Religions > Atheism > To people like Young, Chung, and SoT who like to spread lies about the ACLU
| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Conspiracy of Doves" |
| Date: |
10 Dec 2006 10:51:36 PM |
| Object: |
To people like Young, Chung, and SoT who like to spread lies about the ACLU |
The ACLU's official position on religion in the schools
http://www.aclu.org/religion/schools/16146leg19950412.html
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Joint Statement of Current Law on Religion in the Public Schools
(4/12/1995)
Religion In The Public Schools:
A Joint Statement Of Current Law
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 meeting.
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. 20.
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 Seperation of Church and State
Anti-Defamation League
Baptist Joint Committee
B'nai B'rith
Christian Legal Society
Christian Science Church
Church of Scientology International
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
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