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My daughter's public school principal has put up Christian symbols and quotes and also invited a public speaker to present during an assembly who told students that God and prayer was the answer to their problems. Is there a government place where I can anonymously report this?

I don't want to complain directly as there could be retaliation.

Peter Mortensen
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    You will notice that neither of the answers posted so far suggests a government agency. This is because, other than the school board itself, there are typically not many options within the government for this sort of thing. – Kevin Sep 03 '19 at 02:52
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    "put up Christian symbols and quotes" is rather vague: There's a big difference between a small crucifix and quote on the wall of his personal office, seasonal images of a fourth-century bishop and saint, or plastering a prominent Chi-Rho on every public surface. Actively using his position to proselytise is certainly reportable, quietly showing pride in his beliefs is probably not. (I assume you have already done an analysis on this though) – Chronocidal Sep 03 '19 at 11:08
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    Out of interest, would you be ok with the school doing Yoga (which is a form of religious worship) and getting a Buddhist monk in to talk to the children about the joys of enlightenment? It's key to understanding where you're coming from so that the correct help can be found. If it's purely an aversion to Christian content and everything else goes, then I would say that #1 it's naive and #2 you may want to solve the problem another way, like finding out the heart behind it as opposed to criticising the leadership of the school from afar without any thought as to the motivation of such action. – David Boshton Sep 03 '19 at 20:30
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    @DavidBoshton Uh, what? It seems clear that most people who do yoga in the west do not practice it as a form of religious worship. It's exercise and has nothing to do with Buddhism. – user91988 Sep 03 '19 at 21:22
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    @DavidBoshton There is a big difference between giving a balanced view of lots of religions and abusing your post to ram your own religion down everyone's throats. – Paul Johnson Sep 04 '19 at 05:59
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    The Establishment Clause says that Congress can't establish a national religion. It's not being broken here. Part of the purpose of having the Establishment Clause in the first place was to preclude the federal government from interfering with religions that had already been established in the individual colonies. Whatever one may think about the merits of separation of church and state, the only Constitutional separations between them are that a federal religion can't be declared, people can freely exercise their religion, and a religion can't be required to hold office. – reirab Sep 04 '19 at 06:30
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    @reirab but the separation clause does forbid state-funded entities (like a public school) from pushing a religion on a captive audience (like children in a school assembly) – ratchet freak Sep 04 '19 at 12:51
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    @ratchetfreak There is no "separation clause." Only the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. There was never any clause originally intended to prevent state-funded entities from pushing a religion. The states originally actually had state religions in many cases. The Establishment Clause specifically prevented the federal government from doing so, not a state or local government. Some courts have erroneously attempted to incorporate the Establishment Clause on the states, but it was never intended to be so, either originally or with the passage of the 14th Amendment. – reirab Sep 04 '19 at 15:18
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    @reirab SCOTUS incorporated the First Amendment regarding establishment of religion in Everson v. Board of Education (1947). "The First Amendment, as made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth, commands that a state 'shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.'" It was the last of the First Amendment rights to be incorporated, the first being freedom of speech, established with Gitlow in 1925. – NetworkLlama Sep 05 '19 at 05:12
  • @NetworkLlama Yes, state rights are nearly obliterated. – paulj Sep 05 '19 at 14:11
  • @NetworkLlama Since your example actually supports reirab (it supports the principal's right to exercise his religion, and the principal is not making any law respecting an establishment or religion), ratchet freak may have been a better subject to target with your comment. It looks almost like you're providing evidence against reirab… but then saying something that supports them instead. – Aaron Sep 05 '19 at 15:53
  • @Aaron It may be a perspective thing, but I read NetworkLlama's comment exactly the opposite as you. – Jeff Lambert Sep 05 '19 at 17:18
  • It would be super useful if you could explain how you think this is breaking the Establishment Clause. As the comments have already pointed out, the principal expressing their own opinion isn't necessarily doing so. I think much more clarity is necessary, if not to us, certainly in your official complaint. – Octopus Sep 05 '19 at 18:44
  • How is the law being broken? – copper.hat Sep 05 '19 at 21:37
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    @Aaron I was disagreeing with reirab. His claim is that the Establishment Clause was never incorporated, when it has been for 70+ years. The quote I provided was from the case that incorporated it. They made it clear that the Establishment Clause applies to states as well as to the federal government. Public schools are an arm of the state, and as such employees may not proselytize to students during school. Activity such as described by OP is inconsistent with established case law and is forbidden. – NetworkLlama Sep 07 '19 at 19:02

3 Answers3

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Contact the local affiliate of the ACLU: Affiliates | American Civil Liberties Union. They have a long history of protecting schools and public institutions from religious influences. They will be able to determine the legality of the displays in the school and if the subject of the presentation by the speaker is legally problematic, and will know the correct approach to the school board and school district and their legal representatives.

See Religion and Public Schools | American Civil Liberties Union:

Dating back to the Bible Riots of the mid-1800s, the role of religion in public schools has been one of the most hotly disputed—and most frequently misunderstood—religious freedom issues in America. Even though the U.S. Supreme Court has long made clear that the Constitution prohibits public school-sponsored prayer or religious indoctrination, violations remain rampant in many parts of the country.

The ACLU can protect your identity. Or, use a throwaway email from Yahoo or similar service, or use *67 to block caller ID when phoning.

If for some reason the ACLU finds little they can legally do, and if your local newspaper(s) or TV station(s) are not politically conservative, contact them and see if they want to cover the situation.

BlueDogRanch
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    If the ACLU does not act, the Satanic Temple is another organization that will press this. They'd be happy to demand that, if Christian materials are put up on school property, Satanic ones also be included. – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Sep 03 '19 at 12:16
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    It's both hilarious and terrifying that to try and minimize christian indoctrination the reasonable thing to do in the US is talk to an organization called the Satanic Temple. – DRF Sep 04 '19 at 11:18
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    @DRF As I understand it, it's meant to be a parody. – user253751 Sep 04 '19 at 14:09
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    Just make sure you don't confuse the Satanic Temple (good) with the Church of Satan (bad, reactionary dogmatists, the kind of satanists who ruin satanism) – llama Sep 04 '19 at 15:03
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    "... use 67 to block caller ID when phoning..."* - be careful of *67. If the number called is an toll-free 800/866 number, then the called party gets your identity anyways. – jww Sep 04 '19 at 22:46
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    @DRF, That's surely why they used that name. Their tenets are actually awesome. Don't confuse this non-theistic religion for the Church of Satan. – ikegami Sep 05 '19 at 04:35
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The ACLU is an excellent choice.

Let me also recommend the Freedom from Religion Foundation. They handle these outrages on a regular basis.

Andrew Lazarus
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    They (FFRF) certainly get schools and small under funded communities to capitulate. But they most frequently lose the legal battles when they go to court, especially against organizations like the ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice), ADF (Alliance Defending Freedom), or PJI (Pacific Justice Institute). Frequently, these groups will also defend the school or community free of charge.

    However, these groups will also provide guidance to the schools and communities on what meets standards as established by precedent.

     – wolfsshield Sep 04 '19 at 12:38
  • How do you know it is an outrage? – copper.hat Sep 05 '19 at 21:34
  • I guess as a non-Christian, I like the American idea the other guys' religion doesn't get shoved at my kids at state expense. I realize that in other countries, even ones that are liberal democracies like Canada and the UK, other rules apply. The FFRF has no trouble ending these practices because they violate well-established precedents. – Andrew Lazarus Sep 05 '19 at 22:01
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I would recommend contacting Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

If you check their website, you can see their mission:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonpartisan educational and advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the separation of religion and government as the only way to ensure freedom of religion, including the right to believe or not believe, for all.

They deal specifically with the issues like yours:

We use high-impact litigation, powerful lobbying and grassroots advocacy to ensure that:

  • Religion does not dictate public policy. The government does not tell Americans what to believe or how to practice their faith.
  • Discrimination is not justified under the guise of religion.​

There's a page on AU's wbsite for reporting violations of the Establishment Clause: https://www.au.org/get-involved/report-a-violation/form.

You can also get in touch with AU members who live near you: https://www.au.org/get-involved/chapters.

AU is not a government entity (as your question asks), however, they are very knowledgeable about the proper channels for such complaints, and about the nuances of the Establishment Clause of the first amendment.

Granny Aching
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