Title: Can students pray in public schools? Can teachers say ‘Merry Christmas’? What’s allowed — and what’s forbidden. - The Washington Post
Headings: Can students pray in public schools? Can teachers say ‘Merry Christmas’? What’s allowed — and what’s forbidden.
Answer Sheet
Can students pray in public schools? Can teachers say ‘Merry Christmas’? What’s allowed — and what’s forbidden.

Content: When politicians demonize the courts for banning God from schools, they count on public confusion about the First Amendment distinction between government speech promoting religion, which the establishment clause prohibits, and student speech promoting religion, which the free-exercise and free-speech clauses protect. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that kids can’t pray in school. What the Court has done — and continues to do — is to strike down school-sponsored prayers and devotional exercises as violations of religious liberty. As a result of those decisions, school officials may not impose prayers, or organize prayer events, or turn the school auditorium into the local church for religious celebrations. Students, however, aren’t the government; they can — and often do — openly pray and share their faith in public schools. And what about religious symbols? This is from Teaching Tolerance, a project of the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center: Is bringing religious symbols into public school classrooms ever OK? Many educators struggle with this question, afraid of tripping over the lines that protect our freedom of religion and separate church and state.