Law protects religious rights
Had cooler, more informed heads prevailed, the "God Bless America" controversy at Buffalo Grove High School would never have happened. The American Center for Law and Justice, www.aclj.org, reminds us that "neither student nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate."
The Department of Education's Equal Access Act (revised in 1998) is designed to ensure that, consistent with the First Amendment, student religious activities in public schools receiving federal funds, are accorded the same access to public school facilities as are student secular activities. That would include using the PA system to play songs such as "God Bless America" at the student council's request and the use of school media, bulletin boards, or the school newspaper to announce student religious activities.
Under the Constitution and federal law, public school students are free: to meet for prayer, Bible study, and worship; to wear clothing depicting religious messages; to express religious beliefs on campus; to share religious tracts on campus; to pray voluntarily; to carry religious literature; to prepare school projects from, and expressing, a religious perspective; to observe religious holidays on campus; to organize religious clubs; to live according to their religious beliefs while on campus.
Valedictorians, salutatorians, or honorary speakers can give speeches on religious subjects, including reading the Bible, at graduation ceremonies. Baccalaureate religious services are also allowed to be held at public school facilities. The only time that school administrators can prohibit protected speech by students is when "it materially and substantially interferes with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school."
There is no better way for a public school to teach the importance of the Constitution and our rights as citizens than to show respect for the fullest meaning of the right to express religious speech. Knowing the law and its protections, makes us all better citizens.
Arlene Sawicki
South "Barrington