Oaths, Prayer, and Religious Instruction for Students

No. The courts say that students have the right to sit silently during the flag salute and Pledge of Allegiance.

Not at a public school. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that school prayers and Bible readings in public schools are unconstitutional because they are a form of religious coercion for students. “Official” prayers and Bible reading are not allowed even if they are supposedly nondenominational or voluntary.

Bottom line: A teacher, coach, or school official cannot force or coerce you to pray or participate in a religious exercise.

However, you as a student, individually, are free to pray at school. And you are also free to pray with friends and others—that's your First Amendment right to exercise your religion freely.

In a class, you may study different prayers and religious books if they are part of a course such as history or literature, and are not used to promote any particular religion. 

It's complicated. School authorities, a student, or a religious leader cannot lead the people assembled for the event in prayer and cannot deliver an official prayer. This includes graduation ceremonies and extracurricular school activities, such as sporting events.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a school employee may privately and quietly engage in individual prayer in a manner that is not coercive to students and doesn’t occur in the presence of a captive audience of students, such as a classroom.

Baccalaureates—special ceremonies held usually a day or week or so before the actual graduation ceremonies—were indeed once sponsored by schools, but in recent years, because of concerns about separation of church and state (at public schools, which are government-owned), baccalaureates these days now must be organized and funded by private organizations.

The school may make its facilities available for a baccalaureate service only if the facilities are offered on an equal basis for non-religious activities of a similar nature.

It depends on the purpose of the moment of silence. It also depends on how it is carried out. If the purpose or effect is to promote religion then it is probably against the law. On the other hand, if the purpose has nothing to do with religion—for example, to remember someone who has died or to think about world peace—then it is probably okay.

A public school (again, the rules for private schools are different since they are not funded by the government) may not display religious symbols or Nativity scenes on school property. Sometimes, however, it's not clear whether an exhibit clearly sends a religious message.

Ames High School experienced a controversy because it received a free evergreen tree in December, which was decorated with a sports theme and called a "winter tree." People complained, and school officials removed the tree.

Schools are allowed to instruct students to sing religious music because it makes up such a large part of music history. However, schools can go too far by making too much of the music religious. It's a matter of degree.

If you feel your school focuses too much on religious music, click here.

Yes. Christian and other religious groups have the same rights as any other student group. The two rules are:

1. The meetings are student-initiated.
2. School staff may not promote religious clubs (although they may be present to ensure order and to serve as neutral faculty advisors.)

Yes. Students can distribute religious materials as long as the students are given the same rules and treatment as other non-religious written materials—no better, no worse.