Transcript Slide 1

Navigating Religious Rights
of Teachers and Students:
Establishment, Accommodation,
Neutrality, or Hostility?
Samuel James Smith, Ed.D.
NCPEA Conference
Chicago, 2007
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Teaching about Religion
Harriet Tubman
Moses
Civil Rights Investigation
Were a Muslim student’s religious
rights violated because he was
disciplined for making threats,
although jokingly, about shooting
other students and bombing the
school?
ELCC Standard 4.1.e
Candidates develop various
methods of outreach aimed at…
• business,
• religious,
• political, and
• service organizations.
ELCC Standard 5.2.a
Candidates demonstrate the ability
to combine…
• impartiality,
• sensitivity to student diversity,
and
• ethical considerations in their
interactions with others.
Relevance to this Conference
First Amendment
Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of
religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof…
ACLU’s mission statement:
To protect “freedom of religion
supported by the strict separation
of church and state”
ACLU Case Samples
• Graduation
ceremony in
church
sanctuary
• Planned
prayers at
graduation
• Gideon Bible
distribution
Liberty Counsel’s
mission statement:
Dedicated “to
advancing religious
freedom”
Liberty Counsel Case Samples
• Denial of equal access to
after-school Good News
Clubs
• Prohibition of religious
Valentine’s cards
• Censorship of religious
views in student work
What the Principal Displayed
What the Kindergartener Made
Flyer Distribution Controversy in
Albemarle County, VA
Guidelines for Navigating Religious Rights
The following groups have published lists of guidelines:
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First Amendment Center
American Jewish Congress
Christian Legal Society
NEA
ASCD
PTA
…and many others…
Student Religious Expression
• Student non-curricular religious speech
should be treated with no more preference
nor restriction than is secular speech
• Religious views are permitted in academic
assignments
• “Equal Access” requires equal treatment of
religious and non-religious clubs
• Guidelines for literature distribution should be
the same for both secular and non-secular
literature
Teacher Religious Expression
• Teachers may wear non-obtrusive
religious jewelry
• In front of students teachers may not
read scripture in a devotional manner
or pray
• Non-proselytizing religious beliefs
may be shared only when asked
depending on the developmental
ability of students to separate the
teacher’s views from the school’s
Teaching about Religion
“Nothing we have said here indicates
that such study of the Bible or of
religion, when presented
objectively as part of a secular
program of education, may not
be effected consistently with the
First Amendment.”
- Abington v. Schemmp (1963)
Graduations and Other Ceremonies
• Planned prayers are prohibited
• Speakers may not be selected
based on the anticipation that they
will or will not pray or read scripture
• Religious content may not be
edited from valedictorian or guest
speakers’ messages
Is this display constitutional?
December Traditions