Amendment I: Freedom Of Religion In Public Schools

Amendment I: Freedom of Religion “It’s the duty of everyone to defend religious freedom and promote it for all the people.” -Pope Francis. The First Amendment has been the foundation of our country for generations and it has acknowledged that the citizens of America will have personal freedoms such as freedom of religion, freedom of free expression, freedom of assembly, and freedom of the press. Religious tolerance has given us American citizens the right to practice what you believe. Meaning and Purpose of Religious Liberty

The struggle for religious liberty has been going on for centuries until the ratification of the First Amendment. In America, the First Amendment enables us to express our own beliefs freely. According to an article

It is also important for public schools to respect everyone's religious beliefs and to not promote any particular religion. People are usually in concern of having students practicing their own religion at school. There has been many cases brought to the Supreme Court involving the issue of the right of students to pray in schools. Not having a moment of silence to pray in public schools would violate the principles the the First Amendment and are said by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional. According to an article online called Can You Do That in School?- Separation of Church and State, it states that “When educators are in the public schools, they are wearing their government hats. They cannot establish or encourage religion in the classroom.” Even though teachers and administrators cannot promote religion in school, they are still allowed to teach the cultural and historical value of a certain religion. According to another article online called, Prayer And the Public Schools Religion, Education, & Your Rights, it has noted that “Students are allowed to read their Bibles during silent reading periods in class or pray in the halls or over their meals in the cafeteria.” Furthermore, schools do allow teachers and administrators to teach the diverse culture of a religion, and they also allow students to practice their religion

According to an article called ACLJ Files Lawsuit Against CA School District on Behalf of Christian Youth Club, it has stated that “Orange County’s Buena Park School District unconstitutionally rejected a Christian youth club’s request to meet in District facilities on equal grounds with similar, nonprofit, nonreligious youth organizations.” The “Good News Club” is a group of a Bible-centered organization where school kids with extracurricular educational programming and recreational activities that teach about life from a biblical perspective. But, the youth club was denied the request to use district facilities free of charge even though the California Education Code allows non-profit youth oriented group to use public facilities with no cost. From the article it also states that, “Freedom doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse door. Child Evangelism Fellowship has every right to equal treatment and access to public school facilities for its after-school events.” With ACLJ's lawsuit, it has remarked that the Buena Park School District has violated the First Amendment on free practice of