Q: May students gather to pray together in public schools?
A: Yes. Students are free to pray alone or in groups, as long as the activity is not disruptive and does not infringe upon the rights of others. These activities must be truly voluntary and student-initiated. For example, students are permitted to gather around the flagpole for prayer before school begins, as long as the event is not sponsored by the school and other students are not pressured to attend. Students do not have a right to force a captive audience to participate with them in religious exercises.
Q-2: Didn’t the Supreme Court rule against student prayer in public schools?
A: No. The Supreme Court has struck down “state-sponsored or state-organized” prayer in public schools. The Court has interpreted the First Amendment to mean that government must be neutral among religions and between religion and nonreligion. This means that school officials may not organize, mandate or participate in student religious activities, including prayer. A moment of silence, however, may be led by school officials, as long as it does not promote prayer over other types of quiet contemplation.
Q-3: May students wear religious garb and display religious symbols in public schools if they choose?
A: Yes. Students who must wear religious garb such as head scarves or yarmulkes should be permitted to do so in school. Students may also display religious messages on clothing to the same extent that other messages are permitted.
Q-4: May students form religious clubs in public schools?
A: Under the federal Equal Access Act, secondary public schools receiving federal funds must allow students to form religious clubs if the school allows other noncurriculum-related clubs to meet during noninstructional time. “Noncurriculum-related” means any club not directly related to the courses offered by the school. Student religious clubs may have access to school facilities and media on the same basis as other noncurriculum-related student clubs. The Equal Access Act protects the rights of students to form religious clubs. Outside adults may not direct or regularly attend meetings of such clubs. Teachers may be present at religious club meetings as monitors, but they may not participate in club activities.
Public schools are free to prohibit any club activities that are illegal or that would cause substantial disruption of the school.
Q-5: Does this mean that students may express their faith while in school?
A: Yes. Schools should respect the right of students to engage in religious activity and discussion.
Generally, individual students are free to pray, read their Scriptures, discuss their faith and invite others to join their particular religious group. Only if a student’s behavior is disruptive or coercive should it be prohibited. No student should be allowed to harass or pressure others in a public school setting. If doing so is relevant to the subject under consideration and meets the requirements of the assignment, students also have the right to express their religious views during a class discussion or as part of a written assignment or art activity.
Q-6: May students distribute religious literature in the schools?
A: Generally, students have a right to distribute religious literature on public school campuses subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions imposed by the school. This means that the school may specify at what times the distribution may occur (e.g., lunch hour or before or after classes begin), where it may occur (e.g., outside the school office) and how it may occur (e.g., from fixed locations as opposed to roving distribution). These restrictions should be reasonable and must apply evenly to all nonschool student literature. Public schools may prohibit the distribution of some literature altogether. Some examples would be materials that are obscene, defamatory or considered to be disruptive of the educational environment.
Q-7: Is it constitutional to teach about religion in public schools?
A: Yes. The Supreme Court has indicated many times that it believes that teaching about religion, as distinguished from religious indoctrination, is an important part of a complete education. The public school’s approach to religion in the curriculum must be academic, not devotional.
Study about religion belongs in the curriculum wherever it naturally arises. On the secondary level, the social studies, literature and the arts offer many opportunities for the inclusion of information about religions — their ideas and practices. On the elementary level, natural opportunities arise in discussions of the family and community life and in instruction about festivals and different cultures.
Religion may also be studies in special courses. Some secondary schools, for example, offer electives in “World Religions,” “Bible as/in History or Literature” and “Religion in America.”
Q-8: How should religious holidays be treated in the schools?
A: Religious holidays offer opportunities to teach about religion in elementary and secondary schools. Teaching about religious holidays, which is permissible, is different from the practice of celebrating religious holidays, which is not. Study of holidays serves academic goals of educating students about history and cultures as well as about the traditions of particular religions. The use of religious symbols as examples of religious or cultural heritage is permissible as a teaching aid or resource. Religious symbols should only be displayed on a temporary basis as part of the academic program. Sacred music may be sung or played as part of a school’s academic program. School concerts that present a variety of selections may include religious music. The use of music, art, drama or literature with religious themes is permissible if it serves a sound educational goal in the curriculum, but not if used as a vehicle for promoting religious belief.
Q-9: May students be excused from parts of the curriculum for religious reasons?
A: Whenever possible, school officials should try to accommodate the requests of parents and students for excusal from classroom discussions or activities for religious reasons. If focused on a specific discussion, assignment or activity, such requests should be routinely granted in order to strike a balance between the student’s religious freedom and the school’s interest in providing a well-rounded education.
Under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, if it is proved that particular lessons substantially burden a student’s free exercise of religion and that if the school cannot prove a compelling interest to require attendance, then the school would be legally required to excuse the student.
Q-10: May students be released for off-campus religious instruction during the school day?
A: Yes. The Supreme Court has long recognized that public schools may choose to create off-campus, released-time programs as a means of accommodating the needs of religious students and parents. The schools may not encourage or discourage participation or penalize students who do not attend.
(Information taken from “A Parent’s Guide to Religion in the Public Schools,” a publication distributed by The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center)
Patsy Bryant, a member at Central Park Baptist Church, Decatur, is well respected for her skills as a teacher. But she feels ill-equipped to deal with certain situations that arise in her classroom. She wrestles with questions like whether she can allow a student to present a report on the meaning of Easter, or what she can say to a child with spiritual questions.
Angelon Creel agreed, “I don’t think we’re really informed as to where the line is.”
Schools of education, school systems and even churches do little to aid teachers. According to Patty Annerton, who attends Wear Baptist in Muscle Shoals Association, those who want to know have to search out the information for themselves.
“I researched it for myself, because it’s very important to me,” she said. “The only time a school official talked to me about it was in West Virginia (where Annerton and her husband had gone as missionaries). The interviewer knew why we were there, and he let me know I couldn’t talk to students about my religion.”
Although polls consistently show that a majority of Americans favor prayer and Bible reading in schools, Annerton acknowledged the problems that arise when the teacher is not of the Christian faith.
“I would not want my child exposed to it. It’s hard — I’d like to be able to read the Bible and pray, and I guess if I have that right, they should, too.”
Bryant agreed, “I know their rights shouldn’t be any different from mine, but if my child were in the class of a non-Christian teacher who was teaching her religion, I’d want to know.”
The teachers felt strongly about feeling a certain amount of responsibility for the spiritual development of their students.
Creel, a 27-year veteran who attends Westwood Baptist Church in Jefferson County, said, “Many of today’s children are not receiving guidance at home, being taught right and wrong. I believe we owe our students the chance to accept the faith that has helped us cope with our lives.”
The inability to freely share their faith is a problem, but teachers can find ways to communicate their Christian witness without openly defying the Supreme Court — most of the time.
“I turn questions back around to them and say, ‘Where do you think it came from? Who do you think made these bugs?’ I can always count on some of my students to answer the questions.”
Sometimes, according to Annerton, you just have to do what you think is right.
“One of my students was killed in a car wreck. She was in my last class of the day, and I knew that empty desk would be sitting there,” Annerton said. “I thought all day about how to handle it. When the students came in, I told them, ‘I’m going to handle this situation like I do all situations in my life. You don’t have to bow your head, and you don’t have to join in, but I’m going to pray.’”
Several students thanked her after class.
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