Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 7, 1995 TAG: 9506070091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Kent Willis, director of the state ACLU, said he wrote the letter because he was concerned that a draft of state guidelines on religious expression in public schools is misleading.
In the letter, he advised the superintendents that federal law prohibits organized prayer at graduations. He said the only guideline administrators have to go on in settling church-state questions is a draft that ``completely misleads schools on the law.''
The American Center for Law and Justice, a legal advocacy group for conservatives founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, accused Willis of misleading school administrators with his letter.
But the ACLU and the ACLJ agreed that ``Preliminary Guidelines on Religious Activity in Public Schools,'' a first draft from the state Board of Education on the issue of prayer in public schools, is ambiguous and baffling.
``Its vagueness puts school boards in dilemma,'' said ACLJ counsel Jay Sekulow. ``Why create confusion in an area of law where none exists?''
Jim Jones, president of the state Board of Education, stressed Tuesday that the guidelines have not been adopted and have been subjected to rigorous public discussion since they were drafted. He said the version he expects the state to adopt later this summer will be changed significantly.
``We're going to take this up at our next meeting [June 22],'' Jones said. ``We've heard from several organizations on this, including the ACLU, but the buck stops with us.''
Sekulow said Willis should have made clear in his letter what prayer is acceptable, instead of issuing a ``vague, obtuse threat letter'' that seems to engage in the ``invasive monitoring they have fought against for years.''
Willis and Sekulow said the court decision that applies in Virginia was a 1993 case heard in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. A ruling in Gearon vs. Loudoun County School Board banned organized prayer at graduations, including prayer requested in a vote by the graduating class. The court ruled that the only permissible prayers at a public commencements are those offered by a student speaker and not subject to school approval or review.
``Part of the freedom of religion is that the state is not allowed to have an opinion,'' Willis said. ``When a prayer is allowed as a part of any public ceremony, the state has abandoned its neutrality.''
by CNB