Is it legal to teach religious songs at a public school in the USA?
I just realized this, because now I go to a Catholic private school. When I was in 5th grade, I was in Chorus at the Suburban public school I went to. When at this private school that I now go to, I was told, in History class, that a public school could get sued for teaching religion. In chorus, we had to sing this song that was partially in Latin. In English, this was one of the lines: The snow lay on the ground The stars shown bright When Christ our Lord was born On Christmas night Wouldn't this be considered illegal for a public school having students in the Chorus singing religious songs? This was not a Christan Chorus. It was just a song Chorus to sing songs.
Law & Ethics - 10 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
no no no
2 :
It probably wasn't illegal as long as students were not forced to sing those verses against their own will or persuaded to believe in those Christian values over other religions.
3 :
Students and teachers have rights! You have the right to teach the children songs of that nature. For example you can teach the children Christmas songs. The only problem I can see is if you are a ta school that the ACLU likes to stomp out peoples rights and free speach.
4 :
its hard to say, even the presence of one religon more than another is somewhat unconstitutional. I think there is some wiggle room here though. In my opinion, religon doesn't belong in public schools, period.
5 :
Gosh no-it's so cute to see the little Muslim & Jewish children singing about Christ! Seriously, public supported charter schools can be religious.
6 :
no...no... this is grounds for a lawsuit!
7 :
It is not illegal to sing Christian songs in a public school. Singing a song does not equal teaching the religion and forcing the beliefs on people. Most schools that do have Christian songs, also include non-Christian or non-religious songs to have a balance between them.
8 :
at christmas time. songs will usually have religious tones cause christmas is from the word CHRIST. so even if you are in public school, you can't completely avoid religious cultural exposure,
9 :
Change the question to a song about Ramadan, and see how the answers change.
10 :
It is not illegal to sing Christmas songs in public schools! It would be illegal if it was compulsory to sing Christmas songs. It would also be illegal if singing Christmas songs was followed up with a lecture on how not accepting Jesus will lend you in hell. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Read more discussion :
