When a public school is sued repeatedly for violating the U.S. Constitution's religion clauses, it needs help.
Religious freedom is the crown jewel of the Constitution and public schools play an important role in upholding the Constitution's ban on establishment of religion, while protecting the free speech and free exercise rights of students. Unfortunately, after a Wilson County school lost a federal case for promoting religion last year, the school board now faces a suit for failing to respect students' rights to religious expression after school officials insisted upon removal of religious references in student artwork promoting a student-led event.
There is no doubt that cases concerning religion in the public schools turn on precise facts and the balance of competing principles.
That is why federal guidelines on religion in the public schools have been promulgated and distributed by Democrats and Republicans and are consistently recommended as a basis for school policies. They are designed to help schools avoid promoting religion but also affirm the rights of students consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendment.
Talk-radio host Phil Valentine has a point when he referred to the school's behavior as an overreaction in his op-ed in last Sunday's edition of The Tennessean. But he is guilty of overreacting himself, when he refers to the separation of church and state as a mythical concept and claims that states do not have to comply with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The "separation of church and state" was first proclaimed by Colonial Baptist Roger Williams, who founded Rhode Island as a haven for religious freedom. Yes, that phrase was later echoed by Thomas Jefferson and is often used as a shorthand reference to the religious liberty protections of the Constitution, including by members of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Regardless of what Valentine thinks of the phrase, denigrating constitutional principles in the public discourse will only make matters worse.
Valentine is dead wrong when he says "that issue is clearly under the authority of the states to decide." Like other fundamental protections, the religion clauses of the First Amendment apply to the states, as well as the national government, through the application of the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
Indeed, school administrators have a tough enough job attempting to negotiate difficult church-state issues, without culture warriors offering bad legal advice. Supporting robust religious freedom for all — the goal of the religion clauses — is not promotion of a "godless agenda." It is work worthy of the best efforts of Wilson County's students, parents, teachers and administrators.