The UConn School of Law is hosting an interesting and timely debate between two heavy weights on both sides of the religion in schools issue. The event is free, but advance registration is required.
The Event is the Milton Sorokin Symposium on "The Relationship Between Religion and the Public Schools."
The debaters will be Anthony Romero, the Executive Director of the national ACLU, and Kevin J. "Seamus" Hasson, Founder and President of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Moderating the debate is Rick Kay, Professor, UConn School of Law.
After a quick read of both debater's bios what struck me is that both Romero and Hasson claim to support "religious freedom." On the surface, they would appear to be largely in agreement about the importance of the free exercise of religion. Romero's website has this to say:
"Children's religious education should be directed primarily by parents, families, and religious communities — not the public schools. The ACLU defends students' free speech rights in the public schools and defends students' rights to pray in the schools. Additionally, whenever a teacher allows children to choose their own topics for an assignment (such as which book to read or which topic to study for a presentation), students may choose religious themes — and the ACLU has protected their right to do so." ACLU statement.
I had more trouble finding a clear statement of The Becket Fund's principles regarding religious freedom in the school, but they are probably best known for their litigation to keep the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance recited by school children. From the website on the symposium, Hasson is described this way:
"Hasson is founder and president of the Becket Fund, which describes itself as "a bipartisan, public-interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions." The fund, as described at its web site, "believes that government may not discriminate against religion by specially excluding schools or students from government funding, or any other government benefit, simply because they are religious." Hasson is author of The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War over Religion in America."
you can register for the event by sending an email to: rsvp@acluct.org
ReplyDeletewell...needless to say, I support funding for parochial schools (in the form of tax credits or vouchers)
ReplyDeletebtw, I think this may be a decent website on the Blaine Amendments -- which turns out to be sponsored by the Beckett Fund!
Didn't know that!
Once you look at a political cartoon of alligator-Popes swimming to America to menace Protestant public school children, you see laws banning religion in schools in a new light.
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The Beckett Fund is very active in opposing Blaine Amendments. I'd never heard the term "Blaine Amendment" before!
ReplyDeleteWouldn't the amendments have applied equally to protestant schools as well as catholic? Or were Catholic schools somehow a "religious sect" while protestant schools were not?
I am very ignorant of my history on this. Thanks for the website, Catherine!