The Freedom From Religion Foundation is back in the news.
But this time the story is actually pretty good.
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports on a pilot program in a local school district that allows elementary-age children to leave their public school — with parental permission — to study the Bible at a church.
The newspaper’s lede covers the high points before the story delves into more specific details:
Once a month, some 70 students from Sterchi Elementary miss an hour of school to go to a nearby evangelistic church for a Bible lesson.
Third- through fifth-graders miss music, art or library. Second-graders miss language arts.
If parents sign a release, state law allows this — as long as the school district’s Board of Education has approved a policy.
Knox County's school board hasn’t approved a policy. Sterchi’s Bible Release Time program, approved earlier this year, is intended to be a “pilot” that board members could observe to determine if they want a countywide policy.
The Sterchi program has raised a lot of questions — and heated voices — in Knox County about the separation of church and government. That includes a slew of letters from parents to school board members, and one social media post from a Satanic organization.
That description up high of the church as “evangelistic” made me wonder if perhaps the reporter meant “evangelical.” At the same time, a church teaching the Bible to public school students no doubt would fall under the heading of “evangelistic.”
Later, the News Sentinel notes that the church didn’t return its calls, so maybe it’s not surprising that the information provided about the church seems rather sketchy. A few references are made to Christian parents complaining that the church doesn’t share their brand of beliefs.
Overall, though, give the Knoxville paper credit for a full, fair report that includes a variety of voices — from Christians with a variety of opinions to an FFRF activist to, yes, even a Satanic organization.
The story references the role of the Elgin Foundation — a faith-based nonprofit — in providing funding for released time study in several Tennessee school districts:
As part of a national movement to bring back Bible instruction programs during school hours, Elgin provides churches with guidelines for organizing the studies. Its Bible Release Time handbook states its mission for “every child … is introduced to the gospel message of Jesus Christ and taught the basics of the Christian faith; lives in a safe and secure home led by loving adults; experiences a healthy start in life, free from avoidable and unnecessary pain; and develops a strong early academic foundation in the basic skills of reading and mathematics.”
It quotes court cases that it asserts reinforce parents’ rights to enroll their children in religious studies during the school day, dating back to the early 1900s, when parents had their children skip "playground time" to attend Bible classes. It provides handouts for parents, a sample consent form (to which Knox County Schools required a disclaimer be added) and sample lessons. Representatives from the organization regularly contacted representatives from Knox County Schools, and they met several times.
The paper does not quote any constitutional law experts who might evaluate the organization’s legal claims.
I wrote a Christian Chronicle story in 2013 on a released time Bible program in South Carolina. In that story, I noted:
Decades ago, religious instruction occurred on public school grounds themselves, said Charles C. Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Program in Washington, D.C.
“Kids would go to a class taught by a religious leader, depending on their choice,” Haynes told The Christian Chronicle. “It might be a priest, minister or rabbi. That was not uncommon in American public schools for a period of time.”
But in 1948 — in the case McCollum v. Board of Education — the Supreme Court ruled that religious groups and school officials had cooperated unconstitutionally to provide religious instruction.
“Here not only are the State’s tax-supported public school buildings used for the dissemination of religious doctrines,” Justice Hugo Black wrote. “The State also affords sectarian groups an invaluable aid in that it helps provide pupils for their religion classes through use of the state’s compulsory public school machinery. This is not separation of Church and State.”
Four years later, however, the 1952 case Zorach v. Clauson set the legal precedent that still governs Released Time.
In that case, the high court ruled specifically on the constitutionality of off-campus, Released Time programs, emphasizing the difference between schools supporting religious indoctrination and merely accommodating children’s religious needs.
“We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being,” Justice William O. Douglas wrote in the landmark decision. “When the State encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs, it then follows the best of our traditions, for it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public services to their spiritual needs.”
The decision allows schools to permit Released Time, but it does not require them to do so, legal experts said.
I do not know if there have been federal court rulings on released time education since I did that piece, but I’d be curious to know.
In the meantime, kudos to the News Sentinel for its interesting, informative overview.