THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 13, 1995 TAG: 9507130382
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN AND JON GLASS, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
Seeking to derail a Republican drive for a constitutional amendment expanding the role of religion in schools and other public places, President Clinton argued Wednesday that students already have broad freedom under the First Amendment to pray and practice their religion.
He ordered his administration to prepare guidelines for the nation's 15,000 school districts on the treatment of religion in school, from classroom teaching to prayer at pep rallies. The guidelines will be released by early fall, when the school year starts and public hearings tied to the proposed amendment will wrap up.
``The First Amendment does not require students to leave their religion at the schoolhouse door,'' Clinton said in an address at James Madison High School in a Northern Virginia suburb. ``Americans should never have to hide their faith, but some Americans have been denied the right to express their religion, and that has to stop.''
Virginia adopted its own set of guidelines last month for religious expression, placing it at the forefront of the national debate over prayer and public schools.
While some states have developed narrow policies dealing with specific kinds of religious expression, Virginia's 11-page document is thought to be the first to approach the issue in a broad way, say experts on church and state relations.
Clinton's order would result in federal guidelines that address the same types of religious expression in the Virginia document. It was not clear whether federal guidelines would preempt those adopted by Virginia.
James P. Jones, president of the state Board of Education, said he takes a dim view of the federal government getting involved.
``I think this is a state and local matter,'' Jones said. ``We showed in Virginia that the states are certainly capable of analyzing the existing law and developing guidelines for our schools, and I think that ought to be sufficient.''
Clinton's willingness to tackle the sensitive issue is a vivid sign of the growing clout of religious conservatives, particularly the Chesapeake-based Christian Coalition, in setting the national agenda. The coalition made a constitutional amendment the centerpiece of its Contract with the American Family.
Ralph Reed, the coalition's executive director, released a statement saying he welcomed Clinton's ``defense of the rights of students to engage in voluntary school prayer.'' He called on Clinton to support a ``Religious Equality'' constitutional amendment or other statute to protect religious expression.
Liberals praised the president's actions for demonstrating to the public that an amendment isn't necessary. ``Students have quite broad rights to religious expression,'' said Mark Pelavin, director of the Washington office of the American Jewish Congress, which is part of a coalition opposing the amendment. ``People who are looking for an amendment are seeking something quite extreme.''
Some supporters of the amendment acknowledged that the release of federal guidelines will make their jobs in Congress more difficult, by giving undecided legislators an excuse to avoid the more dramatic action of amending the constitution. However, they vowed that a proposed amendment will come to a vote.
``I don't discount the power of the bully pulpit to impact the debate,'' said Jim Smith, director of governmental relations for the Southern Baptist Convention's Christian Life Commission. ``There are plenty of politicians looking for cover, some way not to take a position.''
Clinton's speech on school prayer fits into his larger strategy to claim the political center before the 1996 political campaign. In recent weeks, he has spoken about the need to find ``common ground'' on emotional public issues such as affirmative action and violence in television and movies. It was also another step in his long struggle to clarify his view of school prayer.
Last year, Clinton stunned civil liberties groups by suggesting he would not oppose a proposed constitutional amendment allowing school prayer. As governor, he had supported a moment of silence in schools, but the Arkansas law embracing that position was repealed in 1993.
Observers on both sides of the school prayer debate said the content of Wednesday's speech, and Clinton's style of delivery, reflected his comfort in addressing values and morality. He gave the speech without teleprompters and barely referred to his written notes.
``Clinton is conversationally capable of dealing with religious liberty,'' Smith said. ``You can't say that about the Republican presidential candidates, Bob Dole, Phil Gramm and the others.'' But Smith, who favors an amendment, noted that ``there is a dissonance between the rhetoric and the reality of Clinton's policies.''
In his speech, Clinton said that some school officials, teachers and parents wrongly believe that the Constitution forbids all religious expression in public schools. He pointed out that the Constitution allows students to read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals and take part in religious clubs in high schools.
``Students can also pray to themselves - preferably before tests, as I used to do,'' the president said, drawing laughter. ``Students should feel free to express their religion and their beliefs in homework, through art work, during class presentations, as long as it's relevant to the assignment.''
Yet, drawing the line against organized prayer, Clinton said the Constitution does not provide ``the right to have a captive audience listen, or compel other students to participate'' in prayer.
His written order offered the administration's interpretation of constitutional protections related to issues such as praying at graduation, distributing religious literature, and excusing students from lessons that offend their religious beliefs.
It also tackled the question of teaching values to children, an issue that has driven the development of special academic classes in ``character education'' in major cities like St. Louis, Seattle and Chicago.
``Though schools must be neutral with respect to religion, they may play an active role in respect to teaching civic values and virtue, and the moral code that holds us together as a community,'' the executive order said. ``The fact that some of these values are held also by religions does not make it unlawful to teach it in schools.'' MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: ACCEPTED INTERPRETAIONS OF CURRENTS LAW
Graphic
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SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER
KEYWORDS: SCHOOL PRAYER by CNB