their peers so long
as they are not disruptive. Because the Establishment Clause
does not apply to purely private speech, students enjoy the
right to read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace
before meals, pray before tests, and discuss religion with
other willing student listeners. In the classroom students
have the right to pray quietly except when required to be
actively engaged in school activities (e.g., students may
not decide to pray just as a teacher calls on them). In
informal settings, such as the cafeteria or in the halls,
students may pray either audibly or silently, subject to the
same rules of order as apply to other speech in these
locations. However, the right to engage in voluntary prayer
does not include, for example, the right to have a captive
audience listen or to compel other students to participate.
Graduation Prayer and Baccalaureates
2. School officials may not mandate or organize prayer at
graduation, nor may they organize a religious baccalaureate
ceremony. If the school generally rents out its facilities
to private groups, it must rent them out on the same terms,
and on a first- come first-served basis, to organizers of
privately sponsored religious baccalaureate services,
provided that the school does not extend preferential
treatment to the baccalaureate ceremony and the school
disclaims official endorsement of the program.
3. The courts have reached conflicting conclusions under the
federal Constitution on student-initiated prayer at
graduation. Until the issue is authoritatively resolved,
schools should ask their lawyers what rules apply in their
area.
Official Participation or Encouragement of Religious
Activity
4. Teachers and school administrators, when acting in those
capacities, are representatives of the state, and, in those
capacities, are themselves prohibited from encouraging or
soliciting student religious or anti-religious activity.
Similarly, when acting in their official capacities,
teachers may not engage in religious activities with their
students. However, teachers may engage in private religious
activity in faculty lounges.
Teaching About Religion
5. Students may be taught about religion, but public schools
may not teach religion. As the U.S. Supreme Court has
repeatedly said, "[i]t might well be said that one's
education is not complete without a study of comparative
religion, or the history of religion and its relationship to
the advancement of civilization." It would be difficult to
teach art, music, literature and most social studies without
considering religious influences.
The history of religion, comparative religion, the Bible (or
other scripture)-as-literature (either as a separate course
or within some other existing course), are all permissible
public school subjects. It is both permissible and desirable
to teach objectively about the role of religion in the
history of the United States and other countries. One can
teach that the Pilgrims came to this country with a
particular religious vision, that Catholics and others have
been subject to persecution or that many of those
participating in the abolitionist, women's suffrage and
civil rights movements had religious motivations.
6. These same rules apply to the recurring controversy
surrounding theories of evolution. Schools may teach about
explanations of life on earth, including religious ones
(such as "creationism"), in comparative religion or social
studies classes. In science class, however, they may present
only genuinely scientific critiques of, or evidence for, any
explanation of life on earth, but not religious critiques
(beliefs unverifiable by scientific methodology). Schools
may not refuse to teach evolutionary theory in order to
avoid giving offense to religion nor may they circumvent
these rules by labeling as science an article of religious
faith. Public schools must not teach as scientific fact or
theory any religious doctrine, including "creationism,"
although any genuinely scientific evidence for or against
any explanation of life may be taught. Just as they may
neither advance nor inhibit any religious doctrine, teachers
should not ridicule, for example, a student's religious
explanation for life on earth.
Student Assignments and Religion
7. Students may express their religious beliefs in the form
of reports, homework and artwork, and such expressions are
constitutionally protected. Teachers may not reject or
correct such submissions simply because they include a
religious symbol or address religious themes. Likewise,
teachers may not require students to modify, include or
excise religious views in their assignments, if germane.
These assignments should be judged by ordinary academic
standards of substance, relevance, appearance and grammar.
8. Somewhat more problematic from a legal point of view are
other public expressions of religious views in the
classroom. Unfortunately for school officials, there are
traps on either side of this issue, and it is possible that
litigation will result no matter what course is taken. It is
easier to describe the settled cases than to state clear
rules of law. Schools must carefully steer between the
claims of student speakers who assert a right to express
themselves on religious subjects and the asserted rights of
student listeners to be free of unwelcome religious
persuasion in a public school classroom.
a. Religious or anti-religious remarks made in the ordinary
course of classroom discussion or student presentations are
permissible and constitute a protected right. If in a sex
education class a student remarks that abortion should be
illegal because God has prohibited it, a teacher should not
silence the remark, ridicule it, rule it out of bounds or
endorse it, any more than a teacher may silence a student's
religiously-based comment in favor of choice.
b. If a class assignment calls for an oral presentation on a
subject of the student's choosing, and, for example, the
student responds by conducting a religious service, the
school has the right „ as well as the duty „ to prevent
itself from being used as a church. Other students are not
voluntarily in attendance and cannot be forced to become an
unwilling congregation.
c. Teachers may rule out-of-order religious remarks that are
irrelevant to the subject at hand. In a discussion of
Hamlet's sanity, for example, a student may not interject
views on creationism.
Distribution of Religious Literature
9. Students have the right to distribute religious
literature to their schoolmates, subject to those reasonable
time, place, and manner or other constitutionally-acceptable
restrictions imposed on the distribution of all non-school
literature. Thus, a school may confine distribution of all
literature to a particular table at particular times. It may
not single out religious literature for burdensome
regulation.
10. Outsiders may not be given access to the classroom to
distribute religious or anti-religious literature. No court
has yet considered whether, if all other community groups
are permitted to distribute literature in common areas of
public schools, religious groups must be allowed to do so on
equal terms subject to reasonable time, place and manner
restrictions.
"See You at the Pole"
11. Student participation in before- or after-school events,
such as "see you at the pole," is permissible. School
officials, acting in an official capacity, may neither
discourage nor encourage participation in such an event.
Religious Persuasion Versus Religious Harassment
12. Students have the right to speak to, and attempt to
persuade, their peers about religious topics just as they do
with regard to political topics. But school officials should
intercede to stop student religious speech if it turns into
religious harassment aimed at a student or a small group of
students. While it is constitutionally permissible for a
student to approach another and issue an invitation to
attend church, repeated invitations in the face of a request
to stop constitute harassment. Where this line is to be
drawn in particular cases will depend on the age of the
students and other circumstances.
Equal Access Act
13. Student religious clubs in secondary schools must be
permitted to meet and to have equal access to campus media
to announce their meetings, if a school receives federal
funds and permits any student non-curricular club to meet
during non-instructional time. This is the command of the
Equal Access Act. A non-curricular club is any club not
related directly to a subject taught or soon-to-be taught in
the school. Although schools have the right to ban all
non-curriculum clubs, they may not dodge the law's
requirement by the expedient of declaring all clubs
curriculum-related. On the other hand, teachers may not
actively participate in club activities and "non-school
persons" may not control or regularly attend club meetings.
The Act's constitutionality has been upheld by the Supreme
Court, rejecting claims that the Act violates the
Establishment Clause. The Act's requirements are described
in more detail in The Equal Access Act and the Public
Schools: Questions and Answers on the Equal Access Act*, a
pamphlet published by a broad spectrum of religious and
civil liberties groups.
Religious Holidays
14. Generally, public schools may teach about religious
holidays, and may celebrate the secular aspects of the
holiday and objectively teach about their religious aspects.
They may not observe the holidays as religious events.
Schools should generally excuse students who do not wish to
participate in holiday events. Those interested in further
details should see Religious Holidays in the Public Schools:
Questions and Answers*, a pamphlet published by a broad
spectrum of religious and civil liberties groups.
Excusal From Religiously-Objectionable Lessons
15. Schools enjoy substantial discretion to excuse
individual students from lessons which are objectionable to
that student or to his or her parent on the basis of
religion. Schools can exercise that authority in ways which
would defuse many conflicts over curriculum content. If it
is proved that particular lessons substantially burden a
student's free exercise of religion and if the school cannot
prove a compelling interest in requiring attendance the
school would be legally required to excuse the student.
Teaching Values
16. Schools may teach civic virtues, including honesty, good
citizenship, sportsmanship, courage, respect for the rights
and freedoms of others, respect for persons and their
property, civility, the dual virtues of moral conviction and
tolerance and hard work. Subject to whatever rights of
excusal exist (see #15 above) under the federal Constitution
and state law, schools may teach sexual abstinence and
contraception; whether and how schools teach these sensitive
subjects is a matter of educational policy. However, these
may not be taught as religious tenets. The mere fact that
most, if not all, religions also teach these values does not
make it unlawful to teach them.
Student Garb
17. Religious messages on T-shirts and the like may not be
singled out for suppression. Students may wear religious
attire, such as yarmulkes and head scarves, and they may not
be forced to wear gym clothes that they regard, on religious
grounds, as immodest.
Released Time
18. Schools have the discretion to dismiss students to
off-premises religious instruction, provided that schools do
not encourage or discourage participation or penalize those
who do not attend. Schools may not allow religious
instruction by outsiders on premises during the school day.
Appendix
Organizational Signers of "Religion in the Public Schools:
A Joint Statement of Current Law"
American Civil Liberties Union
American Ethical Union
American Humanist Association
American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Congress
American Muslim Council
Americans for Religious Liberty
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Anti-Defamation League
Baptist Joint Committee
B'nai B'rith
Christian Legal Society
Christian Science Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs
Federation of Reconstructionist Congregations and Havurot
Friends Committee on National Legislation
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Guru Gobind Singh Foundation
Interfaith Alliance
Interfaith Impact for Justice and Peace
National Association of Evangelicals
National Council of Churches
National Council of Jewish Women
National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council
(NJCRAC)
National Ministries, American Baptist Churches, USA
National Sikh Center
North American Council for Muslim Women
People for the American Way
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Union of American Hebrew Congregations
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Church of Christ, Office for Church in Society