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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 11, No. 3

Publication Date: March 25, 2024

DOI:10.14738/assrj.113.16734.

Grinberg, J. (2024). The Relationship Between Religion and Public Schools in the United States: An Introductory Brief. Advances in

Social Sciences Research Journal, 11(3). 385-397.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

The Relationship Between Religion and Public Schools in the

United States: An Introductory Brief

Jaime Grinberg

Department of Educational Foundations, University Hall 2137

Montclair State University 1 Normal Avenue, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

ABSTRACT

The United States of America (USA) has no official religion, and its constitution

establishes a separation between state and religion. Hence, public schools should

maintain such a separation in their relationship to religion. However, historically,

legally, and politically, this has been difficult, contentious, challenging, and

complicated. Secularism has served as a balance to protect schools from religious

intrusion and religion to keep the state from influence and control at bay. This

paper briefly explains the seemingly watershed moment created by the US Supreme

Court ruling enabling families in the state of Maine to obtain subsidies in the form

of school vouchers to be applied toward tuition in religious private schools, thus

breaking a legal tradition of denying public funds for their use for tuition covering

of educational institutions sponsored by religious organizations. This paper

introduces different dimensions for analyzing these relationships and explains a

few legal and educational developments, legal rulings, and students’ rights.

Keywords: Public Schools, US Supreme Court, Separation of State and Religion, History of

Religion and Schools

INTRODUCTION

The United States of America (USA) has no official religion, and its constitution establishes a

separation between state and religion. Article 6, 1789, of the national constitution, states that

"no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification for any public office or trust in the

United States." Furthermore, the First Amendment, 1791, states, "Congress will not make any

law regarding the establishment of a religion, or that prohibits the free exercise of it." In this

context, secularism exists as a form of protection for religions because it offers a "neutral"

alternative. It does not favor any religion; it would be a moderating option.

In June 2022, the US Supreme Court decided that financial support through the voucher system,

which is like a check from the state to be used as payment to private schools, students, and their

families for paying religious private school fees, was discriminatory because the voucher can

be used at a non-religious private school (Hutchinson, 2022). Therefore, this means that it

decided to allow the use of public money in the state of Maine to pay fees for private schools of

religious denominations, declaring that the law of that state that prohibited the use of those

funds was discriminatory. One wonders how the US Supreme Court interpreted the Maine case

as implicitly granting the right to use these public funds earmarked for use in religious schools.

The following pages provide an overview to help understand this legal decision that ultimately

impacts the balance of separation between state and religion. For this, historical and legal

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Grinberg, J. (2024). The Relationship Between Religion and Public Schools in the United States: An Introductory Brief. Advances in Social Sciences

Research Journal, 11(3). 385-397.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.113.16734

perspective of the authors of the national constitution, religious freedom is a right that should

be protected, and that the national government should not create an established church.

Although the United States did not have a Christian foundation in the sense of creating a

theocracy, its leaders were guided by Christian moral values. It should be noted that the system

was developed to be comfortable not only for Christians but also for members of other religions

because by legally proclaiming the separation of state and religion, it gives space to public

secularism, not as a religious alternative, but as a civil alternative that serves as a measure to

regulate the potential invasion of the state on religions and of religions on the state.

Therefore, this separation of religion and state, without official religion, is not a secular or

secular model; it is not formed as antagonism or against religion and its institutions, but

precisely to grant religious freedom without favoring any specific group. In other words,

without legally privileging one group over another or providing specific funds to support any

particular religious institution. The reason is that, in the US, this separation is good for the state,

and it is also suitable for religion because the state cannot interfere in its affairs. Paradoxically,

today, religion tries to ingest the state.

However, despite the constitutional separation established in Article 6 and in the First

Amendment, the signifier "god" is used as a sine qua non of public culture: for example, bills

(money) carry the inscription "we trust in god." In schools, a prayer of promise or commitment

to the flag is recited as a symbol of national unity and justice for all, without divisions, ' under

god'; however, individuals have the right not to recite. Why is the word and symbolism god

used freely? Because it is probably erroneously interpreted that god as a concept, as a deity, is

more than a linguistic and metaphorical signifier, it does not favor any religion in particular. In

other words, it is assumed that there is a cultural agreement that God is universally accepted in

a hegemonic way, denoting unity, without considering the alienation or marginalization of

secular people or secular individuals. This is why individuals have the right not to recite the

pledge to the flag and its symbolism in the version using the word god, although the use of

money does not give a parallel option. It should be noted that religious symbols also appear in

most courts, as is the case with the Ten Commandments in the form of sculptures, for example,

on the walls of the courts. Moreover, despite the alleged division discussed, federal funds are

awarded for programs, projects, services, and research to private religious institutions, such as

universities and hospitals belonging to religious organizations.

Practice

Despite the separation of state and religion, in practice, this legal principle is amorphous and,

with the lack of clear guidelines, gives rise to interpretations that, through time, places, and

cases, have produced different legal rulings and interpretations. (Kastle, 1983; Zimmerman,

2022). An example of religious influence in schools is the previously mentioned case of what is

recited every morning in schools, the "loyalty oath," which has included, since 1954, the words

"under god." The following is the text of this oath: "I swear allegiance to the Flag of the United

States of America and to the Republic it represents, one Nation under God, indivisible, with

liberty and justice for all."

However, while there is an explicit constitutional right to religious freedom, there is no

constitutional right to education. Amendment 10 implies that this responsibility is state and

local at the community or municipal level by establishing that all rights and responsibilities not