Clinton: OK to pray if it's private, outside class

National Catholic Reporter, July 28, 1995 by Arthur Jones

WASHINGTON--President Clinton walked the tightrope between religious freedom and the separation of church and state in a July 12 memorandum in which he said "nothing in the First Amendment converts our schools into religion-free zones or requires religious expression to be left behind at the schoolhouse door."

At a time when the Republican Congress is holding meetings in five U.S. cities to promote a "religious freedom amendment," the administration is arguing that existing freedoms are sufficient.

Clinton, whose directive was addressed to the secretary of education and to the attorney general, has taken his version of the debate on the road: On July 12 he gave a religious freedoms speech at a north Virginia high school. Touching on his personal religious views, Clinton told students and faculty at James Madison High School, Vienna, Va., that he believed in the "constancy of sin and the constant possibility of forgiveness, the promise of redemption and the promise of a future life."

He also said when he was growing up he gave little thought to the effect the familiar school prayers might have on the sensibilities of Catholics and Jews in the classroom.

Returning to his memorandum theme, Clinton said many Americans feel frustrated about the lack of religion in schools.

"This problem has manifested itself (because) it appears that some school officials. teachers and parents have assumed that religious expression of any kind is either inappropriate or forbidden," he said.

To clarify the confusion, the memo is going to school systems nationwide. It say:

* Purely private religious speech by students is not prohibited, and students may distribute religious materials in schools, read Bibles, say grace before school meals and pray before tests.

* In informal settings, such as cafeterias and hallways, students may pray and discuss their religious, views and attempt to persuade other students, just as they do with political topics. "School officials, however," said the president, "should intercede to stop student speech (that borders on) harassment"

* There can be religious content to before- and after-school gatherings, but voluntary prayer and religious discussion does not include the right to have a captive audience.

On the thorny issue of religious observances at baccalaureate services, a major issue with the religious right, Clinton said that current Supreme Court decisions state that school officials may not mandate or organize graduation prayer.

However, he said, "if a school generally opens its facilities to private groups, those facilities must also be available' to privately sponsored religious baccalaureate services.

The Christian Coalition's executive director, Ralph Reed, applauded Clinton's support for voluntary school prayer and urged Clinton to support a constitutional amendment or statute to protect religious expression.

Another division of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson's empire, the American Center for Law and Justice, said Clinton was 'playing politics with religion."

Neither group supported Clinton's 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which restored "a high legal standard" to protect the exercise of religious freedom from being inappropriately burdened by government action.