Friend:

Few things enrich me more than the words of AU supporters. It would be tough to find a more thoughtful, challenging and inspirational community. I read everything you send, so when I or an AU colleague asks you to “tell us what you think” or “share your own experience,” I want you to know these aren’t throwaway lines.

This week, I was struck by scores of responses to Rob Boston’s request for your experiences with religion in public schools, as we continue to publicize our “Know Your Rights” legal guides for students, parents and teachers. As often happens, many came from longtime AU supporters, describing events in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. 

For example, William A. recalled: “There was an assembly with a major evangelical performance by the ‘Power Team’—weightlifters and bodybuilders who preached Christianity. They served soft drinks and snacks. If we didn’t want to go, we had to stay in class and study.”

Others weren’t so lucky. Melissa G. describes her son’s classes being halted part-way through so students could attend Bible study. “When he told me, I decided to find out for myself. The next day, I drove up and found him shadowing a custodian, sweeping the carpool lane. I was told he had to work if he didn’t go with the others. And he couldn’t go to the library or do homework, as ‘he would get ahead of the students in Bible class!’”

James S. recalls even crueler coercion: “The principal would commission students to be his disciples to bully the marginalized for Jesus by ‘speaking the truth in love’ through harassment, slander, gossiping, threats/intimidation. Teachers encouraged it. Anyone neuro-diverse, Jewish, female, was thought-policed into conformity.”

Coach-led prayer circles before and after football games. Religious artifacts on the walls of classrooms and libraries. Teachers avoiding evolution lessons or asking every student in class to say where they were baptized. Being told you would “burn in hell” for not being Christian—in front of all your classmates.

“I was Jewish, and I felt that those prayers were openly and deliberately excluding me and the other Jewish children,” wrote Jean-Ellen K. “I felt left out, hurt, and even a bit angry.”

Being “left out”—for being atheist, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or simply uncomfortable being confronted with religious coercion instead of fractions and ABCs—was a consistent refrain. For many, these experiences left scars. They also sparked lifetime appreciation for church-state separation and a commitment to fight for it.

These “origin stories” of AU supporters underscore why our work is so important. And we know from the many requests for help we receive that religion remains ingrained in some public schools across the country. It took courage to speak up about it in the 50s and 60s, and it takes courage to do so today.

It’s worth noting how persistent these incidents were even after the Supreme Court’s 1962 Engel v. Vitale ruling that public school-sponsored prayer violated the Establishment Clause. 

Whether in our favor or not, even landmark rulings are rarely the end of the story. Keep that in mind when the next Supreme Court session begins on Monday. The sharply imbalanced court will hear at least three major cases with religious freedom implications, including a case granted this week about whether the city of Boston can be forced to fly the Christian flag (!), another case involving vouchers for private religious education, and a case that, as we all know, has the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Bad rulings may well figure into the origin stories of another generation of AU activists. As we’ve seen above, they’ll be in very good company.

With hope and gratitude,