By James W. Fraser.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. 278 pp. $24.95.
At a time when educators are debating state-sponsored testing, school reform, and capitalizing on fast-moving technology, James Fraser returns to the age-old debate about the role of religion in schools. In Between Church and State: Religion and Public Education in a Multicultural America, Fraser questions whether religion has ever been separate from public education. From the founding fathers' notion of religious freedom in the context of European feudalism to contemporary definitions by the federal government, Fraser shows the reader the unending struggle to keep religious issues out of public education.
He begins the book with a description of European immigrants who sought religious freedom as they settled in the New World in the seventeenth century. As the European population grew, teaching religious values in common schools became an increasingly divisive issue. In the first three chapters, Fraser highlights Protestants, Roman Catholics, African Americans, and Native Americans and their influences on growing differences of belief. For each group, Fraser details the development of their religious values as they have been shaped by the larger social and cultural influences that eventually placed them in the American mainstream. Protestants sought places with less Roman Catholic influence by moving from New England to the Midwest. Roman Catholics struggled to establish parochial schools with federal funds. For African Americans, religion was present in many underground freedom schools during the slave era and, with the support of local churches, they eventually gained their freedom not only from slavery but from religious persecution. With government support, and encouraged by the proselytizing of missionaries and certain church groups, Western education in the guise of "civilizing" was forced upon Native Americans.
As the United States entered the twentieth century, discussed in chapters six and seven, the fight over religion in schools escalated with the debate over teaching evolution versus creationism, which led to the famous trial of John Scopes in Tennessee. The outcome of this trial further influenced state and federal policy, which became more tolerant of divergent views of Christianity in schools. Fraser notes that, during this time, the influence of Christianity began to diminish as the role of the federal government became more prominent. In particular, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, eliminated prayers in school in the hotly debated case, Engel v. Vitale, and shortly thereafter followed up with a similar ruling in the Abington v. Schempp decision. State and federal policymakers also asserted their support for public and parochial schools by legislating the Elementary and Secondary Education Act establishing equitable funding to all schools including religious groups.
Chapter eight refers to 1968 and the succeeding years as a time of great division. The debate between teaching evolution and creation further divided religious and secular groups and challenged the federal government as to which set of Christian values would be taught in public schools. Lines were redefined on teaching evolution as science, and textbooks were scrutinized on the basis of offering an acceptable view of religion. Fraser compares the presidential influence of Carter and Reagan and how they directed federal efforts to either divert or draw attention to the role of Christianity in America.
Chapter nine highlights the rise of the Christian Coalition in the early 1980s. With its political power, the Coalition effectively opposed any distinction between public education and religion by challenging more liberal views all the way to the Supreme Court. The Court issued several ambivalent decisions - for example, overturning the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which supported silent prayers in schools, and, in the Employment Division of Oregon v. Smith, establishing that the "government had to demonstrate that it had a compelling State interest in burdening the free exercise of religion and that it used the least restrictive means of furthering that interest" (p. 199). The chapter concludes with a discussion of the Clinton administration's proposed Religious Freedom Amendment to the Constitution in 1998.
In closing, Fraser offers his ideas on the future of religious issues in public schools. He discusses curricular content, prayers in relation to legal parameters, and science versus creationism, among other topics. He suggests that, as the United States is becoming increasingly diverse, the divide between religion and public education has become less rigid, more inclusive and flexible, as evidenced by recent Supreme Court decisions. However, religion remains a dividing issue for those who strongly believe that church and state should remain separate and that religion should be taught only outside of public schools.
Those interested in knowing more about the history of the relationship between religion and public education, and its continued divisiveness, would enjoy reading this book. Though it does not provide a clear chronological history of the development of the public education system in the United States, it charts the struggle to define a proper place for religious activities and beliefs in public education.
T.K.B.