Oklahoma Education Department Creates Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism

In a November 12 press release, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters announced the creation of the Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism at the State Department of Education, saying in part:

[The Office] will serve to promote religious liberty and patriotism in Oklahoma and protect parents, teachers, and students’ abilities to practice their religion freely in all aspects. The office will also oversee the investigation of abuses to individual religious freedom or displays of patriotism. Guidance to schools will be issued in the coming days on steps to be taken to ensure the right to pray in schools is safeguarded....

The new office will be charged with supporting teachers and students when their constitutional rights are threatened by well-funded, out of state groups as happened in Skiatook last year when a school was bullied into removing Bible quotes from a classroom....

The newly established Office of Religious Liberty and Patriotism is in line with one of President Trump’s top education priorities, “Freedom to Pray.”...

KOKH News has more on Walters' promotion of school prayer. [Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]

Suit Over Deceptively Promoted School Religious Program Moves Ahead

In Roe v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, (MD LA, Oct. 8, 2024), a Louisiana federal district court refused to dismiss many claims brought by high school seniors and their parents asserting violations of the Establishment Clause, infringement of parental rights, sex discrimination, violation of the Louisiana Parents Bill of Rights, negligence, infliction of emotional distress and fraud. According to the court:

Plaintiffs’ lawsuit centers around the overarching allegation that, “[f]or several years going back to at least 2016, [defendants] ... were engaged in a conspiracy to expose public school children to overtly sectarian and religious experiences directly through the East Baton Rouge School System..., often without the knowledge or permission of the students’ parents or guardians.” [They] ...developed a program called ‘Day of Hope’, whereby public school students of the East Baton Rouge School System would be sent to a religious service during school time, chaperoned by EBRSB employees.” ... [Defendants] advertised the 2022 event to parents and students as a ‘College and Career Fair’, providing ‘a college and career fair, breakout sessions, live music, a keynote speaker, free food, and more.’ None of the promotional materials or advertisements for the event provided any obvious religious connection.” Plaintiffs claim that, “[i]n actuality, ‘Day of Hope’ speakers were almost exclusively pastors or other religious speakers who describe their participation in the public school event as ‘worship[]’ and ‘minister[ing] to over 1000 kids’, including hashtags on social media posts describing the event like ‘#GodGetsTheGlory’.” ...

The allegations taken as true suggest coercion as understood by Supreme Court precedent, and the prohibition against this practice was clearly established at the time of the alleged violation....

The Title IX claim focuses primarily on two aspects of the Day of Hope program: 1) transgender and gender non-conforming students were forced into “either male or female segregated gender groups based on their outward appearance and without their consent”; and 2) while the male students engaged in “frivolous recreational activities,” the female students were “exposed to a ‘girls gender talk’ including traumatizing lectures by pastors and other religious figures about virginity, rape, abuse, and suicide, even being told to ‘forgive’ their rapists and abusers.”...

Jury Must Decide Whether School Board Had Religious Animus

In Pines Church v. Hermon School Department, (D ME, July 31, 2024), a Maine federal district court denied both parties' motions for summary judgment.  Pines Church sought to enter a 12-month lease to use space at Hermon High School for Sunday religious services.  The School Committee offered only a month-to-month lease. Plaintiffs claimed that the denial of a long-term lease was motivated by animus against their orthodox Christian religious beliefs. The court said in part:

Plaintiffs rely on the relatively blatant bias and the inferences that arise from the interrogatories posed by one Committee member who demanded to know from Pastor Gioia the Church’s “position” on a spate of religious, political, and cultural flashpoints before evaluating whether to extend a lease on behalf of a publicly funded school.  Plaintiffs also rely on a somewhat more tepid bias, sanitized through fear-of-association comments by others, along the lines that association with the Church may not fit with the Committee’s “goals” and may therefore create a “negative image” by not comporting with the School Department’s “mission” and evidently its own beliefs.  This evidence certainly is probative of Plaintiffs’ position that the School Committee’s refusal to offer Plaintiffs a lease was motivated by unconstitutional considerations, such as animus toward the Church’s orthodox religious beliefs.  For its part, the School Department counters that the School Committee’s decision, save for the one Committee member’s bill of particulars put to the Pastor, simply resulted from humdrum, benign space and cost concerns, although that narrative is far from conclusive based on the summary judgment record.  These competing characterizations of the Committee’s motivations form the most conspicuous reason I deny summary judgment to the parties in favor of a jury trial.

Northern Ireland Appeals Court Rejects Challenge To Religious Education In Schools

In re an Application by JR87, (NI CA, April 30, 2024), is an appeal in a challenge to the legality of religious education and collective worship practices in schools in Northern Ireland. In the case, parents who are humanists and are not raising their daughter in any religious tradition object to the Christian religious education and collective worship in their daughter's school. Among other things, they rely on Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (Freedom of thought, conscience and religion) and Article 2 of Protocol 1 to the Convention which provides in part:

Education that is provided, whether public or private, must respect parents' religious and philosophical convictions. But so long as the curriculum and tuition are objective and pluralistic, the fact that it may conflict with some parents' convictions is not a breach.

The Northern Ireland Court of Appeal said in part:

In contrast to the secular reform of the education system in England and Wales facilitated through the 1870 and 1902 Education Acts, the Irish churches retained their ties to the school system.  In Northern Ireland, the 1923 Education Act introduced by the first Belfast government maintained the influence of the main churches in our education system.

A hundred years later, the provision of mandatory Christian education as standard in controlled schools was challenged by way of judicial review in these proceedings.  In the court below the applicants contended that the mandatory Christian religious education (“RE”) and collective worship (“CW”) currently provided in controlled primary schools in Northern Ireland is contrary to the religious freedom protections guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”)....

... [W]e uphold the trial judge’s finding that the curriculum at issue in the present case is not conveyed in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner.  However, we hold that no breach of A2P1 has been established because of the existence of the unqualified statutory right of the parents to have their child excused wholly or partly from attendance at religious education or collective worship, or both in accordance with their request.

The Court's Communications Office also issued a summary of the decision. Law & Religion UK reports on the case.

School Board Not Liable for Teacher's Proselytization of Muslim Student

In Chaudhry v. Community Unit School District 300 Board of Education, (ND IL, Dec. 29, 2023), an Illinois federal district court dismissed Establishment Clause, Due Process and Equal Protection claims by Muslim parents against an Illinois school board that employed teacher Pierre Thorsen who convinced their daughter to convert to Christianity.  The court said in part:

[T]he complaint continues to state an implausible theory of Monell liability because it does not plead enough factual matter to raise the inference that any assertedly unconstitutional practice had become so widespread that the Board was bound to have noticed it. It likewise continues to fail to plausibly allege that anyone other than Thorsen was the moving force behind any of the Parents’ asserted injuries.... At best, the Parents have alleged facts consistent only with the “isolated wrongdoing of one . . . rogue employee[].”... Because Monell does not allow for respondeat superior liability, these claims are not plausibly pleaded, and they therefore fail.

Pennsylvania Legislature Repeals Ban on Public School Teachers Wearing Religious Garb or Insignia

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania legislature gave final passage to Senate Bill 84 (full text) which repeals Pennsylvania's ban on public school teachers wearing any religious garb or insignia in the classroom. According to Penn Live, Governor Josh Shapiro is expected to sign the bill when it reaches his desk. Pennsylvania is the only state that still has such a ban on its books. In Nichol v. Arin Intermediate Unit 28, (WD PA, June 25, 2003), a Pennsylvania federal district court, in a preliminary injunction action, held that the law likely violates the Free Speech and Free Exercise clauses of the 1st Amendment. After the decision, plaintiff was rehired and given back pay. (See Senate Memo on SB 84.)

West Virginia School Settles Suit Over Religious Activities

The Freedom From Religion Foundation announced yesterday the settlement of a suit against a West Virginia school, its principal and a substitute teacher for scheduling and hosting an evangelical Christian revival as an assembly in the school auditorium during homeroom period in violation of the Establishment Clause.  Yesterday the parties jointly dismissed Mays v. Cabell County Board of Education, (SD WV, dismissed 10/26/2023).. According to FFRF:

As part of a settlement, the board agreed to amend its policies relating to religion in schools. The board voted on Oct. 17 to adopt the policy revisions. Significantly, those changes require annual training of teachers about religion in school. School administrators also are tasked with greater monitoring of school events. Finally, the policy provides greater detail to ensure that employees do not initiate or lead students in religious activities. [Full text of amended policy.]

The settlement also includes nominal damages and attorneys' fees of $175,000 paid by the school board's insurers. (See prior related posting.)

Principal Can Move Ahead with Claim He Was Nonrenewed Because of Speech to Fellowship of Christian Athletes

In Littlefield v. Weld County School District RE-5J, (D CO, Oct. 19, 2023), a Colorado federal district court refused to dismiss a retaliation claim against a school Superintendent brought by a former high school principal who was demoted and then whose contract was not renewed. Plaintiff, who alleged discrimination because he was a conservative Christian male, claimed that these action against him were taken because of a motivational speech he had given to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes before school started. The court said in part:

Dr. Littlefield has plausibly alleged that Ms. Arnold retaliated against him for his association with the FCA in violation of his First Amendment rights when she issued a negative performance review and demoted him.

Plaintiff's freedom of association claim against the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources was dismissed.

School Material on Islam Did Not Violate Current Establishment Clause Test

As previously reported, in November 2020 in Hilsenrath v. School District of the Chathams, a New Jersey federal district court held that the 7th grade World Cultures and Geography course presentation of material about Islam did not violate the Establishment Clause. Subsequently the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals (2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 20588 (July 20, 2022)) remanded the case to the district court for further consideration in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. Now in Hilsenrath v. School District of the Chathams, (D NJ, Oct. 16, 2023), the district court reaffirmed its former conclusion, saying in part:

In sum, the curriculum and materials here were not coercive and do not otherwise bear or resemble the “hallmarks of religious establishments the framers sought to prohibit when they adopted the First Amendment.” Accordingly, the Board did not violate the Establishment Clause. I will enter summary judgment in the Board’s favor on Hilsenrath’s remaining nominal-damages claim.

Ban on California's Publicly Funded Home School Program Covering Faith-Based Instruction Challenged

California's public charter school program includes schools that fund independent study home schooling. Parents may use state funds for secular educational materials, but not for religious materials.  A school staff member must approve materials purchased with state funds and must periodically review work samples to assure that state educational standards are met. California Constitution Art. IX, Sec. 8 prohibits the teaching of religious doctrine in public schools, and the California Education Code requires charter schools to be non-sectarian. Suit was filed this week in a California federal district court seeking an injunction that will allow parents to spend instructional funds for faith-based materials and will require schools to accept work samples that derive from a faith-based curriculum.  The complaint (full text) in Woolard v. Thurmond, (ED CA, filed 10/11/2023), alleges that applying state law to prevent disbursement of instructional funds for faith-based materials and refusal to accept faith-based work samples violates plaintiffs Free Exercise and Free Speech rights. First Liberty Institute issued a press release announcing the filling of the lawsuit.

Group Urges Students To Bring A Bible To School Today

Today has been designated "Bring Your Bible to School Day" by the Christian organization, Focus on the Family. The event's website says in part:

Bring your Bible to whatever school looks like for you! Whether your school is public, private, or at home, you can participate!...

As Christians, we’re called to share the gospel with the world! Bring Your Bible to School Day provides you with an easy way to start that conversation with your friends and classmates.

It explains further:

You are allowed to invite your friends to join you to read the Bible and talk about it. But remember, you cannot make someone else read the Bible if they don’t want to....

You can offer Bibles to friends and classmates as long as you hand them out in a way that does not disturb class time. For example, you can share the Bible during lunch, at recess, before school, or after school.

According to the website, last year, 877,000 students from over 50,000 schools participated.

Suit Says High Schoolers Deceived Into Attending Christian Religious Event

Suit was filed this week in a Louisiana federal district court by two plaintiffs suing on behalf of themselves and their high-school age daughters alleging that the Baton Rouge school board and its superintendent, along with a Christian youth organization, in 2022 created a religious "Day of Hope" event that was falsely promoted to public school students and their parents as a college and career fair. The complaint (full text) in Roe v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, (MD LA, filed 9/19/2023), alleges in part:

When students, parents, and other volunteers arrived for the “Day of Hope” event ..., it very quickly became evident to them that the event was nothing like what had been advertised. The event immediately took the form of a Christian church service, with speakers and presenters praying and making repeated, overt appeals to Jesus and God.....

Later that morning, students were segregated by gender....  [P]resenters and facilitators of the event acted with hostility toward transgender and gender non-binary students, ... forcing them into either the male or female segregated gender group based on their outward appearance and without their consent....

While the boys competed in physical activity contests for prize money, girls were graphically lectured by pastors and other religious figures about virginity, rape, abuse, and suicide and were even told to “forgive” their rapists and abusers....

Intimidation and harassment of LGBTQ+ students at this church event were likewise rampant....

The suit alleges claims under the Establishment Clause as well as various civil rights and state law violations. BRProud reports on the lawsuit.

France's Conseil D'Etat Upholds Ban on Wearing Abayas in Schools

On Thursday, France's Council of State upheld the government's ban Muslim girls wearing the abaya at school.   France 24 explains:

President Emmanuel Macron's government announced last month it was banning the abaya in schools, saying it broke the rules on secularism in education that have already seen Muslim headscarves banned on the grounds that they constitute a display of religious affiliation. 

But an association representing Muslims filed a motion with the State Council, France's highest court for complaints against state authorities, for an injunction against the ban on the abaya and the qamis, its equivalent dress for men.

The association argued the ban was discriminatory and could incite hatred against Muslims, as well as racial profiling.

The court's decision, available in French (Association Action Droits des Musulman, (Conseil D'Etat, Sept. 7, 2023) (full text), is summarized by Daily News:

Wearing the abaya "is part of a logic of religious affirmation", estimated the judge in summary proceedings....

Accordingly, its prohibition "does not constitute a serious and manifestly unlawful interference with the right to respect for private life, freedom of worship, the right to education and respect for the best interests of the child or principle of non-discrimination,” he said.

Monell Claims Opposing Transcendental Meditation Program in Chicago Schools Move Ahead

In Hudgins v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, (ND IL, June 30, 2023), two former high school students and the mother of one of the students sued claiming that a Quiet Time transcendental meditation program in the Chicago public schools violated the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses as well as the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Plaintiffs claim that the program contained hidden Hindu religious elements. A number of plaintiffs' claims were dismissed, primarily on statute-of-limitations grounds. However, the court allowed plaintiffs to move ahead with their Section 1983 Monell claims for damages against the Chicago Board of Education and the David Lynch Foundation which operated the program under contract in the schools.

California Law Does Not Interfere With Pre-Schools' Religious Curriculum

In Foothills Christian Church v. Johnson, (SD CA, June 15, 2023), a California federal district court dismissed a free exercise challenge by Christian pre-schools to California's child care licensing requirement. It held that California's Child Day Care Facilities Act does not prevent the schools from offering a program that includes compulsory participation in religious activities and events. While the Act requires that schools make attendance at religious activities voluntary in the discretion of the child's parents or guardian, it also allows schools to refuse to admit children whose parents or guardians are unwilling to agree that their children will attend religious instruction and activities. The court thus held that since plaintiffs inaccurately assessed the Act's requirements, they lack standing to pursue their free exercise claims.

British Court: Humanist Eligible to Sit on Advisory Council for Religious Education

In R (on the Application of Bowen) v. Kent County Council, (EWHC (Admin), May 26, 2023), a British High Court justice rejected a ruling of the Kent Conty Council regarding who is eligible for appointment to an advisory body on religious education in the county's schools. The court explained:

Mr Bowen sought to be appointed to join Group A of the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (‘SACRE’) of Kent County Council (‘KCC’). Pursuant to section 390(4)(a) of the Education Act 1996 (‘the 1996 Act’) ..., Group A is required to be ‘a group of persons to represent such Christian denominations and other religions and denominations of such religions as, in the opinion of the authority, will appropriately reflect the principal religious traditions in the area.’ KCC refused to appoint Mr Bowen because, as a humanist, Mr Bowen does not represent ‘a religion or a denomination of a religion’....

 ... [T]he ability to be a representative of a particular relevant belief on a SACRE is (at the very least) more than tenuously connected with that core value, so as to bring the alleged discrimination through the prevention of membership of SACRE within the ambit of article 9 [of the European Convention on Human Rights]..

... [A] religious education curriculum must, in order to be compliant with the HRA [Human Rights Act] 1998, cover more than religious faith teaching. The content of religious education teaching must include, at least to some degree, the teaching of non-religious beliefs (such as humanism).... 

The court concluded in part:

Analysed properly, when looking at membership of a group the purpose of which is to advise upon the content of a religious education syllabus, it is obvious that all people who are holders of belief systems appropriate to be included within that syllabus are in an analogous position. It is in my view clearly discriminatory to exclude someone from SACRE Group A solely by reference to the fact that their belief, whilst appropriate to be included within the agreed syllabus for religious education, is a non-religious, rather than a religious, belief.

Law & Religion UK has a lengthier analysis of the decision.

Texas Legislature Approves Chaplains in Public Schools

 The Texas legislature today gave final passage to SB763 (full text) which allows public schools to employ or accept as volunteers chaplains to provide support for students.  Chaplains need not be certified as teachers.  The only requirements are that they be subject to a criminal history review and that they have not been convicted or placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for an offense for which sex-offender registration is required. Texas Tribune reports on the passage of the bill, saying in part:

The bill was delayed last week after Texas House members sought an amendment that would have required chaplains to have similar accreditation as chaplains who work in prisons or the U.S. military. That amendment was defeated during negotiations between both chambers Friday.

Earlier this month, House Democrats also offered amendments to bar proselytizing or attempts to convert students from one religion to another; to require chaplains to receive consent from the parents of school children; and to make schools provide chaplains from any faith or denomination requested by students. All of those amendments failed.

[Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

Establishment Clause Challenge to Transcendental Meditation Program in High School Moves Ahead

In Williams v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, (ND IL, May 16, 2023), an Illinois federal district court refused to grant summary judgment to either side on an Establishment Clause challenge to a high school's elective instruction in Transcendental Meditation brought by former student Amonte Williams.  The court said in part:

[T]here is evidence that a Transcendental Meditation instructor separated Williams from his classmates and brought him individually to a different classroom for the initiation. A reasonable jury could find that Williams, having arguably signed up to be trained in Transcendental Meditation, was then required to observe a religious ceremony in order to learn meditation and was misled about the ceremony's religious nature. The scenario as presented by Williams differs from the school prayer cases ... because there was no imposition or mention of any specific beliefs by the defendants. But the initiation ceremony distinguishes this situation from those cases involving the simple practice of Yoga in schools.... The evidence in this record— most notably the details of the initiation ceremony—suggest that a reasonable jury could find that the Transcendental Meditation training as implemented was religious in nature or at least included a required religious ceremony....

... A reasonable jury could find that Williams felt pressured to support the purportedly religious aspects of Transcendental Meditation during the initiation ceremony, when he saw various items placed around a picture of a teacher of Transcendental Meditation while the instructor spoke in a language he did not understand. It is less clear whether Williams would have felt pressured to support the instructor-led meditation in the classrooms.... [T]he Court denies the defendants' motion for summary judgment.... To the extent that Williams intended to move for summary judgment on his Establishment Clause claim ...,  the Court denies the motion. The reason is that a reasonable jury could find that there was no "captive audience," that the initiation ceremony was not religious in nature, or that Williams did not feel pressured to support any religious aspects of the program.

Good News Clubs Sue to Get Access for After School Programs

Suit was filed last week in a Rhode Island federal district court by the Good News Clubs contending that their 1st and 14th Amendment rights were violated when Providence, RI school officials blocked approval of their use of school facilities for after-school programs. The complaint (full text) in Child Evangelism Fellowship of Rhode Island, Inc. v. Providence Public School District, (D RI, filed 3/10/2023) alleges in part:

CEF Rhode Island and its proposed Good News Clubs are similarly situated to the other organizations the District allows to host their afterschool programs in District elementary schools because all the organizations provide teaching and activities to develop things like confidence, character, leadership, and life skills in their participants. CEF Rhode Island, however, offers its programming from a Christian religious viewpoint, while the other organizations offer their similar programming from a nonreligious viewpoint....

The increasingly burdensome requirements the District has imposed on CEF Rhode Island as conditions to access for its Good News Clubs are discriminatory and pretextual disguises for the District’s hostility towards CEF Rhode Island’s Christian identity, message, and viewpoint.

Liberty Counsel issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Suit Challenging School's Scheduling of Revival As An Assembly May Move Ahead

In Mays v. Cabell County Board of Education, (SD WV, Dec. 13, 2022), a West Virginia federal district court refused to dismiss a suit against a school, its principal and a substitute teacher for scheduling and hosting an evangelical Christian revival as an assembly in the school auditorium during homeroom period in violation of the Establishment Clause.  The court said in part:

At the very least, the allegations against Principal Gleason and Mr. Jones are that they organized and scheduled a revival that was initiated and sponsored by adults, not students. The revival also was given preferential treatment as it was scheduled during a time and in a location that was unavailable to other groups who wanted to bring in outside speakers. Moreover, Mr. Jones’ entire class and another class were taken to the revival without being told what it was, and Mr. Jones would not let S.F. leave once he was there.... 

Here, Principal Gleason and Mr. Jones encourage the Court to simply accept their version of events and conclude that the Nik Walker Ministries was sponsored by the FCA, and the FCA was allowed to hold an assembly during non-instructional time pursuant to a neutral policy in a limited public forum. Mr. Jones also states he did not require the students in his classroom to attend the revival. However, as this Court previously expressed, the Amended Complaint directly contradicts Defendants’ narrative, creating factual issues that should be explored through discovery, not resolved on a motion to dismiss.

WOWKTV reports on the decision.