Released time religious education has a long history in the United States, but not all programs have been successful, and others have not even been legal! In this article, the legal history and cases involving religious education are explored with particular emphasis on the three prong Lemon test (named for one of the litigants). Practical…

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…

Allowing nonschool organizations to provide sex education in a released-time format would disestablish state-funded sex education and give families a choice in the sex education that would be provided for their children. Released-time programs, as originally conceived and currently practiced, allow students to be released for a period of time…

This study involved administering two rating forms (student self-rating on commitment and student rating of teacher rapport) to approximately 1,400 secondary students taught by 12 different teachers at two different high school Latter-day Saint (LDS) released time seminaries along the Wasatch Front in Utah. Seminaries and Institutes of Religion…

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…

Virginia's Upper Shenandoah Valley, with its Bible-Belt values and flourishing churches, illustrates the challenges of religious-instruction release time for educators. Local schools accommodate Weekday Religious Education, a weekly, privately funded program popular in southern states. Using "public access" tables, permission slips, and…

Upon request from parents, students were released from a rural Rocky Mountains high school to take a class in religious education where they were encouraged to read at least one chapter of scripture each day. In addition to daily reading, students were encouraged to ponder what they read and apply it to their daily lives. According to the…

In the St. Louis, Missouri archdiocese Catholic students in public schools enroll part-time in a Catholic school for religious instruction. (DS)

Describes two avenues for students in public schools to participate in religious activities and presents a brief legal history of religion in the public domain. Suggests that students may form extracurricular religious groups or take advantage of school release time programs sponsored by local churches to further their religious education. (MAB)

Reports on an experimental program in the Mary Immaculate parish, Dallas, Texas, which coordinated religious instruction in the school and the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) classes. (DS)

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…