Home : Student Rights : Religion

ACLU Position Paper: Your Right to Equality in Education

ACLU Sues PA School District to Stop Official Prayers at Graduation and School Board Meetings (05/26/2005)
PITTSBURGH -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit today against the Keystone School District in Clarion County asking a federal court for an immediate order prohibiting school officials from allowing prayers at tomorrow's graduation ceremony and from continuing to open school board meetings with a sectarian prayer.

Virginia School Board Votes to Allow Students to Sit During Pledge of Allegiance (01/11/2005)
RICHMOND, VA--Under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia -- and based on recommendations from its own lawyers -- the Spotsylvania County School Board last night voted to remove a policy requiring students to stand during recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance.

ACLU Praises Appeals Court Decision Striking Down Pennsylvania's Mandatory Pledge of Allegiance Law (08/19/2004)
PHILADELPHIA -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania today praised an appeals court decision striking down a Pennsylvania law requiring private and public school students to begin each school day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance or singing the national anthem. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that law violated the First Amendment rights of students and private schools.

Missouri School District Agrees to Stop Distributing Bibles to Students (06/03/2004)
KANSAS CITY, MO -- A Kansas City Metro Area school district has agreed to stop distributing Gideon International Bibles to elementary-school children on school premises, settling a federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri on behalf of a Roman Catholic father of three.

After ACLU Intervention on Behalf of Christian Valedictorian, Michigan High School Agrees to Stop Censoring Religious Yearbook Entries (05/11/2004)
DETROIT - The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan today announced an out-of-court settlement between the Utica Community School District and a local student over the censorship of her 2001 yearbook entry. The student's entry had been deleted from the yearbook because it contained a passage from the Bible.

Complaint in Lane, et al. v. Owens, et al. (08/12/2003)

ACLU Complaint in Welk, et al v. Independence School District, et al (05/02/2003)

Your Right to Religious Freedom (07/17/2003)

Zelman, et al. v. Simmons-Harris (05/18/2002)
DECIDED