Chapter 3

First Amendment – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Establishment Clause – requires neutrality from government(state, school, and school boards) and prohibits public school advancements of religion. Free Exercise Clause – prohibits school officials from interfering with religious expression. The crux of the problem lies in balancing the two.

Public Schools and Religion Lemon v Kurtzman – pg 41 Three-prong test 1. Have a secular purpose 2. Neither advance nor inhibit religion 3. Not cause excessive entanglement between government and religion

Equal Access Act – applies only to public secondary schools that allow noncurricular clubs to meet outside of the school day or during other noninstructional time. Allows clubs to be formed as long as: - The meeting is voluntary and student-initiated - Teachers or other school employees do not sponsor the group - School employees do not promote, lead, or participate in a meeting

School employees are present at religious meetings only in a supervisory or nonparticipatory capacity - The meeting does not materially and substantially interfere with the orderly conduct of educational activities within the school - Nonschool persons may not direct, conduct, control, or regularly attend activities of student groups

Forum - simply a place and speech rights can be determined by the nature of the place. Schools – closed forum or limited open forum. Viewpoint Discrimination – Donavan v. Punxsutawney Facilities and Equal Access

Student challenges to Equal Access Boy Scouts of America Act

The Law and Curriculum Abington v. Schempp – The Supreme Court made it clear that study about religion, as distinguished from espousing or sponsoring religious expression, is constitutional. Epperson v. Arkansas – The Supreme Court invalidated a law that forbade the teaching of evolution. Edwards v. Aguillard – Court ruled that the Creationism Act which required the teaching of creationism with evolution was unconstitutional. Settle v. Dickson County School Board

Displays and holidays - Any religious displays are suspect - Students should not be required to participate in any school activity that may be offensive to their religious beliefs. State-Sponsored Religious Activities Pledge of Allegiance Murals, Signs, and Other School-Sponsored Speech Students and Religious Expression

Student Prayer and Extracurricular Events Student-Led Prayers at Graduation Employees and Religious Expression