One possibility for a free exercise opt-out from a mandatory field trip to a religious site (or perhaps to a particular class assignment) is to check to see if the school has an individualized process for exemptions. For example, if the school allows students to miss a field trip if they are sick, or to attend the funeral or wedding of a close relative, it must grant a religious exemption or pass strict scrutiny under Sherbert (as Sherbert was transfigured in Smith and Lukumi). For a very good 10th circuit opinion in support of this result, see the Axson-Flynn case (the case about the girl who refused to curse God when ordered to do so by her acting class professor).
Cheers, Rick Duncan --- AJCONGRESS <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > See Leebart v.Harrington,327 F33d 134(2d Cir > 2003);Altman V. Bedford CSD, > 245 F3d 49(2d Cir. 2001);Skoros v. City of NY (EDNY > 2004);Brown v. Hot, Sexy > and Safe, 68 F.3d 525(1st Cir 1995).To these should > be added the long list > of cases rejecting parental objections to particular > textbooks and assigned > readings. > Marc Stern > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf > Of Marty Lederman > Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 7:50 PM > To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics > Subject: Re: Religious history school projects > > See generally Kent Greenawalt, Teaching About > Religion in the Public > Schools, 18 J.L. & Pol. 329 (2003); Jay D. Wexler, > Preparing for the Clothed > Public Square: Teaching About Religion, Civic > Education, and the > Constitution, 43 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 1159 (2002). > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Will Linden <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2004 3:49 PM > Subject: Religious history school projects > > On another list, folk were bitching about reported > attempts to > "indoctrinate students in Islam". Another > contributor wrote about a > fourth-grade class which had an assignment to "make > a model of a babylonian > ziggurat...accurate down to the the altar and > accutrements used to worship > the Babylonian gods...including human sacrifice, > etc... The teacher failed > him on the project when he refused to do it because > the material "scared > him." When the mother asked if the child could be > allowed to do some other > project, the teacher refused, and assigned the child > a zero." > > This is, of course, "anecdotal". However, it drew > yet another post noting > that "In California the 4th graders have to do a > California Missions > project, and often they go on a field trip to see a > Mission. I have never > heard of anyone of refusing to build a Mission > project on religious grounds. > Since the Missions, like the Ziggurats, are part of > the history curriculum, > it would be an interesting question." I agree that > it would, and herewith > ask opinions of the list on whether the "Mission" > unit raises First > Amendment issues. (And yes, I have permission to > cite it here.) > > _____ > > _______________________________________________ > To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get > password, see > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > > _______________________________________________ > To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get > password, see > http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw > ===== Rick Duncan Welpton Professor of Law University of Nebraska College of Law Lincoln, NE 68583-0902 "When the Round Table is broken every man must follow Galahad or Mordred; middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered." --The Prisoner __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what you’re looking for faster http://search.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw
