Religion in the Public Schools

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The Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment requires public school officials to be neutral in their treatment of religion, showing neither favoritism toward it, nor antagonism against students’ religious expressions.  As the Court has explained in several cases, “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’s decisions over the past forty or so years distinguishes between government endorsed religious speech and private religious speech, which is clearly protected by law. The Supreme Court has clearly stated that private religious speech is as fully protected as is secular private speech under the Free Speech Clause. Students may pray or use religious expressions with other students during the school day on the same terms and conditions that they may use in any other conversation or speech. Student comments cannot be attributed to the government just because they are made in a public school setting. Students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that religious instruction could not be allowed in public schools in their McCollum v. Board of Education decision. In 1954 the Supreme Court allowed a lower court ruling to stand in Tudor v. Board of Education, against the distribution of Bibles by outside groups like the Gideons. In 1962, in Engel v. Vitale the Supreme Court disallowed a government-composed, nondenominational “Regents” prayer which had been recited by students in public schools. In 1984, the Federal Equal Access Act was passed, affecting all public schools that received federal funds. It required that religious clubs be allowed in public schools if other clubs, which were also not related to the curriculum were already allowed. These religious groups had to be run by the students themselves, and could not be convened during class time, with membership in the group having to be voluntary. The Equal Access Act’s has been upheld to be constitutional by the Supreme Court and doesn’t violate the Establishment Clause. In 1989, the U.S. Department of Education updated the guidelines on religion in public schools. In 1995, it was decided that public schools could now allow students to be excused from classes that conflict with their religious beliefs. The Secretary at that time, Riley, made three recommendations to local school boards and teachers: