Access to Public Schools for Religious Groups

made by students without the involvement of clergy and are not sponsored by school officials.64

The Supreme Court also has ruled against invocations and benedictions in which a clergyman opens or closes a public-school ceremony by invoking blessings from a deity. In a 1992 decision, the Court concluded that such blessings violate the standards established in Lemon v. Kurtzman (see Figure 9.1 on page 245), which prohibits the government from advancing religion. However, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion noted that state actions implicating religion are not necessarily unconstitutional because some citizens might object to them, and that the decision was not meant to require a “relentless and pervasive attempt to exclude religion from every aspect of public life.”

One effect of the decision was to postpone full constitutional review of several important questions, such as whether schools can implement “moment of silence” policies that allow voluntary silent prayer in classrooms, whether a school choir can perform clearly Christian songs at a graduation ceremony, and whether private groups can distribute free Bibles on school premises.

Displaying religious symbols (such as a cross or a menorah) in public schools in a manner that promotes a particular religion is clearly unconstitutional. However, the Supreme Court has ruled that religiously oriented artifacts such as a Nativity scene can be displayed in public settings if the overall atmosphere is largely secular. The interpretation of this ruling is controversial. In one nonschool case, the Court banned a Nativity scene in front of the Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) Courthouse because it had not been “junked up” (in the words of a county official) with Santa Claus figures or other secular symbols. After that decision, a federal judge required the removal of a crucifixion painting from the Schuylerville (New York) School District, on the grounds that the painting lacked any “meaningful” secular features. In 2002, an Ohio school district was prohibited from posting the Ten Commandments in front of four high schools. Since then, the Supreme Court ruled that government institutions may display the Ten Commandments as part of a historical exhibit, but not as a lone display of religious messages.65

9-4b access to public schools for Religious groups

Bridget Mergens, an Omaha high school senior, organized a group of about twentyfive students who requested permission to meet on campus before school every week or so to read and discuss the Bible. Although similar Bible clubs were allowed to meet at other schools, administrators refused the request, partly to avoid setting a precedent for clubs of Satanists, Ku Klux Klanists, or other groups the school would find undesirable. Bridget’s mother brought suit, and, in 1990, the US Supreme Court found in her favor. Public high schools, the Court ruled, must allow students’ religious, philosophical, and political groups to meet on campus on the same basis as other extracurricular

64School District of Abington Township v. Schempp and Murray v. Curlett, 374 US 203 (1963). See also Benjamin Dowling-Sendor, “A Defeat for Pregame Prayer,” American School Board Journal (August 2000); Richard S. Vacca, “Graduation Prayer Revisited,” CEPI Education Law Newsletter (May 2008), available at www.cepi.vcu.edu/publications/newsletters; and Alison DeNisco, “New Laws Make More Room for Prayer in Schools,” District Administration (June 2014), available at www.districtadministration.com. 65Rob Boston, “The Klan, a Cross, and the Constitution,” Church and State (March 1995), pp. 7–9; Benjamin Dowling-Sendor, “The Ten Commandments Ruling,” American School Board Journal (October 2005); Charles C. Haynes, “County Can Uphold Religious Freedom by Taking Commandments Down,” 2011 posting by the First Amendment Center, available at www .firstamendmentcenter.org; and Jonathan S. Tobin, “Freedom for Religion, Not From It,” Commentary (May 5, 2014), available at www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/05/05 /freedom-for-religion-not-from-it-greece-v-galloway-church-state-separation.