First Amendment_ Religion and Education

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Grand Canyon University *

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500

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Philosophy

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Apr 3, 2024

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pdf

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4

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1 First Amendment: Religion and Education Danielle Mahaffey Grand Canyon University SPD-500-O500: U.S. and Arizona Constitution for Teacher Candidates Dr. Moses-Thompson 12 March 2024
2 Religion has been around for many years and it has been protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. The Amendment tells us that, “Everyone in the United States has the right to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all,” (ACLU, 2003). This means students have the right to express themselves freely in schools. This can be in many forms, like assignments, artwork, and even in student-ran religious groups. The student that wrote their essay about Jesus being their hero did not violate any rules or laws. Incorporating your own religious beliefs into an assignment is not prohibited. While students are able to express their beliefs, teachers and administrators must stay neutral and allow their students to express what they believe. The only limitations are that it cannot be during instructional times, and is not being forced on others. On top of that, teachers must grade the assignments in a neutral manner, without bias or discrimination. In the Peck vs. Baldswinville Central School District, a kindergartener drew posters of Jesus saving the world. The topic was about natural resources and conservation and the student got rejected due to its lack of relevance to the original assignment and the student had to redo their work. The accepted work still had Jesus, but also included images of people picking up trash (Peck vs. Baldswinville, 2005). As long as the topic/subject is relevant to the assigned requirements, there is no reason why it cannot be graded fairly. Although permanent displays of religious symbols are not permitted, temporary presentations that are integrated into a non-religious curriculum are (Anti-Defamation League, 2016). The court case, Stone vs. Graham in 1980 addresses this. Sydell Stone challenged Kentucky’s state law and James Graham, the superintendent of public schools in Kentucky. Stone felt that it was unconstitutional to display the Ten Commandments on the walls of every classroom. Although the state legislature put notations in small print at the bottom of each
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