Music with sacred texts is integral to the historical and modern development of the music education field, yet many who teach in public schools find themselves limited or banned from using sacred music. School divisions do not have a consensus opinion on how to handle this sensitive topic, and the law is not explicit. In this article, I provide an…

In today's urban schools, foreign-born children and children of immigrants are the fastest growing sector of the student population and as a result of this changing demographic, our schools are more ethnically, racially and religiously diverse than they have ever been (Suárez-Orozco et al. in "Thriving and spirituality among youth:…

This case study focuses on issues of freedom of speech and freedom of religion in public schools. It involves a rural, southern high school where a group of students participated in a Day of Silence. The school allowed the students to participate based on the principal's understanding of the students' First Amendment rights. However, the next day,…

Recent years, increasing diverse attitudes to religious education in the classroom make many private and public school face the controversy of "should religion be taught as a subject at schools?" (Kaiser, 2003; Slattery & Rapp, 2003; Wallace, Forman, Caldwell & Willis, 2003.) As a result, many administrators and teachers are making efforts in…

This anthology is one of four collections of background readings on church-state issues that comprise "Church, State and the First Amendment: A North Carolina Dialogue." These anthologies are designed to provide primary materials through which North Carolinians can better understand the religion clause of the First Amendment. Volume 4 of…