Religious Freedom in Schools
What is religious freedom? Religious freedom is the right to choose any religion practiced as guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution. There have been multiple court cases throughout the years involving religious freedom in schools. According to the Bill of Rights Institute, the court cases begun in 1875 with the case of Reynolds v. United States. In this court case, “A federal law banning polygamy was upheld. The Free Exercise Clause forbids government from regulating belief but does allow government to regulate actions such as marriage.” Cases have continued to go on throughout American history involving religious freedom. The most recent case was Christian Legal Society v. Martinez (2010). In this case, “The court ruled that a student organization at a public university was not free to limit their members to those who shared their belief system if that resulted in discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”
I decided I wanted to find out students’ views on religious freedom in schools since they will be the most impacted. Parents and people who do not have children involved can claim they will be the most affected. However, the students who spend up to seven hours a day, five days a week will definitely be the most impacted. Adya Panchal, class of 2018, answered the question if there should be religious freedom in schools. “I believe in religious freedom at school because it is a free country where we have the privilege to practice whatever religion we want. Despite this, if your beliefs are negatively affecting people so they cannot learn properly at school, there should be some rules restricting that specific practice. In the case of feeling uncomfortable because of someone practicing their religion, such as dressing a certain way with no intention of negatively affecting someone then there should be no negative consequence because as a country we need to learn to accept other cultures.”
I then asked Adya about when she would practice her religion, Hinduism, at school. To that, she replied, “Hindus believe that everything has God in it including school supplies which have Goddess Saraswati in them. She is the Goddess of learning and arts. When school supplies touch the ground or our feet, then it is considered disrespectful because it is like Saraswati Mata touched the ground or our feet. (Mata is said after the name to show honor and respect.) In order to apologize, we touch the item that was disrespected and then touch our head and heart.” Having this religious freedom is not only wanted, but necessary for some.
However, some students have a different point of view. Devin Wade, class of 2018, said, “We should not have teachers leading prayer. Students should pray in private, not during instruction time.” Other students, like Chloe Johnson, class of 2018, disagree. “I believe students should be allowed to have religious freedom. Certain religions can be practiced at anytime and anywhere. For instance, Christianity, similar to other religions, use the method of prayer to connect with the Lord.” She goes on to say, “Furthermore, some Christians do not believe that there are only certain times to pray to the Lord. That is why students who choose to pray at school openly in front of their classmates should not be discriminated against. Also, students who pray at school should also be allowed to pray in class.” Personally, I agree and disagree. As an open atheist, I believe that no religion is the correct religion, and that they should all be respected. I believe that students should be able to pray to whichever God they want at school besides in the middle of class. I believe that as a nation who are referred to as “The Melting Pot,” we should not dictate things such as when students pray and how students practice their religion.
In conclusion, I believe that having religious freedom in school is necessary for the overall wellbeing of students and the nation. In order to attempt unity, we must accept and respect that people have different religions and practice them in different ways.
