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Headings: Religion’s Legal Place in the Schoolhouse
Religion’s Legal Place in the Schoolhouse
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Religion’s Legal Place in the Schoolhouse
A conservative advocacy group urges close adherence to federal law on student expression and curricular content by Colby M. May
Among the many issues that public school leaders and teachers often deal with is the proper role of religious belief and practice within their schools. The law regarding how the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution applies to the public school context can often seem complex and confusing, with some cases holding that a school improperly endorsed a religious viewpoint and others stating that a school improperly censored religious expression occurring on campus. As an attorney with a conservative organization that works to protect religious and constitutional freedoms, I often am asked to address some of the most common questions and misconceptions regarding religious expression in the public schools. While we are involved in various school-related situations, one general theme seems to arise regularly — the vital distinction between student religious expression on campus and school officials’ endorsement of a religious viewpoint. Keeping this division in mind while addressing particular issues involving religion should help public school leaders, teachers, parents and even students to make sense of this area of law. Constitutional Backing
The First Amendment provides the backdrop for the relationship between religious practice and government conduct. As part of the Bill of Rights, it was designed to ensure that the government would not infringe upon certain inalienable rights of private citizens. Over the years, the U.S. Supreme Court has emphasized how to properly navigate the intersection of the Establishment, Free Exercise and Free Speech clauses of the First Amendment by noting in the landmark 1990 case of Westside Community Board of Education v. Mergens, “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.” The Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment applies to all federal, state and local government actors, including public schools and their employees. In a landmark 1969 case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, the court noted: “