Description
Book SynopsisControversial Supreme Court decisions have barred organized school prayer, but neither the Court nor public policy exclude religion from schools altogether. Tracing the historical development of religion within public schools and considering every major Supreme Court case, this book looks at the role that religion ought to play in public schools.
Trade Review"Greenawalt tackles one of the truly intractable problems encountered in applying the Constitution to public life... [He] is refreshingly free of dogmatism. His judgments and conclusions are carefully drawn and nuanced, and he demonstrates how small changes in the facts can produce very different constitutional outcomes. This book will make you think clearly--and show you how."--Publishers Weekly "Greenawalt provides a good jumping-off point, with just enough legal specifics, for further debate on a loaded issue: how to deal with God in public schools."--Kathryn Jean Lopez, New York Post "This is a useful book for anyone wanting to understand the intersection of religion, public education, and constitutional law in the United States... [It] rises to the highest standard one could expect of legal writing on public policy matters. Greenawalt does a good job leading anyone unfamiliar with the issues through a complicated legal, practical, educational, moral, and political thicket."--Thomas F. Powers, Law and Politics Book Review "Teachers, school administrators, and parents will find as much of interest and practical benefit as will scholars in fields such as teacher education, education administration, and school law."--Library Journal "[A]ccessible yet detailed."--Christian Reflection "Greenawalt will strike most readers as a fair-minded moderate... [He] concludes there should be God in the public schools, but only as something to ponder and discuss--never to worship."--David Ruenzel, Teacher Magazine
Table of ContentsPreface ix Introduction 1 PART I: HISTORY AND PURPOSES 11 CHAPTER 1: A Brief History of American Public Schools and Religion 13 CHAPTER 2: Purposes of Public School Education 23 PART II: DEVOTIONS, CLUBS, AND TEACHING RELIGION AS TRUE 35 CHAPTER 3: Devotional Practices: Prayer and Bible Reading 37 CHAPTER 4: Moments of Silence 58 CHAPTER 5: Teaching Religious Propositions 64 CHAPTER 6: Equal Facilities 69 PART III: TEACHING ABOUT RELIGION 77 CHAPTER 7: Teaching and Religion in the Public School 79 CHAPTER 8: Teaching Natural Science I: Relation between Science and Religion 88 CHAPTER 9: Teaching Natural Science II: Evolutionism, Creationism, and Intelligent Design 101 CHAPTER 10: Teaching Natural Science III: What Amounts to Teaching Religion? 116 CHAPTER 11: History, Economics, and Literature 126 CHAPTER 12: Morals, Civics, and Comparative Religion 138 CHAPTER 13: Constitutional Constraints and Other Legal Limits 152 PART IV: RIGHTS OF STUDENTS 161 CHAPTER 14: Student Rights to Religious Freedom and to Free Speech on Religious Topics 163 CHAPTER 15: Excusing Students When They or Their Parents Object 174 Notes 189 Index 257
