Separation of Church and State

Out of curiosity, how many of you guys practice any sort of religion? OK, and how many of you don’t? And how many of you are uncomfortable answering these types of questions?

It is clear that there is plenty of religious diversity, even in the confines of this classroom and throughout the rest of the school. I’m sure we know plenty of people, maybe those of whom are close friends or family members who practice a different religion than us. And even though we have our differences w/ these people, they are still important to us. As clear as it is, that there is religious diversity in America, it is equally clear that we must work to be aware of and protect the rights of those who create such diversity.

You may be wondering what rights I am talking about. I’m talking about the separation of church and state that has been around since 1791. Thomas Jefferson wrote this into the 1st amendment of our Constitution. It is actually the 1st civil right mentioned in the Constitution. Initially, he says Congress must not interfere w/ freedom of religion. And he goes onto to say that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the exercise thereof, which has become to be known as The Establishment Clause. This continued to concern Thomas Jefferson throughout the rest of his life. There is a particularly notable letter that he wrote concerning what he calls the wall of separation between church and state. This is the idea that the 1st Amendment not only prevents the creation of a national religion but was created with the intention of creating a wall between government and religion. However, this is more than just the separation between religion and government, it prevents the establishment of religion in state-run organizations, specifically our schools. You may be thinking so what, Thomas Jefferson hasn’t been around for 200 years, is this still a problem in our society? Yes it is. Before the 1950s, it was considered ok for a religious leader to come give religious seminars at public schools. Before the 1960s, it was ok for schools to recite a daily prayer. And before the 1970s, Amish children were forced to go to school before the age of 17, even though this adamantly went against their religious beliefs.

Again, you may be thinking, is this a current issue? These particular cases haven’t occurred in the last 30 years. Yet, there are still cases concerning the establishment of religion in schools to this day. One particular issue is graduation ceremonies. Many of us are looking to graduating in the next few years, I know I am. We tend to think of this as a milestone in our lives, but what many students are facing is religious coercion during such ceremonies. In 1992, it was decided unconstitutional to invite a clergyman to perform and invocation or benediction at a middle school graduation ceremony. The court deemed this involuntary religious participation since this was an important event for students that they would not miss to avoid the religious undertone. Yet within the past year, there has been a court case concerning a high school graduation being held within an actual Christian church. Another issue our schools are facing is the distribution of religious materials. In1980, here in KY, we had a law requiring the placement of copies of the 10 Commandments in public school classrooms. This was declared unconstitutional due to its clear motivation of promoting religion. However, it has only been in the past year that a public school has decided to stop the distribution of Christian bibles to its students. Prayer has been another issue regarding religion in schools. In 2000 it was declared unconstitutional for students to give religious influenced speeches or prayers over the public address system before high school football games. Since these speeches and prayers were being broadcasted to an entire audience at a public school event, the courts declared that the school was endorsing such prayers. And yet this happened only 9 years ago nearly the exact same situation is currently occurring in Gate City high school in VA. Another topic concerning schools and religion concerns the use of vouchers. Vouchers for private religious schools that are paid for with our tax payers money regardless of their personal religious beliefs. In 1971, such an action was declared unconstitutional. In similar case arose in 1985 in which the program was declared unconstitutional because it excessively entangled church and state. Yet recently, there has been a program in Ohio that provided financial assistance to parents of private school children. Over 90% of this aid went to parents of children in religious schools. A current hot topic on the separation of church and state is the teaching of evolution in schools. In 2004 in Dover, PA, the school board decided to make science teachers teach intelligent design as an alternative to evolution. Intelligent design is the idea that everything on this earth was created by the intelligent designer. When a group of parents of students at the high school, sued the high school to keep intelligent design out of school, the courts ruled their favor stating that intelligent design a religious theory and could therefore not be taught in schools. However, this issue continues to be hotly debated. There have been conflicts over reciting disclaimers before teaching evolution and teaching evolution with religious spins.

One particular case that really touches my heart and I feel summarizes my argument took place in TX in the last 2 weeks. A native American kindergartener wore his hair in 2 long braids as a symbol of his religion just as one would wear a cross or Yamakah. Yet, the school district made the boy cover his braids. The father who spoke on the case captures the essence of the establishment cause, “The courts decision vindicates what I always knew that no family should be forced to choose between their religion and culture and a public education for their children.”

Our schools are meant to teach us about the world around us not provide religious instruction. But we must also think about what we should be learning about in our schools. Should we be learning about intolerance and rule by majority or acceptance and diversity? So as clear as it is to see the religious diversity we have even within our own class, it is equally as clear to see that we must continue to fight for our rights as students and as citizens of the US.

Sources:
Lynn, Barry. Piety & Politics. New York: Random House, Inc., 2006, 2007. Print.

Documentary: “Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial”

"Evolution: Frequently Asked Questions." PBS. 2001. 7 Aug 2009 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat01.html.

Mount, Steve. "Jefferson's Wall of Separation Letter." The U.S. Constitution Online. 09 June 2009. 9 Aug 2009 http://www.usconstitution.net/jeffwall.html.

"Ben Stein on O'Reilly Factor tonight." Uncommon Descent. 22 Oct 2007. 7 Aug 2009 http://www.uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/ben-stein-on-oreilly-factor-tonight-102207/.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/estabinto.htm

http://www.aclu.org/religion-belief