Peter N. Herndon
Unfortunately, there is still confusion about the proper role of religion in the schools. In 1997, in a victory for parochial schools in New York City, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed itself and decided in
Agostini v. Felton
Title I public school teachers could teach their secular courses in parochial school buildings. There is the issue of school vouchers. Cities like Cleveland and Milwaukee legally issue tax funded school tuition vouchers to parents who want their children to attend private religious schools. In New York City, Floyd Flake’s church sponsors a Christian school and promotes vouchers to give urban kids a real hope for a quality education they are not getting in the public schools of New York City. So called “balanced treatment” laws governing Creation Science are still being hotly debated. Finally, in June, 2004, the United Supreme Court refused to rule on the constitutionality of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. (see Lesson Plan section of this unit)
In conclusion, I have attempted to highlight some of major events surrounding the cultural and legal history of religion in the public schools of the United States. I have traced the involvement by the United States Supreme Court in its attempt to balance reasonable limits on free religious exercise with appropriate limits on the state’s attempts at establishing religion in the schools. I close with a quotation by Representative Wise of West Virginia who spoke these very emotional words during the debate on the Religious Freedom Amendment in1998:
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Madam Speaker, my faith, I want to get personal for a minute, comes from my heart. I seek, and I know many do, God in many ways, and we each find him in our own way through our parents, through our churches, through our community groups, through our pain, through our joy, through our many errors. That is how we find God. . . .
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Madam Speaker, I have great respect for everyone in this Chamber, men and women devoted to their government and to doing right. But with all due respect, I want this Chamber writing laws, I want us writing budgets, I want us writing resolutions. I do not want politicians writing my children’s prayers. Let my children find God as we all must find God, through ourselves and our churches and our communities and our parents and our upbringings and our many experiences. (quoted in the
Congressional Record
, June 4, 1998, page H 4086)
Not all may agree with the Congressman, but his appeal to common sense and mutual respect suggests a rational basis for discussion as the religion and schools debate continues into the twenty-first century.
