From 19th-century Protestant hegemony to today's religion-free zones, we have found no proper, constitutional role for religion and religious expression in public education. Both models are unjust and, in some cases, unconstitutional. A third model, composed of consensual guidelines, must be translated into local district policies and practices.…

Nineteenth-century common schools offered no course about religion or its role in American society. Moral education up through the mid-20th century embodied a kind of generalized Christianity. If universalized versions of the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments prevail, educators should reconsider the merits of common-school philosophy. Contains…