Title: Religion in the Public Schools | Pew Research Center
Headings: Religion in the Public Schools
Religion in the Public Schools
About this report
The Pillars of Church-State Law
Prayer and the Pledge
School prayer
The Pledge of Allegiance
School officials and student speech
Religion in the curriculum
Creationism and evolution
Study of the Bible
Holiday programs
Multiculturalism
Rights in and out of the classroom
Rights of students
Rights of parents
Rights of teachers and administrators
Religious activities and the principle of equal access

Content: In another instance of conflict, some student religious groups want the right to exclude students who do not share the groups’ beliefs, specifically on questions of sexuality. For example, the Christian Legal Society (CLS), which has chapters in many law schools, requires those who serve in leadership positions to agree to a statement that renounces “unbiblical behaviors,” such as engaging in sexual relationships outside of heterosexual marriage. CLS sued a number of law schools after they denied the group official recognition because this leadership policy violated the schools’ nondiscrimination policies. In one of these cases, the Supreme Court ruled against CLS, stating that these nondiscrimination policies were constitutional so long as they were viewpoint neutral and fairly applied to all groups seeking recognition on campus. As these more recent controversies show, public schools remain a battlefield where the religious interests of parents, students, administrators and teachers often clash. The conflicts affect many aspects of public education, including classroom curricula, high school football games, student clubs, graduation ceremonies. Prayer and the Pledge
School prayer
The most enduring and controversial issue related to school-sponsored religious activities is classroom prayer. In Engel v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court held that the Establishment Clause prohibited the recitation of a school-sponsored prayer in public schools. Engel involved a simple and seemingly nonsectarian prayer composed especially for use in New York’s public schools. In banning the prayer exercise entirely, the court did not rest its opinion on the grounds that u