Article: Religious Expression in Public Schools

RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The First Amendment Protects Student and Faculty Rights
Carmen and Greg Mills
March 30, 1998

This document is intended to serve as a resource for teachers and others working with the public education system in the US. Most of the paper deals with what is and isn't protected religious expression under current law and is not intended to refute, debate, or even state an opinion on those laws. If any of the information is in error or has become outdated please notify the authors at gmills@concordnc.com.

George Washington once said that you could not have national morality apart from religious principals (Richardson, 1899, p. 220). In 1962, the United States Supreme Court ruled that officially sponsored school prayer should be banned. In 1940, a survey of teachers was conducted in which the teachers commented that the biggest problems in school were chewing gum and talking in class. In 1990, a similar survey found that teachers now are more concerned about rape and murder (Licciardello, 1994, p. 153-154) . In 1994, Newt Gingrich ran on the platform that if he were elected Speaker of the House he would push for our schools to have organized worship. Many people disagreed with him, claiming that we need a whole lot more than prayer to solve our problems. However, it is at least valuable to note that when religious expression is suppressed in the schools our national morals seem to decrease proportionately.

Under the first amendment student and faculty rights to religious expression are protected. Just because a person takes a public job doesn’t mean they forfeit their rights to religious expression. However, the law does mandate a certain amount of respect from teachers for belief systems they do not subscribe too. The Constitution of the United States says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances (US Constitution, 1789)." So does this statement protect our religious freedom, protect us from religion or can it effectively do both?

This is a lot of talk about the constitution mandating a "separation of Church and State." The idea actually comes from outside writings of the same period. One of which was Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802. He said, "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between a man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and State (Jefferson, 1802)." Thomas Jefferson was writing from France were he was seeing first hand the corruption of a system where the Kings claimed divine sovereignty (the same sort of system Americans fought to free themselves from). The idea of separation of Church and State was to protect the establishments from being corrupted by each other.

The first ammendment does not set a precident for regulating the religious expression of individuals. And, that is not implied in the original concept of church and state seperation either. With that understood, then what forms of religious expression in a school setting are the protected acts of individuals, and which ones begin to resemble the establishment of a state endorsed religion? Only those actions which force an individual to participate in worship against his own will, or any action by a teacher or administrator that would have the appearance of the public school endorsing one religion over another would be in direct violation of the US constitution. The teacher's position as representative of the public school should limit their ability to freely express thier religious beliefs only becuase when they are acting in an official capacity as a teacher it could be misconstrued that their religious beliefs have state backing.

Confusion over the concept of separation of Church and State have led to some alarming violations of people’s constitutionally protected rights in public schools. In Atlanta, Georgia a senior in a public high school was suspended for passing a note which contained the date and time of the next Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s meeting. The student he passed the message to received a written warning that the possession of any more "Christian material" could lead to suspension as well (Charisma & Christian Life, p. 66). In Decatur, Illinois a second grade teacher forced her students to mark out the word "God" from their phonics text books because she believed it was illegal to mention God in a public school (Richardson, p. 220).

Afraid of opening themselves up to lawsuit, school administrators and teachers often think that safest policy is to not allow any form of religious expression in their schools. In doing so they trample on the rights of their students and faculty. We’ve removed the Judeo-Christian value system (that most people upheld regardless of their faith) and replaced it with one where right and wrong is subjective and judged by the individual. In doing so we’ve forced religious students to be disconnected from the value system of their parents. Our public value system is one where anything might be permissible depending on the context of the situation. Chewing gum in class, or even murder becomes more and more difficult to discipline. If the root of that problem is in fact an exaggeration of the concept of separation of Church and State in public schools, then the solution is not in more laws regarding the protection or restriction of faith and worship. We must educate the educators about their rights and the rights of their students to allow people to reconnect with the values of their faith system.

When dealing with religious issues it is important to consider the rights of the students first. Student prayer can be had individually or as a group, unless it interferes with school functions and classroom participation. Students may pray out loud or silently but can’t force others to listen or join in. "See You at the Pole" is an annual event where Christian students meet at their school’s flagpole to pray for their friends, teachers, and country. This type of assembly is legally protected. There has been a lot of legal attention given to graduation prayers. The federal government has not really made a decision on this issue. It is important for administrators to check with their lawyers to see what type of legal decisions in their area affect this particular type of student led prayer. Students are almost always allowed to do reports, homework, and artwork that represent their religious beliefs. Students are also allowed to pass out religious material as long as it meets the standards for all other outside literature and it is shared at an appropriate time, place, and manner. Students have a right to talk to their peers about their beliefs. Religious clubs can be set up in secondary school and should be given the opportunity to promote their meetings like any other campus club. Students also have the right to wear religious T-shirts and other articles of clothing that represent their religious beliefs. Similarly, students may not be forced to wear gym clothes or uniforms that they find immodest based on their religious background (The Interfaith Alliance Foundation, www)

The teacher’s position is little more complicated. Their rights to religious expression are protected as well. However, because they hold a public position of authority, they must be careful that their private religious beliefs do not become associated with their public school. Religion is a major factor in the study of history and social sciences. Teachers can teach about religious beliefs, but they cannot "teach religion" in the way that a church Sunday school teacher might. Science teachers may discuss scientific evidence that supports creationism in the same way they teach evolution. They must be careful that while the present the evidence supporting a creation model, they do not specifically point to one religion’s "God" as that creator. As in all opinion related assignments teachers must be careful not to allow their religious beliefs to affect the grades they assign homework. Teachers are free to objectively present the background for religious holidays, but may only lead the class in the observance of secular holidays or secular celebrations of religious holidays. Students have the right to be excused from these types of celebrations if they are uncomfortable. Teachers may teach values or character education as long as it doesn’t contradict religious principals (The Interfaith Alliance, www).

It is a shame that mutual respect for people’s religious beliefs cannot prevail, but that these guidelines must be defined so finitely instead. You can bet that every time one of these lines have been set that it was at great expense and through much debate in court. One that I have already mentioned was Engle versus Vitale in 1962, which outlawed the practice of mandatory school prayers. That same case ruled students could not be forced to read the Bible. That decision was amended in 1963 to state that students could be required to read the Bible as a part of a secular history or literary lesson (Farris, p. 89). In 1987, in the case of Edwards versus Aquilland the Supreme Court overturned the Balanced Treatment Act of Louisiana, which required that equal time be given to the creation and evolutionary theories of life (Farris, p. 99). In 1987, congress passed the Equal Access Act, which said that student lead religious groups could not be discriminated against on the secondary level. The Supreme Court upheld that act in 1991 with a decision in the Mergens versus Westside Board of Education case (Licciardello, p. 154). West Virginia State Board of Education versus Barnette in 1943 ruled that it violated student’s rights to force them to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States against their belief system (Farris, p.89).

President Bill Clinton made an attempt to help clear up some of the confusion about religious expression in public a statement on July 12^th, 1995. In that address he laid out the following guidelines

1. Students have the right to pray individually and in groups during the school day.
2. Students have the right to wear religious messages on their clothing if they are allowed to wear non-religious messages.
3. Students can participate in religious events before and after school.
4. Students can express religious beliefs in their homework, artwork, and any other assignment as long as it relates to the assignment.
5. Students may read the bible, say grace before meals and pray before exams.
6. Students may discuss religious topics with peers.
7. Public schools can teach religion but not provide religious instruction.
8. Students have the right to distribute religious material when other material is permitted that is unrelated to school activities.
9. Religious groups have the same access to school facilities as other student groups (Christian Century, 1995).

It is apparent that the law, as designed by the writers of the Constitution, exists to protect the rights of students from a government system that mandates a certain idea of religion. Part of a teacher's responsibility is to ensure each student’s rights are respected. It is extremely important that those working in the public school system know the law. Within the law, teachers can be religious people, but they cannot impose our ideas of God and faith on others. It’s a simple matter of respect. We would not want a belief system forced on us either. The idea behind separation of Church and State is not to do deny the significance of either, but to keep the government out of the spiritual lives of the people. If school administrations can understand the law and respect the diversity of beliefs and practices, we will find that the spiritual experience gives students something that we cannot. Students find clear value system to base their lives on, a community of faith to nurture them, and hope for the future.

Amanda Pingel, "Religion in Schools," The Vocal Point (1995):
(http://bvsd.k12.co.us/cent/Newspaper/sep95/religion_AP2.html).

"Bill of Rights" U.S. Constitution. United States Continental of Congress (1789).
The Constitution of the United States of America. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

"Christians In Court, "Charisma &Christian Life (Dec. 1990). p.66.

"Clinton on Religion in Schools." Christian Century 2-9 August 1995:734.

Farris, Pamela (1996). Teaching, Bearing The Torch.
Dubuque, IA: Times Mirror Higher Education Group, Inc.

Free To Believe. Videocassette. Films for the Humanities Inc., 1987.

James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the President,
1789-1897 (Published by Authority of Congress, 1899), Vol.1, p.220.

Licciardello, Carman (1994). Raising The Standard.
Nashville, Tennessee: Sparrow Press.

"Religion In The Public Schools: A Joint Statement of Current Law,"
The Interfaith AllianceFoundation (1995): (http://www.tialliance.org/tiaf/tiafrips.html.).

Simpson, Micheal D. "School Prayer is Back." NEA 15 Sept. 1994:19.

"The law on religion in schools," The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center (1995):

(http://204.130.139.3/PUBLICAT/crossrds/law.htm).

Thomas Jefferson, letter, To Messeers. Nehemiah Dodge and others, a Committee of the Danbury Association , in the State of Connecticut January1, 1802: 1.