Religion guidelines please lawyer
Alabama officials try to clear up school issue
The Associated Press
From staff and wire reportsMONTGOMERY — A lawyer for the plaintiffs in a case over school prayer says she is pleased with guidelines Attorney General Bill Pryor and Education Superintendent Ed Richardson have drafted to help officials understand what religious activities are legally permissible in Alabama's public schools.
The memorandum was faxed Monday to all school officials — except those in DeKalb County — to help defuse some of the controversy that followed U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent's school prayer order issued Oct. 29.
"I'm quite confident that many of our schools overreacted to the order," Richardson said. "Teachers don't know what to do and reacted too far in one direction."
Recent debate over whether the Swift School in Bon Secour could stage a Nativity scene and whether the Dothan High School band could play religious songs at its Christmas music program proved there was a need for the guidelines, Pryor said.
Pamela Sumners, a Birmingham lawyer who represents the plaintiffs in the DeKalb County case, said she did not object to any of the guidelines because they read very close to DeMent's ruling.
"It's simply the law that you can sing 'Silent Night" and you can sing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'," Sumners said. "None of this would be difficult to understand if people would stop confusing the facts."
Pryor and Richardson Monday morning urged school officials not to go too far in interpreting Dement's order for DeKalb County schools.
"I really believe we need to lower the rhetoric and not have teachers caught in between elected officials and the judiciary," said Richardson, "because that will not do anything but cause them to overreact even more defensively and restrictively."
* * * Permissible school activities
A list of permissible activities issued by Attorney General Bill Pryor and state Superintendent of Education Ed Richardson in the school prayer controversy:
Students may voluntarily engage in individual or group prayer during noninstructional time or at school-sponsored events. This includes individual or group prayer before or after athletic events. School officials (e.g. coaches) should neither encourage nor discourage individual or group prayer. Organization or direction of a prayer by a school official would not be appropriate.
Students may voluntarily engage in religious discussions during noninstructional time or at school-sponsored events. Students may speak to and attempt to persuade their peers about religious topics just as they do with regard to political topics.
Students may express religious beliefs in reports, homework and art work, and other written and oral assignments, which should be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance.
Students may distribute religious literature to their schoolmates in accordance with all time, place and manner restrictions applicable to the distribution of literature that is unrelated to school curriculum or activities.
Students may display religious messages or symbols on items of clothing (e.g. cross, menorah, Star of David, etc.) to the same extent that they may display comparable nonreligious messages or symbols on items of clothing. Students also may wear particular attire (e.g. yarmulkes, head scarves, etc.) during the school day or at school-sponsored events as part of the student's religious practices consistent with board polices and state law.
Students in secondary schools may have announcements of meetings of a religious nature conveyed in the same manner that announcements are made for meetings of other, nonreligious groups (e.g. public address system, school newspaper, etc.).
Teachers may teach about religion, including the Bible and other scripture, provided that such teaching concerns the history of religion, the Bible (or other scripture) as literature, and/or the role of religion in the history of the United States. The use of religious symbols (e.g. cross, menorah, symbols of Native American religions) is permitted as a teaching aid or resource provided such symbols are displayed as an example of the cultural and religious subject being taught.
A fixture or symbol that is traditionally associated with a particular religion (e.g. nativity scene, menorah, etc.) may be included as a "prop" in a school holiday production to the same degree that nonreligious props are used in school productions, provided such symbols are displayed as an example of the cultural and religious heritage of the holiday.
Traditional holiday music may be included in school productions (e.g. choral events, band activities, etc.) to the same extent that other nonholiday music is included in school productions.
The intent of these guidelines is to prescribe a course of study, conduct and related activities that do not prescribe directly or indirectly a single religion, belief or observance and that are consistent with the prevailing decisions by the United States Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Huntsville Times, Tuesday December 9, 1998
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