by Jayla Ward • 5 minutes
As school starts, it can always be a time of year filled with nerves, whether that be excitement or apprehension. There are plenty of things to be concerned about as you get settle into your rhythm like new friends, grades or even your future. You shouldn’t have to worry about being punished for simply expressing your faith in your classroom, with your friends, or even in a club.
So, we asked First Liberty attorney Jeremy Dys to answer the five most frequently asked questions about students’ rights.
Students have the most religious freedom of anyone on any public-school campus. The Constitution fiercely protects students’ rights to free speech and religious expression.
1. Can I start a religious club?
You have a religious club you want to start? Do it. You have the right to start that club on campus.
If your school allows for other non-curricular clubs to meet on school grounds, not during class time, then the school cannot lawfully reject it. They have to allow for equal access to religious students who want to have a religious club meeting.
In other words, if a middle school or high school allows a chess club, they must allow a faith-based club too.
In 1984, Congress passed the Equal Access Act, requiring that schools must grant religious clubs the same access as any other non-curricular club.
First Liberty has won many cases for students who wanted to start a religious club at their school. A great example is John Raney, who wanted to start “Students United in Faith,” a Christian club designed to do acts of service at his school. But school officials told him that a religious club would be illegal. Thankfully, First Liberty stepped in and within hours of sending a demand letter, school officials approved John’s club.
2. Can I express my faith the way I want through either my assignments or clothes?
You can express your faith in many ways, whether that be through clothing (like a T-shirt), a personal item, or even an assignment like homework, projects or artwork.
If you are talking about a class assignment and faith comes up, you can talk about religion. If you are talking about important issues of the day, or important things that happened in the past, like history, you could talk about your faith there as well.
The First Amendment doesn’t allow a teacher to give a student a lower grade just because you, as a student, incorporated religion or your own religious viewpoint into an assignment.
There was a case over 50 years ago, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, where the Supreme Court made it clear that students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” That ruling still protects you to this day.
Essentially, your right to freedom of speech and religious expression work hand in hand, so your school cannot censor your expression of your faith. The role of school districts is to respect the religion of its students and, where necessary, accommodate students’ religious beliefs and exercise, not dictate them.
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3. Can I have religious content in my graduation speech?
Yes! If you are selected to speak at a graduation ceremony through neutral criteria—you’re the valedictorian or salutatorian or something like that–you can absolutely include Scripture and prayer in your graduation speech. Just because it’s given at a public event, it doesn’t mean that your private speech is the government’s speech. It’s not. As long as you have not been selected to speak on behalf of the school, then school officials cannot control the content of your speech, regardless of whether it has religious content or not.
There have been so many cases where First Liberty has won on behalf of students who wanted to express their faith in their graduation speeches and were censored. Two great examples are Elizabeth Turner and Moriah Bridges.
They were told to either remove their religious content from their speech or not give it at all. But we sent demand letters to the schools explaining that their actions were unconstitutional.
In Elizabeth’s case, the school complied and reversed their decision, allowing her to include religious content in her speech.
For Moriah, the school board enacted a new policy stating that students at future graduation ceremonies, “shall not be restricted because of religious, anti-religious or non-religious content.” This was a huge victory for her and so many students in that district.
If you have any issues with your school’s policy or action, do not hesitate to reach out to First Liberty and request free legal assistance.
4. Can I use a faith-based song for my talent show?
Of course, you can!
Earlier this year, we represented two students in Michigan who wanted to sing songs by Christian artists Brandon Lake and Colton Dixon for their school talent show. The school wouldn’t allow them to perform the songs, so they reached out to First Liberty. We sent the school a demand letter, explaining that the students have a constitutional right to express their religious beliefs, and the school cannot censor them.
Less than 24 hours later, the school responded and reversed its decision, allowing the students to perform their faith-based songs.
5. Can I pray at school and read my Bible?
Any time you have free time, you can pray and read your Bible or other religious texts. So long as you are not interfering with the educational nature of the school, school officials cannot discourage you from praying or reading your Bible.
At lunch time, you can talk about your faith or even read your Bible at the lunchroom table with your friends. Nobody should be able to stop you from doing that.
If you’re walking in the hallway, and you want to stop and pray for a friend, you can go ahead and stop. You have the religious freedom to go ahead and do that.
If you want to participate in something like See You at the Pole, feel free. In fact, get a bunch of your friends, go to the flag pole, and pray for your friends. Pray for your school. Pray for your teachers and pray for your country. And don’t forget to pray that religious freedom stays strong in our nation.
If you have more questions, please reach out to First Liberty for free legal assistance.
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