August 2009 – When a teacher in Tyler, Texas, stopped a student from reading from the Bible during his oral book report, the student’s mother was stunned.

“My son is a sixth-grader in middle school,” the mother said. “When he stood up to give a book report on Psalms, his teacher stopped him from reading Psalm 23.” The mother appealed to the teacher, but the educator was unmoved.

“It is not allowed,” the teacher said.

At the end of last school year, a public school mother in Southern California reported that her son’s principal removed the cover of a class notebook containing students’ poems and art. The notebook was displayed as a year-end project along with notebooks from other classes.

Why did the principal rip the cover off this particular notebook? Because the children had decided that the cover should have a picture of two children praying in front of an American flag.

One might suppose such incidents are rare and isolated, but according to public policy groups, the issue of religious expression in a public school setting remains a confusing issue for many educators and public school officials. And, in reality, incidents like those happen all too often.

However, this fall, public school students, teachers and parents will get a civics lesson on free speech, thanks to the Free to Speak Campaign, a project of Gateways to Better Education (GTBE) and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).

The goal of the nationwide campaign is to promote freedom of religious expression by sending 5,000 letters to public school officials and distributing 500,000 pamphlets to parents, teachers and students.

“One of the most important civics lessons all students should learn is that freedom of religious expression is a fundamental right of all Americans,” said GTBE president Eric Buehrer in announcing the campaign. “And, this freedom extends into our public schools.”

What is allowable
In fact, ADF points out that the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) issued guidelines on freedom of religious expression in public schools in 1995 and 1998 during the Clinton administration, and in 2003 under the Bush administration.

“This is a bipartisan issue,” Buehrer said. “The guidelines were sent to every school district, but all too often, they just didn’t get to classroom teachers, parents and students. There is still widespread ignorance regarding this particular freedom of expression.”

Surveys consistently indicate that religion is an important part of teens’ lives. For example, a 2008 Columbia University survey found that 53% of students ages 12-17 (84% of the respondents from public schools) report attending religious services three or more times a month.

A 2002 Gallup survey reported that 48% of teens had attended church or synagogue within the last seven days.

“Many students are people of faith,” Buehrer said. “It’s part of who they are. Teachers need to acknowledge the whole student in their classes. This includes their faith. The classroom should be a safe place for students of all ages to express their faith in class discussions and homework assignments just as the U.S. Department of Education has affirmed.”

ADF cites seven freedoms expressly identified by the USDE. Following each freedom is a quote from USDE directives. 

1. Students may pray, read religious material and talk about their faith at school.
“Students may pray when not engaged in school activities or instruction, subject to the same rules designed to prevent material disruption of the educational program that are applied to other privately initiated expressive activities. Among other things, students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray or study religious materials with fellow students during recess, the lunch hour, or other non-instructional time to the same extent that they may engage in non-religious activities.”

2. Students may organize and announce religious clubs at school.
“Students may organize prayer groups, religious clubs, and ‘See You at the Pole’ gatherings before school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other non-curricular student activities groups. Such groups must be given the same access to school facilities for assembling as is given to other non-curricular groups, without discrimination because of the religious content of their expression.”

3. Students may express their faith in class work and homework.
“Students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions. Such home and classroom work should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by the school. Thus, if a teacher’s assignment involves writing a poem, the work of a student who submits a poem in the form of a prayer (for example, a psalm) should be judged on the basis of academic standards (such as literary quality) and neither penalized nor rewarded on account of its religious content.”

4. Teachers may organize prayer groups with other teachers.
“When acting in their official capacities as representatives of the state, teachers, school administrators, and other school employees are prohibited by the Establishment Clause from encouraging or discouraging prayer, and from actively participating in such activity with students. Teachers may, however, take part in religious activities where the overall context makes clear that they are not participating in their official capacities. Before school or during lunch, for example, teachers may meet with other teachers for prayer or Bible study to the same extent that they may engage in other conversation or nonreligious activities.”

5. Schools may allow students to go off campus for religious studies during school hours.
“It has long been established that schools have the discretion to dismiss students to off-premises religious instruction, provided that schools do not encourage or discourage participation in such instruction or penalize students for attending or not attending.”

6. Students may express their faith at school events.
“Where student speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content. By contrast, where school officials determine or substantially control the content of what is expressed, such speech is attributable to the school and may not include prayer or other specifically religious (or anti-religious) content.”

7. Students may express their faith at graduation ceremonies.
“School officials may not mandate or organize prayer at graduation or select speakers for such events in a manner that favors religious speech such as prayer. Where students or other private graduation speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, however, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content.”

When the USDE sent its guidelines to every school superintendent in the country, it included a letter urging them to distribute the guidelines to students, teachers, administrators and parents in their school districts. Unfortunately, Buehrer said that pass-it-on system has failed in most school systems.

“In all my travels around the country, I have met only one school official who acted on that request!” he said.

How to effect change
It is in this context that ADF and GTBE hope to close that gap between school administrators on the one hand, and teachers, students and parents on the other. Their strategy centers around a new pocket-sized student pamphlet titled, “Free to Speak: What the U.S. Department of Education says about public school students’ religious liberties.”

Both groups are seasoned warriors in the culture war, GTBE since 1991 and ADF since 1994. GTBE is a nonprofit organization specializing in helping public schools understand how to create faith-friendly learning environments and lawfully teach students about Judeo-Christian history, thought and values.

Buehrer’s books and other educational materials have been endorsed by Don Wildmon, the late D. James Kennedy, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, and Josh McDowell. His expertise has been spotlighted in Focus on the Family magazine.

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.

The two groups urge churches and campus clubs to purchase and distribute the pamphlets throughout their schools and communities. For every 100 pamphlets someone orders from GTBE, ADF will send a letter clarifying religious liberties to the school administrator of his or her choice. 

“When people go to our Web site to order pamphlets, they can also give us the name and addresses of the schools they want to receive the ADF letter,” Buehrer explained. “We forward that information to ADF who, in turn, has one of its attorneys send those school principals a personalized letter clarifying students’ and teachers’ religious freedoms on campus.”

For example, if a church orders 500 pamphlets to distribute through its congregation, it can have ADF send personalized letters to five schools in its community.

“If someone deposited a million dollars in your bank account, but you never knew it was there, what good would it do you?” Buehrer asked.  

“The same is true for our religious liberties,” he continued. “We have freedom to express our faith in school, yet sadly too many Christians don’t know it.”  

NEXT STEPS
▶ Contact GTBE for more information on religious freedom in schools.
▶ Learn how your local schools handle religious freedom.
▶ Order “Free to Speak” pamphlets and designate schools to receive the ADF letter – www.gtbe.org/store or call 800-929-1163.

Gateways to Better Education
P.O. Box 514
Lake Forest, CA 92630

Alliance Defense Fund
P. O. Box 53007
Phoenix, AZ 85072
www.alliancedefensefund.org
800-TELL-ADF