"Where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is Liberty."
(2 Corinthians 3:17)
March 2003:
Vol.14, No. 3
New Federal Guidelines a Real Blessing for
Public Schools
by Mathew D. Staver
In the late afternoon of February 7, I received
a call from an Associated Press reporter out of Washington,
D.C., who is the top person in AP covering educational issues
from grades K-12. He alerted me to new Guidelines that were
to be issued that afternoon by the U.S. Department of Education
regarding prayer in school. After reading the Guidelines, I
was interviewed by this AP writer Friday evening, and the story
was carried on the AP wire service. The next day, on Saturday,
most major newspapers in America picked up the good news about
the Guidelines on prayer and religious expression.
The new “Guidelines
on Constitutionally Protected Prayer in Public Elementary and
Secondary Schools” come as a result of the “No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001,” which requires that the
Secretary of Education issue guidelines on constitutionally
protected prayer. These Guidelines will be a powerful weapon
in the defense of religious liberty.
Section 9524 of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (“ESEA”) in 1965, as amended by the
“No Child Left Behind Act of 2001,” requires the
Secretary to issue guidance on constitutionally protected prayer
in public elementary and secondary schools. Section 9524 requires
that, as a condition of receiving ESEA funds, a public school
must certify in writing to its state educational agency that
it has no policy which prevents or otherwise denies participation
in, constitutionally protected prayer in public schools as set
forth in the Guidelines.
The new Guidelines were jointly approved by
the Office of the General Counsel in the Department of Education
and the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice.
These Guidelines reflect the current state of the law. The Guidelines
can be accessed by going to Liberty Counsel’s website
at www.lc.org or to the Department
of Education’s website at www.ed.gov.
In order to receive federal funds under the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a local public school
must certify in writing by October 1 of each year that it is
in full compliance with the Guidelines. Since the Guidelines
were just issued, the initial certification this year must occur
by March 15, 2003, and thereafter the certification must occur
by October 1 of each year. The state educational agency must
notify the United States Secretary of Education of those schools
that are either not in compliance with the Guidelines or have
not timely filed their certification. The General Education
Provisions Act authorizes the Secretary to bring enforcement
actions against recipients of federal education funds that are
not in compliance with the law. This may include withholding
the funds until the school complies.
The general theme of the new Guidelines, which
address prayer and religious expression, essentially provides
that during times and at places where students are permitted
to engage in secular verbal or written expression or meetings,
schools must not discriminate against students who wish to engage
in prayer or religious expression. The Guidelines are broken
down into several categories as follows:
Prayer During Non-Instructional Time
During non-instructional time, schools must
treat prayer and religious speech just like other secular expression.
Students may
• Read their Bibles or other scriptures.
• Say grace before meals.
• Pray or study religious materials with fellow students
during recess, the lunch hour, or other non-instructional time
to the same extent they may engage in non-religious activities.
Organized Prayer Groups and Activities
Students may organize prayer groups, religious
clubs, and “See You At The Pole” gatherings to the
same extent they are permitted to organize other non-curricular
student activities. Such groups must
• Be given the same access to school
facilities for assembling as is given to other non-curricular
groups.
• Be allowed to advertise or announce their meetings through
bulletin boards, student newspaper, or making announcements
on a public address system.
• Be allowed to hand out leaflets.
Teachers, Administrators, and other
School Employees
Teachers are often discriminated against by
school officials under the mistaken notion that every action
of a teacher is an official representation of the school. The
Guidelines state that teachers may
• Take part in religious activities
where the overall context makes clear that they are not participating
in their official capacities.
• Meet with other teachers during lunch or other breaks
to engage in prayer or Bible studies to the same extent that
they may engage in other conversation or non-religious activities.
• Participate in privately sponsored baccalaureate ceremonies.
• Meet with student religious clubs after school.
• Open their class with a minute of silence or other quiet
periods during the school day to allow students to pray silently,
or even not to pray, according to the students’ desire.
Teachers must also accommodate students,
which includes
• Allowing students to leave the school
premises to engage in off-site religious instruction.
• Allowing a student to opt out of objectionable curriculum.
Religious Expression and Prayer in
Class Assignments
Students may express their beliefs about religion
in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments
free from discrimination based on the religious content of their
submissions.
Student Assemblies and Extracurricular
Events Including Graduation
This area of the Guidelines will prove to
be a significant blessing for public school students. The Guidelines
state that where “student speakers are selected on the
basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary
control over the content of their expression, that expression
is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted
because of its religious (or anti-religious) content.”
Thus, students may
• Engage in prayer or religious expression
at student assemblies.
• Engage in prayer or religious expression during graduation.
(This section of the Guidelines incorporates the legal principle
arising out of our victory in the Adler v. Duval County School
Board graduation prayer case.)
Baccalaureate Ceremonies
The Guidelines also say that if a school makes
its facilities and related services available to other private
groups, it must make the same facilities and services available
on the same terms to organizers of privately sponsored, religious
baccalaureate ceremonies. Teachers may participate in such service
so long as they do so in their personal rather than official
capacities.
These Guidelines are a blessing to public
school students and teachers in grades K-12. As soon as I received
the Guidelines, our office filed them in every one of our ongoing
federal court cases. We are aggressively using these Guidelines
to inform public school officials to maintain compliance by
refraining from discriminating against students who engage in
prayer or religious expression. Unlike the original Guidelines
that were first issued by the Department of Education in 1996,
these Guidelines have an enforcement mechanism. Any noncomplying
school may lose federal education funds. These Guidelines present
a significant opportunity to prevent religious discrimination
in public schools. I encourage you to contact Liberty Counsel’s
office to obtain a copy of these Guidelines. You should then
distribute these Guidelines to every teacher, administrator,
school board attorney and school board member in your community.
Liberty Counsel Names New Vice President
During Liberty Counsel’s board meeting
on February 8, conducted in Nashville at the National Religious
Broadcasters’ Convention, the Board unanimously appointed
Anita L. Staver as the first vice president of Liberty Counsel.
Anita has been my constant companion, inspiration, and partner
in the development of Liberty Counsel. She has chosen to dedicate
her life full time to defending religious freedom, family values
and the sanctity of human life.
Anita received her Bachelor of Arts degree
from the University of Kentucky
in psychology, her Master of Arts from Liberty
University in counseling, and her Juris Doctor degree from
Barry University School of
Law. She graduated number one in her law school class and
was on the editorial board for the school’s Law Review.
Anita has worked beside me since 1989, when I founded the Staver
& Associates law firm. She has done every job in the legal
arena, including receptionist, legal secretary, accounting,
paralegal, law clerk, and now attorney. Serving as the first
vice president of Liberty Counsel, Anita will use her experience,
passion and spiritual insight to increase the effectiveness
of Liberty Counsel.
Another Ten Commandments Victory
In a major blow to the ACLU, Judge Forester
ruled that the Mercer County, Kentucky, Courthouse historical
display, which includes the Ten Commandments, is constitutional.
He thus rejected the ACLU’s request to eliminate the Ten
Commandments from the display. Judge Forester’s ruling
last year compared with the final ruling this year is a major
setback to the ACLU. Judge Forester declared that the Ten Commandments
played a significant role in the development of America law
and government.
We are pleased to be a part of this historic
victory as we participated in defending Mercer County against
the ACLU assault.
Determined to Follow God’s
Call
The people who work at Liberty Counsel are
dedicated to following God’s call on their lives. Our
recent addition to the attorney staff, Rena Lindevaldsen, exemplifies
this dedication. She is a highly competent attorney, graduating
in the top 3% of her class and serving on the Law Review at
Brooklyn School of Law.
In November of 2002, I sent out an announcement
through our Liberty Alert email that we were looking for a new
attorney. This announcement arrived two weeks before Rena and
her husband, Karl, were closing on their new house outside of
New York City. While the closing was pending the announcement
arrived, but both Rena and Karl believed that she should pursue
an interview with Liberty Counsel. On the Friday of the week
we interviewed Rena, she had just closed on her house and spent
several days painting the interior. The week after we interviewed
her, we enthusiastically offered her a job. She and Karl put
their house up for sale less than one month after they had purchased
their new dream home. God worked amazingly by bringing an offer
to the table which allowed them to essentially break even.
When discussing with Rena God’s timing,
she said that the Lord may have wanted her to be in a situation
where she had to make a serious decision about following God’s
call against all appearances of logic and self desire. We are
very pleased that Rena and her family have joined our Liberty
Counsel staff. Although God’s call on your life may seem
illogical at times and the timing may seem imprudent, following
God’s call is never a mistake. I thank God for our dedicated
staff at Liberty Counsel. Please continue to pray for our staff
and their families, because every day they work in the trenches
like warriors defending our borders against assaults to our
religious freedom, family values, and the sanctity of human
life.
Dear Friend,
I believe God wants to take the ministry
of Liberty Counsel to the next step. God brought major changes
to Liberty Counsel in 2002 through many historic victories and
the announcement of Liberty University School of Law.
This year, I believe God wants us to add
additional warriors to our staff. Litigation can be stressful,
especially in the context of the values that we hold so dear.
In order to work at Liberty Counsel, each individual must sincerely
feel a divine call. We are especially concerned that each one
of our attorneys is compelled to be a warrior for Christ. We
believe that God is leading us to add additional warriors in
order to defend the borders against assaults to our religious
freedom, family values, and the sanctity of human life. Such
assaults are rapidly increasing and becoming even more hostile.
I believe our Liberty Counsel warriors should be in the trenches
defending against every single assault.
I know that we are living in uncertain
times, but one thing is certain – God is still in control.
This means God is not only in control of your family, but also
your finances. We can never outgive God. He owns the cattle
on a thousand hills. We believe God is calling this ministry
to move forward and add additional warriors to our staff, as
well as calling us to search for permanent facilities that can
house Liberty Counsel’s future growth needs. These future
facilities will need to include enough space to grow the ministry
and to construct a model courtroom where we can hone the fine
points of our cases and train new attorneys. Our expansion plans
for staff and permanent facilities are aggressive, but we believe
God is calling us in this direction.
I urge you to partner with us this year
in prayer and continued financial support. You can partner with
this ministry in several ways. One way is by committing to regular
monthly support of Liberty Counsel. Another is by one-time,
large donations. A third is by considering estate planning.
When you think of estate planning, you may think of planning
at the time of death, but we have a network of financial counselors
all over the country who can minister to your needs to make
sure you and your family have adequate finances during your
life. You will probably be surprised at the many financial vehicles
that can increase your financial stability, which will bless
both you and your family and the ministry of Liberty Counsel
long before you die. If you would like someone to give you free
consultation, call Liberty Counsel at 1-800-671-1776.
Sincerely,
Mathew D. Staver
The New England Primer
The New England Primer was the first textbook
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This is a reprint of the original 1777 version used by many
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86 pp. Order a copy of The New England Primer. Suggested
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Statement
of Purpose
Liberty
Counsel is a nonprofit religious civil liberties education and
legal defense organization established to preserve religious
freedom.
The
Liberator is a monthly newsletter published by Liberty Counsel.
President and General Counsel: Mathew D. Staver
Copyright © 2003.
Liberty Counsel grants permission to copy any of its materials
with attribution. Please submit a copy of the publication in
which it appears. |
