Students Test Waters Christian Group Finds Freedom In New Guidelines

Before the bell rings each morning, about two dozen Rogers High School students join hands, bow their heads and turn their thoughts to God.

In the rising din as the school fills with its 1,600 students, the prayer group remains focused on providing support for its members and converting other students to Christianity.

“Being around other Christians makes you a better Christian,” said Derek Houk, 16. “We also do it to reach other people, to get them the Gospel, to get them saved.”

Unintentionally, the informal prayer group is testing the bounds of new Clinton administration guidelines on religious expression in public schools.

The prayer group is planning its own club and expects to receive official recognition from the student body. Members also hope to circulate a Christian newspaper at school.

All of those activities are protected religious rights, according to a letter from Secretary of Education Richard Riley sent to every public school superintendent in the country.

The four-page guidelines don’t clear up every ambiguity about religious practice in schools, said Bill Parker, a Spokane lawyer and member of the Western Center for Law and Religious Freedom.

But the new rules go a long way toward protecting the religious rights of students, he said.

“Much of the problem in dealing with religious freedom in public schools is dealing with the education of public school officials,” Parker said. “It’s amazing that in 1995, in Washington state, we have students being told they cannot read their Bibles in school.”

The new guidelines guarantee students the right to read their Bibles, say grace out loud before meals and pray before tests. Students also can discuss their religious beliefs, just as if they were discussing their political beliefs.

The students at Rogers said teachers and administrators are supportive.

“We get mocked a lot by other students,” said senior Kevin Reinbolt, 18. “But the teachers say, ‘You have the right to do this.”’

The students, most of them members of Spokane Christian Fellowship church, began meeting for morning prayer last year.

At first, only a handful participated. This week more than two dozen students were there by 8 a.m. Another 10 or so straggled in late, many carrying breakfast with them.

They late ones quietly dumped their coats and book bags into a corner and squeezed into the circle. One student opened the prayer, then others chimed in with personal matters.

Their concerns are typical among high school students: tests, parental conflict and boyfriends and girlfriends.

They also tackle some not-so-usual issues for teens. They ask God to save their friends, pray for the government, and remember the victims of wars and disasters.

Many of the students meet again at lunch for Bible study. They often invite other students, although they don’t always get a positive response.

“Most of the time people are pretty open and don’t get mad,” Houk said. “They don’t have to listen to what I’m going to say, but I’m still going to say it.”

One of the hardest jobs for school officials is balancing the rights of students to express their beliefs and the rights of others to hold dissenting beliefs, said Cynthia Lambarth, Spokane School District associate superintendent.

Several area high schools have formal or informal Christian groups that meet for prayer or Bible study. None of the schools has received complaints about the groups.

“Even if something is offensive, it is still a protected right for a student to express his views,” Parker explained. “If that crosses the line and becomes religious harassment, then very clearly that is not protected.”

While many Clinton supporters hope the guidelines will head off a school prayer amendment to the U.S. Constitution, there are gray areas yet to be addressed.

Parker said he is reviewing a Washington case in which a school district refuses to allow teachers to pray together during their breaks.

Graduation prayers also are controversial, Parker said. The guidelines say school officials can’t mandate or organize prayers at graduation. They don’t say anything about students organizing such prayers.

And the courts have issued contradictory opinions. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes the Northwest, ruled that even a majority vote for prayer would violate the rights of the minority not wanting to pray.

The 4th Circuit, which covers the mid-Atlantic states, said students can vote on graduation prayers.

Should the Supreme Court rule against student-initiated graduation prayers, supporters of school-prayer promise to push for a Constitutional amendment.

“Personally, I think politicizing the issue of school prayer, which appears to be very popular, demeans the concept of prayer,” Lambarth said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GUIDELINES These are Clinton administration guidelines for religious practices in public schools. The guidelines don’t change law, but clarify some issues. Student prayer: Students have the same right to pray and discuss religion as they do to engage in similar activities, such as discussing politics. Schools can impose rules of order, but can’t discriminate against religious activity or speech. School officials: Teachers and administrators cannot solicit, encourage, or discourage religious activity. Teaching religion: Public schools can teach about religion, including courses on the history of religion, comparative religion, religious art and the Bible as literature. However, teachers may not provide religious instruction. Public schools cannot observe religious holidays, but can observe the secular aspects of religious holidays. Assignments: Students can express religious beliefs in homework, artwork and oral assignments. Religious literature: Students can distribute religious literature to their classmates on the same terms they can distribute other literature unrelated to school activities. Excusals: Schools can excuse students from assignments that are objectionable on religious or other conscientious grounds. Schools also can release students to participate in off-campus religious instruction. Such instruction is banned from school grounds during the school day. Teaching values: Schools may teach the civic values, virtues and moral code that binds society together. The fact that some of these values are held by various religions does not make it unlawful to teach them in school. Clothing: Students may display religious messages on their clothes to the same extent that they are permitted to display comparable messages. Schools may not prohibit a student from wearing clothing required by his or her religious beliefs, such as yarmulkes or head scarves. - Kelly McBride