Running head: RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLS 1

Religion in The Schools

Lauren Ritzer

College of Southern Nevada

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RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLS

In this case, we have Karen White, a kindergarten teacher at an elementary school. It

starts with informing her parents and students that she will no longer to lead certain activities or

participate in certain because of her new found religion. Karen recently acquired affiliations with

Jehovah’s Witnesses. With this religion, she cannot decorate her classroom during holidays, plan

gift exchanges, sing “Happy Birthday”, or even recite the Pledge of Allegiance. From hearing the

news, the parents were very upset, and contacted the principal, Bill Ward. After all of this, the

principal recommended her dismissal. This was based on not meeting the needs of curriculum

and students. In the next few moments of the paper, we will present court cases providing

supportive and non-supportive cases involving Karen’s situation.

In our first case we have, Cheema v. Thompson, the district refused three young Khasa

Sikh children to wear ceremonial knives called, “kirpans” to school. With wearing the special

knives, the school claimed it violated school policy and state law, the knives being present, was

considered a weapon. The parents of the children claimed it was a central tenet of their religion

to wear five symbols of their faith. The symbols included long hair, a comb, sacred underwear, a

steel bracelet, and a kirpan at all times. The ruling in 1997 allowed accommodations for religious

beliefs and still protected the safety of students by dulling the knife, and it to be sewn securely

into a sheath and further secured in a cloth pouch. This could support Karen’s case by

accommodation. Maybe they can accommodate her by only letting her celebrate certain holidays

in the classroom that pertain the most to teaching.

Our second case in support of Karen, we show Downing v. W. Haven Board of Education.
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RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLS

In May 1999, Ella Downing, a high school music teacher in New Haven, Connecticut wore a

shirt with the words "JESUS 2000 - J2K" on the front. The school administrators, concerned

about violating church-state separation, instructed Downing to either go home to change clothes

or cover the religious message while at school. Downing then filed suit against the school district,

claiming that the school suppressed her free speech rights. On Aug. 24, U.S. District Court Judge

Stefan Underhill ruled in favor of the district, concluding that the school was complying with the

church-state separation provisions of the First Amendment. For the defendants to have permitted

Downing to wear a shirt during classroom instruction that was emblazoned with the words

`JESUS 2000 - J2K' would likely have violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment.

The speech does not have a secular purpose, would have the primary effect of advancing religion,

and would have entangled the school with religion. Depending on which state you are in some

laws allow you to have religious attire, maybe not this shirt, but “incidental” pieces would be

okay to wear of religious garb would be permitted. Again, accommodation might work on

Karen’s favor in this case.

Our next case would not support Karen as it is in opposing her view, and situation.

Epperson v. Arkansas, we start with Susan Epperson who was a teacher and wanted to teach her

students about “Human Evolution” in the public school. This was not allowed because it

pertained to the bible of Genesis. The Court held that the First Amendment of the United States

Constitution, a stated the majority opinion, "teaching and learning must be tailored to the

principles or prohibitions of any religious sect or dogma." The Supreme Court declared the

Arkansas statute unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment, to which it may not
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RELIGION IN THE SCHOOLS

be expressed as it is in violation with the Establishment Clause. When it comes to religion in

schools, most of the time it is not permitted, and should match to curriculum standards of

teaching if it is taught.

Our last case today is in conjunction with the case, Stone v. Graham. One of the major

rules here is religion is schools should not be promoted or endorsed due to the Establishment

Clause. In this case, a Michigan court led against hanging “The Ten Commandments” poster in

every school classroom was unconstitutional. This would go against Karen’s case again because

religion should not be allowed in schools.

For my final opinion, I would like to state that just because Karen is attached to a religion,

she should still continue to do activities that include religion. This is a standard part of school,

and taking it away completely would mean that she is not performing the best as a teacher, and

not hitting all the required standards in the curriculum I believe the government has done a fine

job with a balance of religion in the schools. For example, if you wanted to take time off of work

because of a religious holiday, you are allowed to do that, and that goes the same for the students.

With referring to case Downing v. W. Haven Board of Education, the court gives you a bit of

freedom in expressing what you want, like when they allowed teachers and students to wear

some amount of garb, that was acceptable. It stands today that religion is always going to be

quite of a touchy subject, and it is a good thing that we have rights that protect us. I think that

Freedom of Speech is amazing thing. We proud that we have it, not all do.
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References

(CHEEMA V. THOMPSON, 1995)

(DOWNING V. WEST HAVEN BOARD OF EDUCATION, 1999)

(EPPERSON V. ARKANSAS, 1968)

(STONE V. GRAHAM, 1980)

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