This does not mean, of course, that students are obliged to check their religious beliefs at the schoolhouse door. Truly voluntary religious exercises in public schools have never been found to be illegal. While prayer and other religious activity led or organized by school officials and teachers is forbidden, the courts have left ample room for student religious expression. As long as there is no disruption of normal school activity, individual students are free to engage in prayer whenever and wherever they like. Religious clubs that are initiated and led by students may have as much access to school facilities as do all other student clubs.
Students even have the right, within limits, to distribute religious material on school grounds.
This is not enough for the zealots of the religious right. Blinded to the lessons of history, they continue to try to make public education a tool of sectarian indoctrination. Their efforts may be well intentioned, but the results have been profoundly troubling. At a mandatory school assembly, a Christian minister condemns to hell all who do not accept Christ. In Utah, a Jewish student in the public schools is forced to sing religious songs and take part in Mormon worship in choir class.