As parents stuff notebooks in monogrammed backpacks, cover schoolbooks with paper bags politely requested from grocers, and pack artificially-flavored fruit snacks into lunch boxes, they might also consider sending their children off to their public schools with a full serving of religious liberty education.
Many folks talk with concern and confusion about what constitutes a religious liberty violation in the context of public schools. The First Amendment contains a two-pronged approach to religious liberty. The first prong is known as the Establishment Clause, called so because it prohibits government establishment of any religion. There can be no state-sponsored religion and our government has no authority to encourage or promote the practice of any religion. The second prong is the Free Exercise Clause, which says that our government cannot prohibit the free exercise of religion. Our government’s Constitution allows all people to practice the religion of their choice or no religion at all.
How does this apply to public schools?
Since our government establishes public schools, public schools are government. This means schools, like the rest of government, are not allowed to officially sponsor religious activity. So when it comes to evaluating a particular religious activity in public schools, one crucial question is, “Is the religious activity initiated, sponsored, or led, by administration and teachers? Or is activity initiated, organized, and led by a student or group of students?” Teachers and school administrators are barred from leading prayer, holding assemblies with religious speakers, or distributing bibles to students in classrooms.
This does not, however, mean that religious groups or practices are entirely banned from school premises. The Free Exercise Clause ensures that we are able to freely practice religion. Students are allowed to read the Bible or the Q’uran to themselves during free periods and breaks. If the school allows student groups, then students are allowed to lead their own religious groups.
It also doesn’t preclude public school accommodations for religious practices. Schools can, for example, designate space for student-led Christian prayer groups to meet. Schools can provide foot-washing stations for Islamic students or offer kosher foods for Jewish students. They cannot, however, force participation in any of the foregoing.
Now that we’ve covered the basics, apply those principles to the examples in this quiz and really get in the back-to-school spirit.