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ACLU Cases Defending Religious Freedom The ACLU and Freedom of Religion and Belief CASES > Case: Moreno v. Ector County School Board > Victory: The Challenge to Intelligent Design > Litigation: The Mt. Soledad Cross LEARN MORE > Christmas and the ACLU > USA Today: A Fictional 'War on Christmas' > How the ACLU Didn't Steal Christmas AUDIO FROM THE 2006 MEMBERSHIP CONFERENCE > Program Director Jeremy Gunn > ACLU Legal Director Steve Shapiro > ACLU of Pennsylvania Attorney Vic Walczak

ACLU Successfully Challenges Bible Classes in Texas Public Schools
The ACLU's Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief scored a resounding victory on March 5, 2008, when it settled a highly-publicized lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a curriculum used in a bible course taught in a west Texas public school district.
> Learn more about the case, Moreno v. Ector County School Board
> ACLU Cases Defending Religious Freedom

The ACLU defends students' free speech rights in the public schools and defends students' rights to pray in the schools. Additionally, whenever a teacher allows children to choose their own topics for an assignment (such as which book to read, which song to sing, or which topic to study for a presentation), students may choose religious themes - and the ACLU has protected their right to do so. Schools may also offer courses about religion or about the Bible or other religious works.

Public schools themselves should not, however, be in the business of promoting particular religious beliefs or religious activities. While it is permissible for public schools to teach about religion, it is not permissible to promote particular religious beliefs. While public schools should not be leading children in prayers or religious ceremonies, they should be respectful of the religious beliefs of students. Further, public schools should protect children from being coerced by others to accept religious (or anti-religious) beliefs. Public schools should seek to create an environment conducive to learning by all students and not act as vehicles proselytizing for religious or anti-religious beliefs.

The ACLU believes that the religious education of children should be directed primarily by parents, families, and religious communities - and not the public schools.

Americans United For Separation Of Church And State And ACLU File Brief Objecting To Government Promotion of Prayer In Texas' "Moment Of Silence" Law (06/09/2008)
NEW ORLEANS - Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas submitted a friend-of-the-court brief today to a federal appeals court urging the court to rule against a religiously motivated 2003 amendment to Texas' "Moment of Silence" statute. The amendment added "pray" to the statute's list of activities for students during the moment of silence.

Preferential Treatment of Praying Parents is Ruled Unconstitutional (05/30/2008)
NASHVILLE – School officials at a Tennessee school district and elementary school violated the Constitution by encouraging a variety of religious activities to occur at the school, Judge Robert Echols of the United States District Court of Middle Tennessee ruled on Thursday.

Court Agrees Public Schools Cannot Hand Out Bibles to Students (04/22/2008)
NEW ORLEANS - Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ruled against a public school in Tangipahoa Parish that handed out Bibles to 5th-graders, saying the school infringed students' religious freedom. On May 9, 2007, the principal at Loranger Middle School invited the Gideon group into the school to distribute Bibles. Students were pulled out of class, brought outside of the principal's office and put in a line to receive Bibles.

Texas School Board Agrees To Stop Teaching Unconstitutional Bible Class In Public Schools (03/05/2008)
ODESSA, TX – The Ector County School Board agreed today to stop teaching a course in its public schools that unconstitutionally promotes a particular interpretation of the Bible that is not shared by Jews, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, and most Protestants.

Vidor School District Makes Pledge of Allegiance Optional After ACLU Challenge (01/23/2008)
AUSTIN, TX - The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas applauded the Vidor Independent School District (VISD) Board of Directors today for revising district policy to protect students’ right to decide for themselves whether to participate in the pledge of allegiance. The new policy, which went into effect immediately, provides students the daily “opportunity to stand and recite the pledges of allegiance to the United States and Texas flags.”

Croft v. Governor of the State of Texas - Amicus Brief Objecting To Government Promotion of Prayer In Texas’ “Moment Of Silence” Law (06/07/2008)

Moreno v. Ector County Independent School District Board of Trustees - Complaint (05/16/2007)

ACLU Complaint in Mu-Ammar Ali v. Mumme (08/29/2006)

Kitzmiller v. Dover Memorandum Opinion (12/20/2005)
"Intelligent Design" is a religious view, not a scientific theory, according to U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III in his historic decision in Kitzmiller v. Dover.

Denial of Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment in Kitzmiller v. Dover (09/13/2005)

Coalition Letter to Senate regarding "Creation Science" Earmark (10/10/2007)
Dear Senator: We, the undersigned religious, civil rights, education, science, and advocacy organizations write to urge you to remove an earmark from the Fiscal Year 2008 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill’s Committee Report. The Fund for Improvement of Education, under Title III, contains an earmark for uses that, if funded, would be blatantly unconstitutional. The earmark would fund curriculum that promotes teaching creationism in the science classroom, even though uniformly prohibited by federal courts.

Letter Urging Congress to Oppose Any Attempts to Repeal Longstanding, Critical Civil Rights Protections in Head Start Program (04/23/2007)

SUPPORT BIPARTISAN REAUTHORIZATION OF HEAD START BY OPPOSING ANY ATTEMPT TO REPEAL THIRTY-FIVE YEAR OLD CIVIL RIGHTS PROVISION (04/20/2007)
We, the undersigned religious, civil rights, labor, education, health, and advocacy organizations urge you to support H.R. 1429, bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the Head Start program, and to oppose any attempt to repeal longstanding critical civil rights protections. As reported out of the House Committee on Education and Labor on a 42-1 bipartisan vote, H.R. 1429 keeps in place a 35-year old civil rights provision that protects over 213,000 Head Start teachers and staff and over 1,360,000 parent volunteers from employment discrimination based on religion in federally-funded positions in Head Start programs.

Oppose Any Attempt to Repeal Longstanding Civil Rights Protections in Head Start (04/19/2007)
On behalf of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, with more than 190 member organizations, we urge you to support H.R. 1429, the Improving Head Start Act of 2007, and oppose any attempt on the House floor to repeal longstanding civil rights protections in the Head Start Program that have been in place since President Nixon signed the law in 1972. We strongly oppose any language that would allow federally funded employment discrimination.* If language repealing civil rights protections is added to the bill either during consideration on the House floor or in the Motion to Recommit, we urge you to oppose final passage of the bill.

ACLU Letter to Congress Regarding the America's Opportunity Scholarship for Kids Act (07/27/2006)

What Odessa, Texas, Parents Say about Religious Bible Teachings in Public Schools (05/16/2007)

Statement on The Bible in Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide (05/09/2007)

Frequently Asked Questions About "Intelligent Design" (09/16/2005)