Vol. 18, No. 28	April 22, 1999

Book to examine politics of religion in public schools

Those who say, "God has been kicked out public schools," have not really examined the relationship between religious speech and public education, according to Joan DelFattore, English.

From the courtroom to the offices of Congress, DelFattore has been exploring the issues of religious speech and prayer in the public schools for her new book, with the working title, Caesar in the Prayer Business: The Politics of Religion in American Public Schools. The book will be published next year by the Yale University Press, which published her previous award-winning book, What Johnny Shouldn't Read, dealing with textbook censorship in public schools.

"I have looked at the issues surrounding religious speech in schools by studying court cases, depositions, testimony, legislation and lobbying activities involving advocacy groups on both sides of the question, from the American Civil Liberties Union to Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice. I've talked to congressmen and their staffs, gone to court sessions and Congressional hearings for my research, and gotten a behind-the-scenes look at how the country moved from here to there in terms of religious speech and prayer, during the last four decades," DelFattore said.

School prayer was common in public schools until the 1960s, when it was challenged in the courts, and prayer and religious observance and instruction imposed by administrators and teachers were banned in public schools, DelFattore said.

However, DelFattore pointed out, in 1986 the Equal Access Act passed with bipartisan support in Congress, permitting students to initiate and form extracurricular organizations which could be religious in nature, such as Bible study or prayer groups, but still forbidding imposition of such groups by government or school officials.

More broadly, she said, a school that has an extracurricular program can't discriminate among student-initiated clubs as long as they are not disruptive or disorderly. A Utah school board that opposed the formation of a gay/lesbian support group tried to solve this dilemma by doing away with extracurricular clubs entirely, and four lawsuits are now pending.

Many people do not understand the distinctions of what is and what is not permitted under First Amendment rights and separation of state and church, she said. School officials cannot invite a clergyman of any faith to offer a prayer at a graduation or public school function. But, if a valedictorian or other general speaker chooses to include a prayer in his or her talk, that is permissible under their First Amendment rights, DelFattore said.

The state of Delaware has had some interesting laws regarding religion in the public schools, according to DelFattore. Teachers were required to read the Bible aloud every day, on penalty of a $25 fine for the first infraction and a loss of license for more infractions. This law was placed on the books in 1946, she said, although it reflected a much older practice.

A constitutional amendment restoring government-sponsored prayer in public schools got a majority vote in the House of Representatives in 1998, but it fell short of the two-thirds vote it needed and did not have Senate support, DelFattore said.

---