Surprising article from the usually left leaning Denver Post....


Here's why the First Amendment supports Focus on the Family's Bring Your Bible to School Day
Event grew to include 365,000 kids last year
By JENN FIELDS | jfields@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
October 5, 2017 at 5:00 am
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/10/05...rst-amendment/

On Oct. 5, you might spot kids walking into schools with an extra book tucked under their arms — the Bible.

After testing the waters with Bring Your Bible to School Day in 2014, Focus on the Family has watched the student-led event grow to 356,000 participants nationally last year, said Candi Cushman, who started the event after she heard about students organizing their own bring-your-Bible-to-school event.

"I was taking my cue from what was happening with students on the ground," she said. "I just thought, this is something that is resonating with students and what students need."

The event's website, bringyourbible.org, offers information for kindergarten through college-aged students about their right to bring a Bible to school, downloadable "conversation cards" and activities like a color-by-number sheet and a faith-based obstacle course. "We encourage them that it's about conversations, not confrontation," Cushman said.

Explaining students' rights to students and families has been key, because parents and kids often seem surprised they can bring their Bibles to school at all. "They seem to be under the impression that the Bible is like contraband in their schools," she said.

In fact, when they decided to start Bring Your Bible to School Day, Focus on the Family was hearing from students and families who "were being told things like, 'Having your Bible on your desk? I don't think you should do that, that might offend someone,' " Cushman said.

"It's sending kids the message that they have to hide their faith," she said.

But it is legal for a student to bring a Bible, or a Koran or another religious text to school?

"Sometimes public educators don't understand these lines," said Eric Hall, a Colorado Springs-based attorney at Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie who works on legal issues related to schools and Constitutional issues dealing with church and state, religious liberty and free speech. He clarified some of the laws that govern students bringing religious texts to school:

The First Amendment protects students — in several ways. "Schools can't endorse religion via the Establishment Clause, but they can't exclude students from exercising free speech and freedom of religion," Hall said. This applies to public schools — including charter schools. Private schools are not bound by the same laws.

Students can bring a Bible to read. Teachers can't. In church-state separation in public schools, there is a distinction between students and teachers. Students are private citizens, Hall said. They can bring a religious text to school and discuss their beliefs with classmates at lunch or between classes. The school, however, "is the government," he said — and that includes teachers and principals. "It can't favor religion, and it can't disfavor religion. It's neutral."

School rules still apply. Teachers can dictate what students have out during lessons. "The regular school rules apply to books you bring," Hall said. "If it's math class, your teacher can tell you to put away your Bible — or your comic book." Bring Your Bible to School Day's website reminds students often not to disrupt class and follow school rules about organizing events. But noninstructional time, such as time between classes, at lunch, at recess, before and after school, students are free to read religious texts or express their beliefs under the protection of the Free Exercise Clause.

Crossing lines.
Teachers also have discretion when they feel a student has crossed a line from conversation to bullying, Hall said, noting Colorado's bullying statute. "Just like a student can talk about the Broncos and why the Broncos are the best team, a student can also talk about their faith and why everyone should follow their faith and invite them to youth group," Hall said. However, he said, if a student says, "You must support the Broncos or I'll beat you up," a teacher can step in. The same is true for students using intimidation tactics for a religion.

Instruction versus indoctrination.
"Sometimes people think, oh separation of church state in public schools means you can never have religion in schools at all, which is wrong," Hall said. The Bible can be required reading for a course on world religions, for example, or for context in a course on Western literature. The purpose of the reading has to be instructional, though, and not for indoctrination.