Symposium to Address Worship on the Campus

Each Friday, 10 Muslim students gather discreetly in the shadow of a University High School building in Irvine for prayer, at times led by a local college student who slips onto campus and quietly leaves 30 minutes later.

At Irvine High School, a similar group treks to a nearby park for the practice, required in the Koran of all Muslims of a certain age. The group goes to the park because involvement by an adult in religious activity on campus is prohibited. Students from the Christian club also leave campus regularly to lunch with a pastor.

Differences in schools’ handling of on-campus worship show how sensitive the issue of religious liberty is as administrators navigate currents of tolerance, the First Amendment, separation of church and state, and basic respect.

Those issues will be addressed today and Thursday when about 70 school officials, teachers and parents take part in a symposium led by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center of Nashville, Tenn., and co-sponsored by the Orange County branch of the National Conference.

The Chapman College workshop, “Finding Common Ground: A First Amendment Guide to Religion in Public Education,” lays out the law on religious freedom. But most of all, it teaches educators that, through understanding, respect and, yes, education, varied faiths can be accommodated in the public schools in keeping with the law.

“This is a real effort to bring together people of different viewpoints to tackle an enormously sensitive issue and to find common ground so we can establish policy and guidelines that make sense,” said William Shane, executive director of the National Conference, an interfaith group formerly known as the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

“There are holidays, there are dress code issues, there are issues of curriculum,” Shane said. “We should deal with them from a base of knowledge and understanding and not from myth and fiction.”

The First Amendment Center’s program, dubbed the California Three R’s Project for “rights, responsibilities and respect,” has broad backing from liberals and conservatives of many faiths.

It is led by Charles Haynes, an authority on religious liberty issues in public schools and a scholar-in-residence at the Freedom Forum center; and Oliver “Buzz” Thomas, a lawyer and Baptist minister who has argued religious freedom cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The symposium began Tuesday with a community forum in Huntington Beach for high school students and teachers, clergy and other community members.

Teachers and administrators from Orange County have participated in “Three R’s” training across the Southland, but this week’s symposium at Chapman University in Orange is the largest in the county, Haynes said.

“It’s vital for the future of public education,” he said. “For most parents, religion and values are of the highest importance. One of the reasons that many people are concerned about public schools and some parents are taking their kids out is the way religion is treated and how core values are treated.

“If we’re going to not only live with one another across our differences but also understand one another, then we must understand how religious liberty works in public education.”

Many school officials admit they are confused about First Amendment issues and U.S. Supreme Court decisions regarding religion in the schools, so they conclude that silence is the best approach, Haynes said. The center’s program aims to teach them otherwise.

“The good news is that public schools do not have to be religion-free zones,” he said.

Schools cannot mandate religion or prayer, or indoctrinate students, but the Supreme Court has ruled that learning about religion is an important part of a complete education. Under federal law, high schools that receive federal funds and permit extracurricular clubs on campus, such as a scuba or chess club, must also allow religious clubs; students may pray alone and together on campus, as long as they are not disruptive or coercive.

But administrators are constantly facing new forms of religious diversity not addressed by the law. They involve restrictions on diet and medical care, dress code, and student absences on holy days.

The symposium is tackling those issues, providing information on the traditions of various faiths and addressing methods of teaching about religion, organizers said.

“The law doesn’t answer all the questions,” Haynes said. “They do need to know what is legal or illegal. But they need to go beyond that.”

Teams of administrators, teachers, board members and parents are attending from the Orange County Board of Education and at least six school districts across the county. The 4th District of the PTA, which covers all of Orange County, has endorsed the event and is sending a team. Others delegates are from the Anti-Defamation League and the Orange County Human Relations Commission.

The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District has participated in the “Three R’s” training program for about three years and will send a team, deputy superintendent Sharon McHolland said.

“It helps us understand how we can help our kids learn about religion as history, which is all schools can do,” she said. “It also helps us learn to deal with religious holidays and helps us understand our families and our kids, and how to meet their needs so they can be better prepared for school and in school.”

Some officials have been addressing the issues quietly, avoiding controversy. Mac Bernd, superintendent of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, recently sent a memo reminding school staffs about Yom Kippur, the day of atonement for Jews.

“We can’t build a school calendar that takes into account every religious holiday,” he said, “but we need to be mindful.”