Christian Counsel Agrees School Bible Program Violated Constitution
by Jim Brown
June 11, 2004
(AgapePress) - A constitutional attorney concurs with a federal appellate court decision that upholds a ban on weekly Bible classes at Tennessee public schools.A three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, agreed with a 2002 ruling that the Bible Education Ministry Program in Rhea County violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- the so-called separation of church and state. The 30-minute classes were held for about 800 students in kindergarten through fifth grade and were taught by students from Bryan College, a Christian school in Dayton.
Steve Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association Center for Law and Policy, feels the decision was the appropriate one. He says although teaching children to learn and obey all of God's commandments is a noble thing, U.S. public schools today are inappropriate settings for imparting such lessons.
"When you invite a plainly religious Sunday school lesson when it is stricken under the establishment clause as courts understand it today."
According to the pro-family attorney, the Bible classes in the Rhea County program violated every prong of "the lemon test," which determines when government actions have the effect of establishing religion. However, he believes there is a way for the county's public schools to teach Bible classes without violating the Establishment Clause.
For one thing, Crampton says, the district should be using certified teachers, rather than local Christian college students, to present the classes; and those teachers must be careful to observe legal guidelines in the way they present the lessons.
"You can't indoctrinate the kids," the attorney explains. "You can't teach explicitly that, for instance, all of God's Ten Commandments must be obeyed and that God's word is inerrant here; but you can introduce them to the Bible stories and discuss the lessons that scripture teaches without violating that rule against indoctrination."
The AFA Law Center's chief counsel advises school districts across the nation on this issue, and also works closely with the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools.
