‘Wall of Separation’: A Principle in Crisis?

Church/state conflicts are on the rise across the United States, according to a new report released by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a group that favors a strict line between government and religious activities. The report, “Separation of Church and State in Crisis: A Report from the States,” pinpoints more than 100 cases of conflict in 38 states.

Cited in the state-by-state survey are 40 conflicts over public funding of religious organizations, 30 incidents of religion in public schools, 25 state endorsements of religion, and 23 threats to the free exercise of religion. Among the specific cases being battled: school prayer, prayers before football games, Christmas displays, the teaching of creationism in public schools, a city council day of prayer against drugs, an antiblasphemy law, and tuition vouchers for private religious schools.

At an Alexandria, Virginia, press conference, Americans United executive director Robert Maddox said his group compiled the report out of concern over what it perceives as a growing reluctance among Americans to abide by a “wall of separation between church and state.” Maddox, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, said the purpose of the report was not to abolish religion, but to protect religion by keeping the government out of it. He attributed the increase of conflicts to a trend of the “Reagan Supreme Court” to permit states to become more involved with issues of church and state.

“We can be relatively certain that the Court will reverse course on many issues of church and state law,” Maddox said. “As happened in the abortion controversy, this new trend is likely to give government officials greater leeway to involve themselves in sensitive issues of religion.”

Too Far Or Not Enough?

John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute—a legal group that favors more accommodation between government and religion—said he sees the increasing conflicts as a healthy sign that Christians and other religious people have become more aware of their rights and better educated about how to wage successful battles in the courts. “It means some people have finally awakened and said, ‘We’re going to exercise our rights for religious freedom,’ ” he said in an interview with CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Whitehead added that he believes the increased activism on the part of religious groups was a natural response to the “anti-Christian hostility” of separationist groups that have gone “too far the other way” in the past ten years in restricting religion.

Maddox and Whitehead agree that religion in education is among the most sensitive church/state battlegrounds (see “Holiday Guidelines,” p. 70). In regard to public schools, Maddox said, his group is concerned about Bible distribution, prayers before football games, and celebration of religious holidays. “We found the religious neutrality in the public schools almost under constant attack,” he said. Within private religious schools, Americans United is concerned about government funding—what the group calls “parochiaid.”

Whitehead, however, said that religious Americans should not be denied the funds necessary to maintain their parochial schools, arguing that everyone who pays taxes should have equal access to public education. Likewise, he said, public schools should not practice “censorship” against religion. “It’s a form of religious apartheid to tell [religious people] they should go to the back of the bus,” Whitehead said.

By Dede Slingluff in Alexandria, Virginia.

Holiday Guidelines

Every year at about this time, public school officials around the country begin to wrestle with the “December Dilemma.” May we sing carols in our annual Christmas program? Is it appropriate to stage a Nativity pageant or a Hanukkah miracle play?

To address such questions in an era of increasing church/state disputes, a coalition of 16 religious and educational groups has released a set of guidelines in the form of a brochure called “Religious Holidays in the Public Schools: Questions and Answers.” Not limited to Christmas and Hanukkah, the brochure sets forth some broad constitutional boundaries for parents, teachers, and school administrators in dealing with all religious holidays.

“School districts developing guidelines about religious holidays will want to base their policies in the shared commitment of respect for individual religious beliefs expressed in the constitutional guarantee of religious liberty,” the brochure says. “This means that public schools may neither promote nor inhibit religious belief or non-belief.”

The pamphlet emphasizes that schools must differentiate between “teaching about religious holidays, which is permissible, and celebrating religious holidays, which is not.” Further, the guidelines stress that no particular religion should be advanced, and schools should be sensitive to the needs of the religious groups in the community.

“Now, more than ever, public schools need broad support as they struggle to meet the growing challenges of expanding pluralism in the United States,” said Oliver Thomas, general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, at a news conference to release the brochure. “Such a broad spectrum of educational and religious groups indicates that questions concerning religion in the public schools do have answers that capture a common vision for the common good.”

Among the coalition members are the National Association of Evangelicals, the American Jewish Committee, the National Council of Churches, the Christian Legal Society, Americans United Research Foundation, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association.

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