School prayer and discrimination
Subtitle: the civil rights of religious minorities and dissenters
By: Frank S. Ravitch.
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 273
Subjects: Prayer in the public schools -- Law and legislation -- United States.; Religious minorities -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- United States.; Freedom of religion -- United States.
Description: "In 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."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-263) and index.

CONTENTS:

From riots to harassment -- The Christian right and the public schools -- The current legal status of public school religious exercises -- The social context -- Where do we go from here? -- The utility of antidiscrimination law -- The limitations of using the Constitution -- A model for protecting religious minorities and dissenters -- The proposed statute and the free speech and free exercise clauses -- Can existing law help? -- Somebody make it stop.