Experiencing Religion

[Charles Haynes]

I agree with Doug Laycock -- and would add the following from an educator's perspective:

Recreating religoius practices or ceremonies through role-playing activities should not take place in a public school classroom for a number of reasons. Such activities, no matter how carefully planned or well-intentioned, risk undermining the integrity of the faith involved. Religious ceremonies are scared to those who practice them. Re-creations may unwittingly mock or, at the very least, oversimplify the religious meaning or intent of the ritual. Role-palying religious practices may also violate the conscience of students who are asked to participate. Teachers should use audio-visual resources, guest speakers (who know their role in a public school classroom), and primary-source documents to introduce students to the ceremonies and rituals of the world's religions.

Charles Haynes, First Amendment Center

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From:   Doug Laycock[SMTP:dlaycock at MAIL.LAW.UTEXAS.EDU]
Sent:   Friday, February 13, 1998 3:35 PM
To:     RELIGIONLAW at LISTSERV.UCLA.EDU
Subject:        Experiencing Religion

        Government cannot require any citizen to perform a religious
exercise.  Period.  No exceptions.  At the very least the compelling
interest test must apply, and experiential learning doesn't cut it.  But I
think this is the place for an absolute rule.

        Anything else leads to all the hairsplitting psychoanalysis in
Scalia's dissent in Lee v. Weisman.  The Weismans were coerced to attend a
prayer service, and that's all the Court should have said.  What she thought
about it and whether she was perceived as praying or "participating" or just
sitting through it should not have been relevant to the decision.  Assigning
a student to observe Ramadan is no different.

        I am not much more comfortable with government asking or encouraging
citizens to perform a religious exercise.  There are other ways to teach
comparative religion.

        It is irrelevant that experiential learning students are asked only
to go through the motions and not to believe in what they are doing.  Part
of the social memory of religious conflict in the West, well known to the
Founders, is the martyr tradition.   Lots of those folks could have just
gone through the motions; they didn't have to believe it.




Douglas Laycock
University of Texas Law School
727 E. Dean Keeton St.
Austin, TX  78705
        512-471-3275 (voice)
        512-471-6988 (fax)
        dlaycock at mail.law.utexas.edu