Religious Freedom and Public Schools
From the August 18, 2009 e News issue
Americans need to know they do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…" - First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Public schools across America are warming up again, and the smells of pencil shavings, new backpacks and cafeteria lunches will soon fill the halls. With the sorrow of leaving summer behind and the excitement of new things ahead there comes a perennial question of how the US Supreme Court will allow God to fit into it all. After the landmark 1962 Supreme Court decision Engle vs Vitale, which ended school-sponsored prayer in American public schools, there has been confusion over whether students or teachers are allowed to pray, read their Bibles or engage in other religious activity on school grounds.
In August of 1995, the Secretary of Education issued guidelines on Religious Expression in Public Schools to clarify which activities were and were not constitutional and to prevent religious discrimination against public school students.
On February 7, 2003, then-Education Secretary Rod Paige issued a similar set of guidelines, updated under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to make adherence to the guidelines a requirement for receiving federal funding. Under the guidelines, schools must annually submit in writing to their state education agency that they are following the guidelines in good faith. Those who fail to attest to their compliance in writing, and those who have been faulted for failing to obey the guidelines, risk losing their federal funding. The guidelines clarify the religious rights of public school students during school hours. They note:
"As the Court has explained in several cases [i.e. Santa Fe Inept. Sch. Dist. v. Doe (2000) and Board of Educ. v. Mergens (1990)], 'there is a crucial difference between government speech endorsing religion, which the Establishment Clause forbids, and private speech endorsing religion, which the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses protect.'"
Schools must neither encourage nor discourage religious expression, and they may not discriminate against activity simply because it is religious in nature. As long as students initiate the religious activity themselves, and as long as the religious expression falls within the schools' rules of order, it cannot be discriminated against.
According to the Supreme Court in Everson v. Board of Education (1947), the First Amendment "requires the state to be a neutral in its relations with groups of religious believers and non-believers; it does not require the state to be their adversary. State power is no more to be used so as to handicap religions than it is to favor them."
So, how does that fit into everyday life at school?
Free Time:
If students have free time during which they may engage in non-religious activities - recess, lunch-time, and so forth - then they may also use that time for religious activities such as prayer or Bible reading.
Class Assignments:
Students may express their religious beliefs in class assignments – written, oral, or art work - without discrimination because the work is religiously oriented. Teachers are to grade assignments based on their academic quality without penalty or reward for religious themes or content.
Clubs:
Students may form prayer groups or religious clubs "to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other non-curricular student activities groups." According to the Supreme Court in Good News Club v. Milford Central School (2001), that includes access to school facilities. If a school's policy only permits clubs directly related to the curriculum, like history or math groups but not jazz or sailing groups, then it could also prohibit a religious club that is not connected to school curriculum.
Advertising:
If schools allow non-religious school groups to promote their activities through posters or school newspapers, then religious groups, like Bible or prayer clubs, must also be allowed to promote their activities.
Teachers:
According to the Supreme Court in Engel v. Vitale (1962) and School Dist. of Abington Twp. v. Schempp,(1963), public school teachers represent the state and may not lead classes in prayer or Bible reading. Teachers also may not compel children to engage in religious activities. Yet, teachers do retain their First Amendment rights in the public schools. While teachers must remain neutral and neither encourage or discourage their students' religious expression, teachers may pray or study the Bible by themselves or with other teachers.
Student Speeches:
There has been a lot of controversy over how to handle student speeches that contain religious themes. The guidelines offer a position that might surprise a few people. They say:
"Student speakers at student assemblies and extracurricular activities such as sporting events may not be selected on a basis that either favors or disfavors religious speech. Where student speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content."
In Lee v. Weisman (1992), the Supreme Court prohibited schools from specifically choosing somebody to pray at assemblies, and schools cannot pick students to speak because of religious or anti-religious motivation. However, as the Supreme Court explained in Board of Educ. v. Mergens (1990), "The proposition that schools do not endorse everything they fail to censor is not complicated." That applies even to public settings with public audiences. If it dares, a school can offer a neutral disclaimer saying that the content of student speeches is solely their own and not the school's, freeing students to speak about religious or non-religious or anti-religious themes as they choose.
Kevin Hasson, president of the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, commented, "What the guideline says is that if [prayer] is truly student-initiated -- if it's not rigged by the school district somehow -- then the First Amendment protects it."
If a school chooses strict pre-approval of all graduation speeches? Families and students may pray and talk about God freely at baccalaureate services.
Schools and teachers, parents and students should discuss these guidelines and become familiar with the religious freedoms students have in the public schools.
Students may pray when not engaged in school activities or instruction, subject to the same rules designed to prevent material disruption of the educational program that are applied to other privately initiated expressive activities. Among other things, students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray or study religious materials with fellow students during recess, the lunch hour, or other non instructional time to the same extent that they may engage in nonreligious activities. While school authorities may impose rules of order and pedagogical restrictions on student activities, they may not discriminate against student prayer or religious speech in applying such rules and restrictions.
Organized Prayer Groups and Activities
Students may organize prayer groups, religious clubs, and "see you at the pole" gatherings before school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other non-curricular student activities groups. Such groups must be given the same access to school facilities for assembling as is given to other non-curricular groups, without discrimination because of the religious content of their expression. School authorities possess substantial discretion concerning whether to permit the use of school media for student advertising or announcements regarding non-curricular activities. However, where student groups that meet for nonreligious activities are permitted to advertise or announce their meetings—for example, by advertising in a student newspaper, making announcements on a student activities bulletin board or public address system, or handing out leaflets—school authorities may not discriminate against groups who meet to pray. School authorities may disclaim sponsorship of non-curricular groups and events, provided they administer such disclaimers in a manner that neither favors nor disfavors groups that meet to engage in prayer or religious speech.
Teachers, Administrators, and other School Employees
When acting in their official capacities as representatives of the state, teachers, school administrators, and other school employees are prohibited by the Establishment Clause from encouraging or discouraging prayer, and from actively participating in such activity with students. Teachers may, however, take part in religious activities where the overall context makes clear that they are not participating in their official capacities. Before school or during lunch, for example, teachers may meet with other teachers for prayer or Bible study to the same extent that they may engage in other conversation or nonreligious activities. Similarly, teachers may participate in their personal capacities in privately sponsored baccalaureate ceremonies.
Moments of Silence
If a school has a "minute of silence" or other quiet periods during the school day, students are free to pray silently, or not to pray, during these periods of time. Teachers and other school employees may neither encourage nor discourage students from praying during such time periods.
Accommodation of Prayer during Instructional Time
It has long been established that schools have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises religious instruction, provided that schools do not encourage or discourage participation in such instruction or penalize students for attending or not attending. Similarly, schools may excuse students from class to remove a significant burden on their religious exercise, where doing so would not impose material burdens on other students. For example, it would be lawful for schools to excuse Muslim students briefly from class to enable them to fulfill their religious obligations to pray during Ramadan.
Where school officials have a practice of excusing students from class on the basis of parents' requests for accommodation of nonreligious needs, religiously motivated requests for excusal may not be accorded less favorable treatment. In addition, in some circumstances, based on federal or state constitutional law or pursuant to state statutes, schools may be required to make accommodations that relieve substantial burdens on students' religious exercise. Schools officials are therefore encouraged to consult with their attorneys regarding such obligations.
Religious Expression and Prayer in Class Assignments
Students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. Such home and classroom work should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by the school. Thus, if a teacher's assignment involves writing a poem, the work of a student who submits a poem in the form of a prayer (for example, a psalm) should be judged on the basis of academic standards (such as literary quality) and neither penalized nor rewarded on account of its religious content.
Student Assemblies and Extracurricular Events
Student speakers at student assemblies and extracurricular activities such as sporting events may not be selected on a basis that either favors or disfavors religious speech. Where student speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content. By contrast, where school officials determine or substantially control the content of what is expressed, such speech is attributable to the school and may not include prayer or other specifically religious (or anti-religious) content. To avoid any mistaken perception that a school endorses student speech that is not in fact attributable to the school, school officials may make appropriate, neutral disclaimers to clarify that such speech (whether religious or nonreligious) is the speaker's and not the school's.
Prayer at Graduation
School officials may not mandate or organize prayer at graduation or select speakers for such events in a manner that favors religious speech such as prayer. Where students or other private graduation speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, however, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content. To avoid any mistaken perception that a school endorses student or other private speech that is not in fact attributable to the school, school officials may make appropriate, neutral disclaimers to clarify that such speech (whether religious or nonreligious) is the speaker's and not the school's.
Baccalaureate Ceremonies
School officials may not mandate or organize religious ceremonies. However, if a school makes its facilities and related services available to other private groups, it must make its facilities and services available on the same terms to organizers of privately sponsored religious baccalaureate ceremonies. In addition, a school may disclaim official endorsement of events sponsored by private groups, provided it does so in a manner that neither favors nor disfavors groups that meet to engage in prayer or religious speech.
So the right to pray in school is protected by law provided it starts with the individual child or adult on their own time and within the rules of the school.The question is will the children and the parents promote prayer or religious study during non instructional time or will they continue to allow the practice of not engaging in pray at school to continue for fear of retribution from those who would oppose it.
I believe if Americans wish to stem the tide of Secular Socialism, that is strangling our society, then the battles must first be won in the home,then school,the churches, the town halls,the state capitals and then Washington.
Americans in their own homes can begin the battle to reclaim America by teaching their children the history of American and the individual exceptionalism that built this great country.Knowledge of the structure of our government as it is laid out in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will arm our children against the dumbing down effect of public education.
Since the 1962 Supreme Court decision Engle vs Vitale, which ended school-sponsored prayer in American public schools, something more insidious than banning prayer happened to American society.From that moment in time until now the bond between American homes and their schools was severed.No longer would the lessons learned at home be reinforced by our children's teachers in school.No longer would the public school teacher act " in loco parent" or in place of the parent.Our public schools were taken over by a federal government that had no mandate or right under the Constitution and our children since then have been used for fodder in social engineering experiments.Our children have become the property of the government and our involvement with them has been diminished so much that a vast number of American parents no longer know the role they should be playing in their children's lives.
Children learn through repetition and reinforcement and so if we wish to reeducate our children and all the children of the future we must begin in our homes.As parents,grandparents,aunt and uncles we all must once again assume the responsibility for and become the primary educators of our children.The teacher's unions may control the teachers and the government may control the curriculum of the public schools but we as concerned adults and parents have the power to inoculate our children against the propaganda and liberal agenda that has taken over our public schools,the media,Hollywood,music etc.
Those that wish to "Change America" have been using every means of communication available to our children in order to feed them the poison of their ideology.For those children who have been exposed to the poison for the last 48 years the battle to win their hearts and minds will be difficult but for our children today and our grandchildren of tomorrow the opportunity to return to innocence and reestablish our Founding Principles can begin today with each adult and parent reading this article.By assuming the role of a concerned adult each of us can contribute to the education of our children by living the life of the adult we would like our child or children to be.We all have the power to teach by example through what we read, write,watch and speak but before these can be note worthy we all have to act as mature adults exercising personal responsibility for our own actions and behaviors.How often do we see adults behave poorly in front of our children in person,on the radio,on television,in the movies,in our schools ,our churches and even in The White House?If we as adults don't act properly and assume our personal responsibilities we cannot expect our children to be better than us.Our role as mature adults should be to limit our children's exposure to the media and people that would poison their minds on the one hand and on the other we should teach them their rights and responsibilities as an American Citizen so that they in turn can teach their children.Liberals destroyed the bond between parents and teachers but enough concerned parents can reestablish that essential relationship and take back our American Public Schools and our country.
The concept of " Freedom" was taught and reinforced in the minds of millions of Americans in their homes and their relatives homes through stories told in books,songs sung at family gatherings,history related at parades and all this was then retold and reinforced at school, church,Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and everywhere we congregated.The Liberals and Socialists over the years have been slowly destroying,through demonization,our families,our churches,our schools and our American organizations and so "Freedom" and " Patriotism" are terms that too many of our American brothers and sisters do not know or understand.
Begin the New American Revolution by purging our homes of everything that stems from the liberal media,Hollywood,television,radio,magazines,papers etc.If our children are not exposed to it we can begin to rebuild this great nation one story at a time.
God Bless America
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