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OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, October 2, 1992
5
Point-Counterpoint: Prayer in public schools
ACLU was right to intercede in dispute
Editor's note: Point-counterpoint presents opposing views of the Kansan editorial staff when the editorial board has not reached a majority opinion on important issues in the news.
The small town of Adrian, Mo., has found its place on the map. After a long tradition of invocations at high school football games, ministers speaking in the public schools and Bibles being distributed on school property, the American Civil Liberties Union has stepped in and requested compliance with federal law.
This should not come as any surprise. Court cases, as far back as 30 years ago, expressed quite clearly that acts such as these were unconstitutional. In the runged hand down in
By Debbie Brodsky and Jeff Reynolds
the Weisman case in June, the court found that invocations at graduation ceremonies and optional school events in a Rhode Island high school violated student rights and were therefore illegal. The Supreme Court has clearly stated that actions like those in Adrian are in violation of the separation of church and state.
The 1,600 residents of Adrian are u in arms over the ACLU's infringement of their tradition. Although the school's superintendent, Victor Kretz schmar, has agreed to comply with the law, the townpeople are cont plating a fight of their own. This open the debate as to whether the Suprem Court and the ACLU have gone too far
in guaranteeing the separation of church and state.
church and state. The answer is a resounding no.
The answer is a resounding no.
The fact that the town of Adrian has incorporated a tradition of religious practice into their public school system does not give it credibility, since in an uprare are asking is that if anyone believes in the same thing, why is it not justifiable to practice and teach it?
This mentality has been seen before. At the time of the Civil War, the South argued the same points. The South was not trying to push its beliefs on the North. It simply felt that it was its decision to make. In retrospect, we can see Abraham Lincoln's great wisdom in standing behind the Constitution. However, the cost of the closed minds of the Confederacy was the bloodiest battle our country has ever
Fortunately, battles are fought in courts today. Some find it unfair that a letter from only one individual could shatter their long-standing tradition. But, that is the fundamental premise of our legal system. Our courts preserve our deeply held belief that right and wrong are not determined by power or tradition, but solely on the basis of the act itself. A resident of Adrian, captured this quite clearly, telling the Kansas City Star, "A lot of people say that it's not right for one person to change racial segregation for the whole town. Well, in 1954 in Topeka, all it took was one little black girl to change racial segregation for the whole country."
The ACLU is not the Goliath that Adrian is making them to be. The town is a blissfully ignorant commu-
fought.
nity that needs to join us in the 90s. Religious freedom is an important and integral part of this nation, but the separation of church and state is equally important. Maybe we should remember why we wanted our independence from England in the first place. The ACLU is not trying to curtail religious freedom, but it is attempting to insure that public schools remain nondenominational and nondiscriminatory.
The Adrian school board meeting that followed the ACLU action brought a large crowd of angry townpeople. Many were in an upar, and even shouted "atheist" at the resident who contacted the ACLU.
Furthermore, the Salem mentality of the town led to an anonymous letter saying she was an outcast. The
people in Adrian stand by the claim that any religious leader was welcome to provide a pregame invocation. But perhaps they meant any Protestant minister. The town does not advocate free speech or freedom of expression. It advocates freedom of religion when it's the religion the town chooses to accept as the majority.
Our country was not founded on fascist beliefs like these. The ACLU strives to provide U.S. citizens with equal opportunities and civil liberties. It was right to get involved in Adrian when it did.
Public schools should not expel religion
Debbie Brodsky is a Lincolnwood, III., junior student in English. Jeff Reynolds is a Hutchinson senior majoring in political science.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
So states Article I of the amendments to the U.S. Constitution. This law has been widely interpreted, concluding unsuspected for the past 201 years.
By Kate Kelley
From this one sentence evolved the phrase "separation of church and state." The intent of the Bill of Rights was to establish freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. In fact, the clause "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" seems to have been grossly ignored by interpreters of our laws in recent years.
The American Civil Liberties Union has made it a special mission to obliterate religious expression from our society. Religion is becoming something to be practiced only inside churches, synagogues and mosques, or privately in homes, hidden from the general public.
For those schools who have the time and money for long court battles, the law can be on their side.
In Colorado, a fifth-grade teacher required students to read during class. They could bring books from home or choose them from the school library or from the collection of books kept in the classroom. Among the selection of books were readings on mythology, a pictorial Bible and the
story of Jesus. A visiting parent found these last two selections objectionable. The teacher was ordered by the courts to remove them from the school. However, the mythology books, with stories of ancient Greek and Roman deities were not found to be undesirable.
In a similar case, Evans vs. Selma Union High School, the ruling stated that there is no constitutional violation for having copies of religious materials in public school libraries. Under some cases it has been unconstitutional to purposely remove such material from libraries. The teacher only needed to remove the books from his classroom.
A school in Adrian, Mo., was recently threatened with a law suit for, among other charges, performing religious music at Christmas programs. In the case of Florey vs. Sioux Falls School District, the federal court ruled that such celebrations were permitted provided the presentation is objective and on a temporary basis.
But few schools have the time or money to fight the ACLU. Most find themselves bowing to the threats of lawsuits and loss of federal funds.
In Jefferson County, Ky., a child was denied the right to submit a drawing of a cross as her school project.
Individual expression, too, has been denied. A student at North Carolina University was dismissed from university employment for talking about his religious beliefs during his free time.
A student at an elementary school in Pottstown, Pa., was not allowed to give her report entitled "The Power of
God" in the classroom. Students had been assigned to report on the "The Power of..."
In Dickson County, Tenn., a student was denied permission to write a research paper on the life of Christ. The assignment stipulated only that the subject be decent.
It is interesting that the same organization that is so intent on banning religious expression from public buildings and events is just as adamant about protecting the rights of those who publicly burn crosses and those who record and distribute lyrics advocating hatred and violence toward women, police officers and various races. The ACLU appears to have caught on to the "freedom of speech" concept without considering that religious expression is a form of speech.
During a time when every politician is lamenting about the collapse of family values and morality in our society, it is imperative that they look at what present interpretations of our laws are teaching our children: It is all right to stand in front of your school and recite the bigoted, violent and sexually explicit lyrics to a 2 Live Crew rap song, but it is illegal to say a prayer.
Morality does not have to come from religion. But the fundamentals of the major religions of the world are rooted in the teaching of morality.
It is a shame these lessons must be shared in secret.
Kate Kelley is a Fort Leavenworth junior majoring in English.
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