The idea of the United States as a pluralistic, secular, society where no single religious expression is enshrined has always gotten push-back, and experienced robust dissent over the years. To many, America is a \u201cChristian\u201d nation (sometimes a \u201cJudeo-Christian\u201d nation<\/a>), and all others live here under their sufferance. The\u00a0Rev. Dennis Terry\u2019s recent comments at a Rick Santorum presidential rally<\/a> typify the more\u00a0vituperative side of this particular sentiment.<\/p>\n httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=B2emBxDOY7g<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t care what the naysayers say. This nation was founded as a Christian nation. The god of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. There is only one God. There is only one God, and his name is Jesus. I\u2019m tired of people telling me that I can\u2019t say those words. I\u2019m tired of people telling us as Christians that we can\u2019t voice our beliefs or we can\u2019t no longer pray in public. Listen to me. If you don\u2019t love America, and you don\u2019t like the way we do things, I\u2019ve got one thing to say, get out! [\u2026] We don\u2019t worship Buddha, we don\u2019t worship Mohammed, we don\u2019t worship Allah. We worship God. We worship God\u2019s son Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The Rev. Terry clearly articulates a popular view among conservative Christians concerning religious freedom. To these Christians, government-enforced\u00a0secularism isn\u2019t a neutral ethos, but a method of attacking their faith and limiting their free expression. In the minds of these Christians \u201creligious freedom\u201d means, in this time of demographic dominance<\/a>, the right to let the majority dictate the religious norms of a society. Any deviance from that, in limiting prayer in schools, or sectarian prayer at government meetings<\/a>, is a persecution of their church. To combat this \u201cwar on religion\u201d (ie religion = Christianity) a variety of laws have been passed at the state level in order to \u201cprotect\u201d the religious freedom of the overwhelming majority. A recent example is the new Florida law enabling students to give \u201cinspirational messages\u201d at school events<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSB 98 states that its purpose \u201cis to provide students with the opportunity for formal or ceremonious observance of an occasion or event.\u201d\u00a0Although \u201cprayer\u201d is never used in the bill, opponents claim it allows religious messages to be delivered in public schools. They also question allowing students to have an unrestrained venue to air their opinions at a school event.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Such measures are almost always worded carefully to avoid legal challenge, though the wink-wink, nudge-nudge subtext is that it will allow majority Christian schools to have de facto sectarian Christian prayer so long as it\u2019s a student willing to say it. As\u00a0Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, put it: \u201clegislators are clearly inviting Florida school boards to plunge into a legal swamp.\u201d <\/a><\/em> It\u2019s a swamp that Tennessee seems ready to plunge into as well<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe measure sponsored by Republican Rep. Andy Holt of Dresden was approved by the House Education Committee on a voice vote. The companion bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.\u00a0Holt said he proposed the legislation after talking with a concerned school board member in his district. He said the proposal would allow school districts to develop a so-called \u201cstudent speaker policy\u201d for school officials to follow.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s the thing though, while such laws almost always\u00a0privilege\u00a0the majority religion, it also opens the door to expressions of non-Christian religion within public schools (at least if the law if applied fairly). \u00a0Prayers to Jesus are all well and good, but what happens when a Wiccan gives an \u201cinspirational\u201d message?<\/a><\/p>\n Rep. Richard Montgomery, a Sevierville Republican and chairman of the House Education Committee, said he likes the idea of the bill, but believes it\u2019s going to cause an uproar when a student decides to discuss a not-so-popular religion, such as Wicca.\u00a0\u201cYou might have 1 percent that actually believe that way, and 99 percent don\u2019t believe that way,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have an uproar out of this world in a lot of communities.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This sentiment was echoed by\u00a0David Barkey, Religious Freedom Counsel for\u00a0The Anti-Defamation League<\/a>, when asked for comment on the new Florida law.<\/p>\n \u201cOur public schools are for all children regardless of their religion. But this law could require children as young as five to observe prayers to Allah, Buddha, Jesus or other faiths contrary to their religious upbringing at mandatory student assemblies. It is completely contrary to our public schools\u2019 inclusive nature, and the law will only serve to divide students, schools and communities along religious or other lines. In America, the question of one\u2019s religion or faith is extremely personal and private. It is not a question that is put to the discretion of government or other people. To ensure all children\u2019s religious freedom, we urge school districts not to implement this imprudent law.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Despite these warnings, student \u201creligious liberties\u201d laws have already been passed in Arizona<\/a> and Texas<\/a>, places where the majority feels confident that these laws will act as proselytization tools of the majority faith. Think I\u2019m overstating this? Don\u2019t listen to me, listen to the Texas House Research Organization\u2019s own analysis of the then-pending bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bill could serve as a tool to proselytize the majority religious view, Christianity, in Texas schools. The United States is a nation made up of people of many faiths. Children are required to attend school and should be permitted to do so without someone else\u2019s religion being imposed on them \u2026 A school should be a religion-free zone \u2013 leaving religion for homes, places of worship, and individual hearts.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In truth, the \u201ca Wiccan might be allowed to invoke the Goddess publicly\u201d<\/em> scenario is more a gambit than a true threat. It can occasionally work to stymie Christian overreach into the public sphere<\/a>, but in many other cases, those lone non-Christian students who speak out face incredible intimidation<\/a> and threats<\/a>. In most cases the tyranny of the majority, once unconstrained by the law, proceeds to do its level best to silence all dissenting voices through threats, intimidation, violence, or simply peer pressure. That said, this new wave of \u201cstudent expression\u201d laws aren\u2019t, legally speaking, bullet-proof. There\u2019s a new legal\u00a0precedent being built<\/a> that looks not just at the openness and neutrality of a law\u2019s language, but how well it maintains a balance of religious and\u00a0philosophical\u00a0viewpoints.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026legislative prayer must strive to be nondenominational so long as that is reasonably possible \u2014 itshould send a signal of welcome rather than exclusion. Itshould not reject the tenets of other faiths in favor of just one.Infrequent references to specific deities, standing alone, donot suffice to make out a constitutional case. But legislativeprayers that go further \u2014\u00a0prayers in a particular venue that repeatedly suggest the government has put its weight behinda particular faith \u2014 transgress the boundaries of the Establishment Clause.<\/strong> Faith is as deeply important as it is deeply personal, and the government should not appear to suggestthat some faiths have it wrong and others got it right.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n While that decision looked at legislative prayer, it isn\u2019t so far a stretch to see that precedent being applied to government-funded public schools as well. If a school enacts a policy under a student free expression law, and the vast majority of \u201cinspirational messages\u201d are endorsing one single sectarian message, it could be seen a an official endorsement of religion, even if the teachers and administrators never utter a word. That gives adherents to minority faiths some hope, but as challenges work their way through the courts, we still face the very real situation of schools in several states where Christian expressions of faith are going to receive pride of place, marginalizing Pagan students.<\/p>\n