SchoolsThe Becket Fund protects private religious schools from discrimination and preserves a legitimate role for religious discourse and expression in public schools.
Private, religious schoolsThe Becket Fund believes that government may not discriminate against religion by specially excluding schools or students from government funding, or any other government benefit, simply because they are religious. Courts, however, have often read the federal Establishment Clause and state Blaine Amendments to require exactly this kind of religious discrimination, usually out of exaggerated concern for the “separation of church and state.” We fight in the courts to reverse this trend, and we explain in the academy and the media that it was late 19th Century nativist bigots like James G. Blaine -- not venerable Founders like Madison or Jefferson -- who first invoked the “separation of church and state” for the purpose of singling out religious schools and students for exclusion from government aid. The Becket Fund also acts to prevent undue government interference in private religious education. Most importantly, religious schools at all levels must remain free to hire or fire their teachers -- and to select or expel their students -- based on whether they adhere to the religious doctrines that the school exists to teach. (The Becket Fund’s work in defense of the freedom of expressive associations is closely related.) Public schoolsWe also fight to make sure that public schools do not become religion-free zones. Our system of government schools should not inculcate any particular faith. But neither should those schools prohibit (or discourage) students from non-disruptive, voluntary, religious expression, such as moments of silence, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, or reading religious devotional texts such as bibles during free periods. Indeed, whenever possible, public schools should accommodate whatever religious education and observance students and their parents choose in conscience to pursue. Moreover, basic knowledge of world religions is a commendable part of any liberal education, but that part is too often neglected or actively protested in public schools. Similarly, public schools should not ignore or purge the often substantial role of religion in other areas of study such as civics, history, literature, music, and fine arts. Litigation
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