Appeals court allows 'student-led' prayers in Alabama schools

Church & State, Sep 1999

Alabama teachers and other school officials may not prescribe religious worship, but "student-initiated" prayer is permissible as long as it is "non-proselytizing," a federal appellate court has ruled.

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said July 13 that a federal district court injunction in the Chandler v. James case unduly restricted student religious speech and sent the case back for revision.

Americans United, which sponsored the lawsuit along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said the latest decision leaves in place many church-state safeguards but also raises serious constitutional questions.

"This decision is a decidedly mixed -bag," observed Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn. "We are pleased that the appellate court recognized that school officials may not promote prayer and other religious activities or enlist students to do so. However, we are troubled by some of the court's confusing language, which seems to allow inappropriate student-led religious activities at school events."

Lynn expressed concern about the appellate court's apparent hostility toward church-state separation and its seeming indifference to the rights of religious minorities who may not want to be subjected to religious pressures while attending public school classes and other events.

Although the three-judge panel declared that "The Constitution requires that schools permit religious expression, not religious proselytizing," it also went on to say that forbidding students from reciting prayers even in compulsory settings would result "in the `establishment of disbelief' - atheism - as the State's religion."

The court also criticized Thomas Jefferson's metaphor of a "wall of separation between church and state," writing, "The Constitution probably does not require a 'wall' at all." Students who do not want to be exposed to prayer and religion at school "are free not to listen, and to express their disagreement by not participating in any way," said the court.

Responded Lynn, "Public schools are not churches, and students should never be made a captive congregation for religious worship and sermonizing. I don't think the appellate court fully understood what was at issue in this case. We will take the necessary legal steps to see that this decision does not undercut the religious neutrality of our public schools."

The Chandler case was filed in 1996 when Michael Chandler and his son objected to school-sanctioned Christian prayer, Bible distribution, religiously based student assemblies and other religious activities in the DeKalb County public schools. The lawsuit also challenged a 1993 Alabama law allowing student-led prayer at "compulsory or non-compulsory" school events such as graduation and athletic contests.

In fall of 1997, U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent took strong judicial action to correct the constitutional violations. Among his actions were:

* Striking down the state statute and barring state sponsorship of religious activities,

* Barring distribution of Gideon Bibles (including the throwing of Bibles through school bus windows, a practice attempted to evade constitutional barriers),

* Prohibiting school officials from allowing students to lead prayers at school events, and

* Appointing a monitor to ensure that his order was enforced.

Americans United's Lynn said Judge DeMent's core decisions remain in place. Lynn dismissed claims by Alabama Attorney General William Pryor and Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice that the appeals court decision was a major victory for their side.

"The appeals court left in place broad restrictions on school sponsorship of religion," said Lynn. "Pryor and his Religious Right cronies have completely failed to get school-sponsored religion back in Alabama's public schools. I can't imagine why they're crowing about this."

Last month attorneys with Americans United and the ACLU filed legal briefs asking the entire 11th Circuit panel to hear the controversy.