The greatest hindrances to exercising religious freedom in American schools
are not necessarily rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court as much as a lack of understanding
of court rulings by many school officials.
The greatest hindrances to exercising religious freedom in American schools
are not necessarily rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court as much as a lack of understanding
of court rulings by many school officials.
An article on the opposite page reports the good news that the U.S. Department
of Education recently mailed religious liberty guidelines to every public school
in America. The guidelines carefully explain the differences between what constitutes
state-sponsored religious activities (prohibited by law) and voluntary expressions
of religion by students and teachers (protected by the law).
The differences are often subtle and delicate, yet the exercise and enforcement
of both are essential to the future character of our nation. The material distributed
by the U.S. Department of Education can help guide school administrators to
provide proper exercise and enforcement.
Many school boards and administrators believe the U.S. Supreme Court has outlawed
prayer and Bible study or any other religious expression in public schools.
They fear lawsuits for treading on laws ensuring the separation of church and
state so much that they prohibit any religious activity or religious expression
or study of any religious figure by any student as part of school life.
They further try to enforce this misconception by forbidding any student organization
that would meet for religious purposes.
Some teachers have prohibited any required study of religious history or personalities,
believing that such a study would violate the separation of church and state.
But this stringent prohibition of anything religious in nature or name is based
upon a misunderstanding. The courts have ruled that even the Bible can be taught
as history, world religions can be studied comparatively and religious personages
studied as historical characters.
Genuinely student-initiated meetings for the purpose of prayer and Bible study
and inspiration are perfectly legal. A student may use free time to study the
Bible and pray. Students can witness to classmates during free time, if participants
in the discussion are not coerced.
The constitutional problem arises if the schools faculty or administration,
as agents of the state, initiate religious activities or meetings or discussions
during school hours or during official activities.
On the other hand, there are school officials and school boards that resent
any law that prohibits any expression of the communitys dominant religions
faith. They willingly violate these laws, believing the laws transgress a students
and the communitys right to believe in God and practice the dictates of
his/her faith.
This kind of attitude ignores the fact that freedom means the freedom not to
believe and practice any religion as much as it means the freedom to believe
and practice any religion. It also means that any government or any agent of
government has no business promoting one religion over any other.
For generations, Baptists in South Louisiana felt the yoke of having someone
elses religion and practice forced upon them in public schools and other
agencies of government. And, undoubtedly, there were Catholics living in North
Louisiana who felt the same yoke imposed by other denominations. But these unlawful
practices were not right in either part of the state. One of the founding principles
of our nation is that the rights of the few (minority) are not to be trampled
by the majority.
Finally, the U.S. Department of Education has taken the step of sending specific
information to all public schools in our country so teachers and students can
exercise their religious freedom within the laws of the land. What a tragedy
if school boards and administrators treat the material as junk mail and do not
learn from them how to ensure the rights and privileges of all students. As
part of the concerned public, encourage your public school personnel to be informed
on this vital issue.