School Prayer and Discrimination: The Civil Rights of Religious Minorities and DissentersIn this provocative work, Frank S. Ravitch redirects the heated debate over prayer in the public schools. He asserts that current legal discourse, which centers this hotly contested issue around First Amendment rights, underestimates the ways in which school prayer fosters discrimination against religious minorities and dissenters. Arguing that traditional Constitutional doctrine is inadequate to address the harmful effects of public school religious exercises, Ravitch looks to civil rights principles and anti-discrimination laws for an alternative approach. The author confronts the discrimination issue head-on, citing recent dramatic incidents of intimidation, harassment, and physical violence toward both religious minorities and those who oppose religious observances in the schools. He examines the legal, political, and social realities that create such occurrences, concluding that discrimination is likely to become more widespread, particularly as the religious right aggressively promotes the expansion of organized religious exercises in schools. Following a survey of current civil rights statutes and their limitations in dealing with this issue, Ravitch presents a draft of a statute that directly confronts this form of discrimination. |
Contents
From Riots to Harassment | 3 |
Chapter | 9 |
Can Existing Law Help? | 192 |
Copyright | |
3 other sections not shown
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Common terms and phrases
action activities allow Amendment American applied appropriate Bauchman Bell ceremony Chapter Christian Right civil rights claims concept conduct considered constitutional context course Court create damages deal decision demonstrates directly discrimination discussed dissenters educational effect employees engage environment Equal Establishment Clause example existing facilitated by public fact faith focus free speech given graduation groups Guidelines harassment held Herdahl holding hostile incidents individuals involved issue Jones least legislation liability limited majority Moreover nature occur organizations political practices present problem proposed statute protected public school religious question reasonable regard reli religion religious minorities remedy result school board school districts school officials school prayer school religious exercises sexual significant similar simply situation social standard Supreme Court teacher tion Title tort victims violation
References to this book
The Fourth R: Conflicts Over Religion in America's Public Schools Joan DelFattore Limited preview - 2004 |