Opinion ID: 522965
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Primary Effect of Advancing or Inhibiting Religion

Text: 19 The second part of the Lemon test evaluates whether state action merely neutrally accommodates religion or unconstitutionally sponsors religion. Government may accommodate religious practices to avoid impinging on the right to freely exercise religious beliefs. Brandon, 635 F.2d at 975 (2d Cir.1980). Thus, government need not withhold generally available benefits from a religious organization simply because the organization is religious. Roemer v. Board of Public Works, 426 U.S. 736, 746-47, 96 S.Ct. 2337, 2344-45, 49 L.Ed.2d 179 (1976). 20 Government may not, however, take actions which even appear to sponsor religion. Thus, even insignificant amounts of direct aid to religious groups violate the Establishment Clause. In Everson v. Board of Educ., 330 U.S. 1, 16, 67 S.Ct. 504, 511, 91 L.Ed. 711 (1947), the Supreme Court held: [no] tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Nowhere has the Supreme Court been more vigilant in prohibiting the appearance of state sponsorship of religious activities than in public elementary and secondary schools. 21 The State exerts great authority and coercive power through mandatory attendance requirements, and because of the students' emulation of teachers as role models and the children's susceptibility to peer pressure.... [t]he public school is at once the symbol of our democracy and the most pervasive means for promoting our common destiny. In no activity of the State is it more vital to keep out divisive forces than in its schools. 22 Edwards v. Aguillard, 107 S.Ct. at 2577-78 (citations omitted). 23 Permitting this student religious group to meet in a public high school just before the start of classes would impermissibly advance rather than neutrally accommodate religion. In Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Educ., 333 U.S. 203, 68 S.Ct. 461, 92 L.Ed. 649 (1948), the Supreme Court held that a school district impermissibly advanced religion by allowing religious instructors to provide religious education to students on a voluntary basis during the school day. The Court held: This is beyond all question a utilization of the tax-established and tax-supported public school system to aid religious groups to spread their faith. And it falls squarely under the ban of the First Amendment. Id. at 210, 68 S.Ct. at 464. This case presents substantially the same issues as McCollum. Although the religious activity proposed would take place before formal instruction begins, it would occur in a tax-supported classroom at a time when most students must be at school. The problems addressed in McCollum are equally present. 24 Other circuits considering use of school facilities for religious meetings have held such use to unconstitutionally advance religion. In Brandon v. Board of Educ., 635 F.2d 971 (2d Cir.1980), the court held that permitting prayer meetings in a public high school, even under a neutral equal access policy, would impermissibly advance religion. The court stressed the appearance of school sponsorship that would arise: 25 Our nation's elementary and secondary schools play a unique role in transmitting basic and fundamental values to our youth. To an impressionable student, even the mere appearance of secular involvement in religious activities might indicate that the state has placed its imprimatur on a particular religious creed. This symbolic inference is too dangerous to permit. 26 Id. at 978. See also Bell v. Little Axe Indep. School Dist., 766 F.2d 1391 (10th Cir.1985); Nartowicz v. Clayton County School Dist., 736 F.2d 646 (11th Cir.1984); Bender v. Williamsport Area School Dist., 741 F.2d 538 (3d Cir.1984), vacated on other grounds, 475 U.S. 534, 106 S.Ct. 1326, 89 L.Ed.2d 501 (1986); Lubbock Civil Liberties Union v. Lubbock Indep. School Dist., 669 F.2d 1038 (5th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1155, 103 S.Ct. 800, 74 L.Ed.2d 1003 (1983) (each holding that allowing student religious meetings during noninstructional time in a public secondary or elementary school would constitute an impermissible advancement of religion). We agree. 27 Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263, 102 S.Ct. 269, 70 L.Ed.2d 440 (1981), held that permitting a student religious group to meet on a university campus which had a policy of allowing meetings of a wide range of student groups would not impermissibly advance religion. This case is different from Widmar. As the Supreme Court recently noted, [t]he potential for undue influence is far less significant with regard to college students who voluntarily enroll in courses [than with regard to students at public high schools]. 'This distinction warrants a difference in constitutional results.'  Edwards v. Aguillard, 107 S.Ct. at 2577 n. 5 (quoting School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 253, 83 S.Ct. 1560, 1587, 10 L.Ed.2d 844 (Brennan, J. concurring)). 28 Unlike university students, high school students are required to attend school. The instructional format at a high school is far more structured than at a university. High school students are less mature and more impressionable than university students. Teachers at high schools, unlike college professors, are both educators and authority figures. The same considerations that mandate special vigilance in preventing religious establishments in public schools--the impressionability of young students, compulsory attendance laws that make students a captive audience, and the role of public schools in inculcating democratic ideals--distinguish public secondary schools from public universities. The religious activity proposed in this case, which would take place at a time closely associated with a highly structured school day, would be far more likely to appear to enjoy school sponsorship than a group on a college campus. In addition, all student activities in the Renton School District, unlike those in Widmar, are district approved and supervised by district employees. Since Widmar, other circuit courts which have considered voluntary prayer groups in public elementary and secondary schools have recognized the difference between universities and public schools. They have uniformly held that public school prayer groups violate the Establishment Clause. See Lubbock, 669 F.2d at 1045-46; Bender, 741 F.2d at 552; Bell, 766 F.2d at 1404-05.