Written by Don Byrd
The Alabama legislature may be the next to consider legislation regarding religious expression in schools. Sponsors of the bill say it is necessary to protect the rights of students and faculty to engage in protected religious exercise on school grounds.
The al.com’s Brendan Kirby reports:
The McMillan-Dial bill spells out a number of student-initiated activities that are expressly protected, including praying, expressing religious beliefs, distributing religious literature, organizing prayer groups and expressing religious views in homework assignments.
The bill contains language allowing schools to prohibit religious behavior that infringes on schools’ ability to maintain discipline or that harasses other people.
In a more controversial paragraph, the legislation also allows for teachers and staff to join in student-initiated religious exercise before or after the school day.
We have seen several states consider legislation similar to this approach.(See Missouri in July, 2014; North Carolina in June, 2014; Virginia in April, 2014 – where the Governor vetoed the bill; Tennessee in March, 2014; Utah in October 2013, Oklahoma and Mississippi in March 2013). Opponents emphasize that such protections are unnecessary because the First Amendment already safeguards such student activities, while the invitation for faculty to join in risks lawsuits claiming violation of the separation of church and state.
School officials already have a very tough job walking this fine line between protecting student expression and avoiding the appearance of endorsing religion. Is this kind of legislation likely to clarify the law or sow confusion?
