This article examines student perceptions of religious Released Time Educational (RTE) programming. Through interviews and surveys, we found that students made little distinction between public school attendance and RTE attendance and that many believed their RTE program to be part of their school. Moreover, many students found it to be a…

Released time is an arrangement through which students are excused from public schools during regular hours to participate in devotional lessons. South Carolina has become the center of operations for a movement of evangelical Christians to expand proselytizing released time programs throughout the United States. As a result of the movement's…

This article provides an overview of the socio-political, cultural, and historical characteristics of the relationship between conservative Christians and the American system of public education; describes the influence of fundamentalist views on contemporary conservative Christians; and recounts the historical relationship between the Religious…

Release time programs allow public school students to be excused from classes to receive offsite spiritual instruction during school hours. With the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, schools are under increasing pressure to raise test scores, which has led to questions about the advisability of allowing students to miss classes. In…

Public school leaders often find themselves caught between groups with passionately held--but widely varying--views regarding the appropriate role for religion in public schools. Tensions are heightened by the growth of well-funded special interest groups inclined to litigate anywhere a test case arises. By reviewing the most recent judicial…

The Payne County (Oklahoma) Task Force on Adolescent Problems developed workshops to educate the community on teenage pregnancy. The program was expanded to include one-day sex education workshops for which high school students are given released time to attend. (SK)

This paper examines four issues related to religion and the public schools: (1) released-time education; (2) variations in interpretation of court decisions; (3) teacher attitudes toward religious instruction; and (4) freedom of religious expression. Released-time education programs were held to be constitutional in "Zorach v. Clauson."…

This policy paper focuses on religious challenges to the public school curriculum, specifically those involving claims that public schools are prompting "secular humanism"--an allegedly antitheistic creed that places human reason above divine guidance. While some courts have recognized that "secular humanism" may be considered…

Chapter 12 in a book on school law focuses on religious activities within the schools. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that bible reading and prayer recitations are not permissible. However, objective study of religion as history or literature or the study of comparative religions would be acceptable. The Court has given approval for excusal from…

Intended to provide school officials an understanding of the legal aspects of common religious liberty and church-state questions in the public school context, this pamphlet attempts an objective summary of the current status of church-state law as it applies to the public schools. The document seeks to catalogue objectively the law as found in…

Organizations that span the ideological, religious, and political spectrum stand together as they make this a statement of consensus on current law regarding religion in public schools. Each organization professes a commitment to the freedom of religious practice and the separation of church and state that such freedom requires. The statement is…

Politics and sex are regular entrees on the school curriculum menu, but since the Supreme Court's 1960s revival of the "wall of separation" between church and state, religion has been censored from the curriculum as well as from the school routine. The free exercise of religion, guaranteed by the First Amendment, is accommodated in U.S. school…

In response to recent controversy surrounding the relationship between religion and public education, this bulletin offers an examination of past and present conflicts and the legal status of each. A great diversity of religious beliefs is part of our national heritage. Conflicts resulting from differing views on the role of religion in education…

Focusing on current legal issues in church, state, and school relations, this book examines four critical areas in the controversies surrounding the respective rights of public education and religious education; it then addresses the issues of state aid to and governmental regulation of parochial schools. Court opinions about religious observances…

This indicator of the month summarizes data from the National Center for Education Statistics School and Staffing Survey, 1993-94 (Teacher Questionnaire) regarding teacher participation in professional development (including seminars offered by schools or school districts and courses affiliated with institutions of higher education). Some findings…