Religion in Schools

04/17/2013

B-SHOC

Paying the Price for Defending Religious Freedom in South Carolina

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 2:21pm

"What's the harm?" That is the question we are often asked when the ACLU steps in to stop public school officials from including official prayer in school events and proselytizing students. It was a question posed by many community members in the Chesterfield County School District when we filed a lawsuit on behalf of middle school student Jordan Anderson after the district invited Christian rapper B-SHOC and a youth minister to evangelize students during a school-day assembly and continued to subject to students to a variety of other religious practices.

04/19/2013

Creationism

God's Gospel Lizards: Creationist Group to Educate Kansas Public School Students on the "Truth About Dinosaurs"

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 3:10pm

Students at Hugoton High School in Hugoton, Kansas, are set to finally learn the “truth about dinosaurs” next week—at least the truth as the Creation Truth Foundation sees it. The religious organization, which advocates for “a return to all of [the] realities of Biblical Creation,” is scheduled to conduct several mandatory school-day assemblies about dinosaurs for all students and teachers on Tuesday. The ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri and the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief learned about the planned assembly yesterday afternoon and sent a letter today demanding that the public school district cancel the event.

09/17/2012

Religious Freedom Goes to School

Constitution Day: Cherry-picking the First Amendment

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 1:30pm

Today, many public schools will recognize and celebrate Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. Two hundred and twenty-five years later, you might think we could all agree on a few simple principles regarding how that document, which was amended a few years later to include the Bill of Rights, applies in the schools that will be studying it. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Constitution’s religious freedom protections, a handful of groups are pushing public schools to adopt a lopsided view of religious liberty that could further marginalize students of minority faiths, as well as non-believers, denying them the full benefit of the public education experience.

08/22/2012

Religious Freedom Goes to School

Protecting Our Faith By Respecting the Constitution

By Rev. Paul Wood

Paul Wood is a minister at the First United Methodist Church in Cheraw, South Carolina. His blog is part of this week’s “Religious Freedom Goes to School” blog series. Share your story about religious freedom in South Carolina’s public schools by reporting potential religious freedom violations to us.

08/21/2012

Religious Freedom Goes to School

Standing Up for What You Believe In

By Jordan Anderson, ACLU Plaintiff. In late 2011, the ACLU and ACLU of South Carolina brought a lawsuit against Chesterfield County School District on behalf of student Jordan Anderson and his father, Jonathan Anderson. The lawsuit sought to put a stop to the school district’s widespread religious freedom violations, including official prayer at school events, school-day assemblies featuring preaching, and displays of religious symbols such as crosses and the Ten Commandments. The lawsuit resulted in a consent decree restoring religious freedom to all district students. Jordan’s blog is part of this week’s “Religious Freedom Goes to School” blog series.

01/09/2013

School Vouchers

A School Voucher by Any Other Name

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 11:25am

Thirty million. That’s the amount of tax dollars that could be diverted annually from New Hampshire’s coffers to private schools by the year 2022 if the state is allowed to implement its new Education Tax Credit Program. Under the tax credit program, in exchange for donations to “scholarship organizations,” New Hampshire businesses will receive tax credits equal to 85 percent of the amount they donate. The scholarship organizations, in turn, will use the funds to award scholarships to private school students, including those attending religious schools. In short, rather than paying their taxes to the state, businesses will instead be able to direct money owed to the state toward religious education.

08/24/2012

Religious Freedom Goes to School

Respecting All Faiths in Our Public Schools

By Dr. A. Scott Henderson. When I was a first-year teacher, I had the opportunity to tutor an eighth-grade boy (I’ll call him “John”) who had recently moved to the United States from India. We spent an hour together each day for an entire school year. During that time I got to know John pretty well.

08/23/2012

Religious Freedom Goes to School

You Are Not Alone

By Harrison Hopkins

Harrison Hopkins graduated in 2011 from Laurens District 55 High School in Laurens, South Carolina. He is currently a sophomore at Presbyterian College in Clinton, SC, where he is the founder and current president of the Secular Student Alliance at Presbyterian College. His blog is part of this week’s “Religious Freedom Goes to School” blog series. Share your story about religious freedom in South Carolina’s public schools by reporting potential religious freedom violations to us.

03/16/2012

Religion in Schools

March Madness: Tennessee Legislature Takes Another Shot at Undermining Evolution Education

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 4:32pm

March may mean only one thing — the NCAA tournament — for basketball fans, but for Tennessee legislators, March means the revival of a state tradition that is not so worthy of celebration: attacking the teaching of evolution in public schools. A proposed law currently under consideration by the Tennessee legislature seeks to gut science education by purporting to give public school teachers the freedom to help students think critically about the scientific theory of evolution through a review of its "strengths" and "weaknesses."

03/21/2011

Religion in Schools

Tennessee's Evolution Two-Step

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief at 11:39am

If it’s true that timing is everything in dance, then Tennessee legislators could use a few more lessons if they ever hope to perfect the evolution two-step they are performing this week. Today marks the 86th anniversary of the Butler Act, which was signed into law by Tennessee Gov. Austin Peay on March 21, 1925. The Butler Act criminalized the teaching of evolution or any other principle that "denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible" and sparked one of the most famous legal proceedings of the 20th century — what is often referred to now as the "Scopes Monkey Trial." The trial, during which biology teacher John Scopes (shown right) was defended by ACLU attorneys Clarence Darrow and Arthur Garfield Hays, captured the attention of the nation, and to this day, remains a stain on Tennessee’s public education system.

American Civil Liberties Union