As we noted on “The Wall of Separation” yesterday, President-Elect Donald Trump has released a list of education priorities, one of which is “bringing back prayer to our schools.”
The idea that there can be absolutely no prayer in public schools is such a persistent myth that it’s worth debunking in some detail. While the facts that follow aren’t likely to persuade ideologues like Trump, we hope you can use them when talking to family members and friends who have fallen for Christian Nationalist distortions.
First off, students have the right to pray in public schools in a voluntary, non-disruptive way. If students want to pray at the start of the day, over lunch, before they take a test or at other points of the day, that is protected.
What’s not protected – and, in fact, is not allowed – is anything that smacks of government-sponsored religion, force or coercion.
And make no mistake, that’s what used to happen in many American public schools. Prior to the Supreme Court rulings of 1962 and ’63, school officials in several states broadcast prayers and passages from the Bible over the loudspeakers, and everyone had to participate (or at least listen). These practices were Christian in nature; they were also coercive and amounted to state-sponsored religion. They violated students’ right of conscience. That’s why the Supreme Court put a stop to them.
The 1962 case, Engel v. Vitale, challenged recitation of the so-called “Regents Prayer,” a devotional composed by a government body, the New York State Board of Regents, for recitation in the state’s public schools.
The high court was rightly alarmed at the prospect of a government body composing a prayer and pressuring children to recite it. In its decision, the court observed, “[W]e think that the constitutional prohibition against laws respecting an establishment of religion must at least mean that, in this country, it is no part of the business of government to compose official prayers for any group of the American people to recite as a part of a religious program carried on by government.”
Nothing in this ruling, or 1963’s School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, a Pennsylvania case that struck down mandatory, school-sponsored recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and the reading of Bible passages in public schools, affects students’ ability to engage in truly voluntary prayer. The religious practices were invalidated because they were sponsored by the government and involved coercion and pressure.
Students who want religious experiences in public schools can have them – but it must be their freely chosen decision. The practices must be voluntary. A 1984 federal law called the Equal Access Act allows students in secondary schools to form voluntary religious clubs (and other types of clubs) that meet during non-instructional time. The clubs are student-run, and the young people who choose to attend can pray, read religious texts, talk about their faith and engage in other activities because these are entirely voluntary clubs. Only students who want these activities attend them. There is no coercion from the school.
Public schools can also teach about religion as an academic subject. This requires great care, and the approach must be truly neutral. As the Supreme Court noted in the Schempp case, “It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment.” (This even-handed approach is a far cry from what’s being promoted in Oklahoma and Texas.)
Americans United supported the school prayer rulings in 1962 and ‘63. In a statement issued in response to the Engel ruling, AU observed, “Public school children in New York State have been, in effect, required by law to pray and have been regimented in their prayers. To establish such a religious exercise upon these citizens is an unconstitutional use of government authority.”
Sixty-two years have passed, but that statement remains true. If this type of government-mandated school prayer is what Trump wants to bring back, he’s going to have a fight on his hands. And Americans United will be there to lead it.
P.S. AU’s “Know Your Rights” guides are great resources for students, parents and teachers that discuss what’s legal and what’s not when it comes to religion in public schools. Check them out and feel free to share them!
