Finding Common Ground on Religion in Public Schools
November 01, 2025
A newly updated First Amendment guide captures a consensus across the ideological and religious spectrum
In an era of polarization, when even long-settled issues in education can ignite division, it may seem unlikely that Americans with deep political and religious differences could find common ground on anything, let alone the role of religion in public education.
Yet that is exactly what happened in January 2025 with the release by Freedom Forum of 鈥淩eligion and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide.鈥� In the months-long drafting process, religious freedom experts from across the ideological and religious spectrum reached agreement on how schools should address issues involving religion under current law.
Now, school boards, educators, parents and students have access to reliable, nonpartisan answers to 23 frequently asked questions about everything from student religious expression to teaching about religion in the classroom. The answers are consistent with the guiding principles of the First Amendment. Public schools must neither promote nor inhibit religion. They must treat religion and religious beliefs with fairness and respect and protect the rights of students of all faiths and none.
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Practical Uses of First Amendment Guidance
鈥淩eligion and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide,鈥� a publication of Freedom Forum, addresses 23 frequently asked questions about religion in K鈥�12 public schools. The answers represent broad agreement among education associations, religious and civil liberties groups, and legal experts about how to apply current law on religion in public schools.
Find the publication at .
Charles Haynes, senior fellow for religious liberty at Freedom Forum, served as lead drafter. Other legal experts involved in crafting the guidelines were Kim Colby, Center for Law & Religious Freedom, Christian Legal Society; Holly Hollman, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty; Richard Foltin, American Association of Jewish Lawyers & Jurists; Asma Udin, Georgetown University Law Center; Walter Weber, American Center for Law and Justice; and David Hudson, Belmont University School of Law.
鈥淩eligion and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide鈥� can support the work of educators in these ways:
Legal clarity: Provides concise answers reflecting consensus on First Amendment principles as applied in current law, reducing legal risk.
Conflict prevention: Helps address concerns before they escalate, showing parents and students that school leadership takes these issues seriously and is committed to treating everyone with fairness and respect.
Community trust: Builds confidence in schools as places that respect and protect everyone鈥檚 First Amendment rights.
Professional development: Serves as a training resource for principals, teachers and staff to support best practices.
鈥� Charles Haynes
AASA鈥檚 Role in the Beginning
by Jay P. Goldman
萝莉网was actively involved a generation ago in an historic first inter-religious effort to provide formal guidance to public school educators on how to address religion and use of the Bible in instruction.
That work, involving various national organizations representing faith-based groups as well as educators, led to a series of guides released in 1989 and beyond. The first, 鈥淩eligion in the Public School Curriculum: Questions and Answers,鈥� provided straightforward responses about the constitutional role of religion in the curriculum and how best to teach about it.
Gary Marx, who served as AASA鈥檚 director of communications in the 1980s and 鈥�90s, was a key player in developing and promoting the guidance among school leaders. 鈥溌芾蛲鴚as an early and enthusiastic adopter of the effort to reach consensus on what the First Amendment required in public schools under current law,鈥� says Charles Haynes, an educator and senior fellow with Freedom Forum, who was at the center of the initiative.
Haynes drafted the original guide, convinced that educators had widely misinterpreted U.S. Supreme Court opinions and essentially stripped all references to religion from textbooks and classroom discussions. At the time, religious conservative organizations were waging a culture war over religion in local schools.
The first Q&A attracted considerable public attention and news media interest because it was the first common ground statement on religion in public schools. Among those signing on to the consensus guidelines were the American Jewish Congress, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, the Islamic Society of North America, the National Association of Evangelicals, the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Nine common ground guides ultimately were developed over time as part of the Finding Common Ground series. 萝莉网was one of the few organizations endorsing all of them, which encouraged other national education associations to sign on, Haynes says.
Jay Goldman is editor of School Administrator magazine.
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