Weekday Religious Education

Weekday Religious Education is a released-time Christian education programLithwick, Dahlia. [http://www.slate.com/id/2113611/ Bible Belt Upside the Head] . "Slate", February 16, 2005. Accessed July 27, 2006.] Palmetto Family Council. [http://www.palmettofamily.org/Reports/Education/HTMLRpt/educat05.htm Released Time Education] . Accessed July 27, 2006.] for public school students in the United States. The program is administered during school hours, but by law [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=333&invol=203 McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948)] . Retrieved from FindLaw, July 27, 2006.] must be conducted outside school property. Weekday Religious Education classes are offered in school districts in several states, most of them rural.

History

In 1914, the Superintendent of Schools in Gary, Indiana requested that local ministers teach principles of Christianity to school students during the school day. In 1946, Erwin L. Shaver wrote an article entitled, "The Movement for Weekday Religious Education" for the journal, "Religious Education"Shaver, Erwin L. "The Movement for Weekday Religious Education". "Religious Education", Vol. 41 No. 1. 1946.] In 1948, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in re: "McCollum v. Board of Education" that religious classes held on public school property are unconstitutional. However, classes continued in locations where the program was held outside school grounds. (See also "Criticisms", below.) The Supreme Court later ruled, in re: "Zorach v. Clauson", that religious classes held outside school grounds, but during the school day, did meet constitutional requirements dictating the separation of church and state.

Current program

Weekday Religious Education classes are currently offered in several school districts in the United States. The following is a partial list, sorted by state:

*Indiana
**Fort Wayne, IndianaThe Associated Churches of Fort Wayne & Allen County, Inc. [http://www.associatedchurches.org/PDF/Weekday%20Religious.pdf Weekday Religious Education] (in PDF format). Accessed July 27, 2006.]
*Kansas
**Kansas City, Kansas [ [http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/wycohelp/wycohelp.htm?id=82 Council of Weekday Religious Education] , at the Kansas City, Kansas Public Library website. Accessed 21 January 2008.]
*Ohio
**Bellefontaine, Ohio [2002 Annual Report, prepared for the First United Presbyterian Church of Bellefontaine, Ohio. No longer available online; retrieved by Google on January 27, 2005, and [http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:X71bFpq7R5EJ:www.miamipresbytery.org/churches/bellefontainefirst/default.asp%3Ffulltextitem%3D625+%22Weekday+Religious+Education%22+Bellefontaine&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a cached on Google] ]
**Tiffin, Ohiocite web
url=http://www.tiffinwre.org
title=Weekday Religious Education - Tiffin
accessdate=2006-07-28
archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20050910054515/http://www.tiffinwre.org/
archivedate=2005-09-10] [http://www.tiffin.edu/about/tiffinoh/ Tiffin University site] , accessed January 21st, 2008]
*Virginia
**Pulaski, Virginia [http://www.wrepulaski.org/ Weekday Religious Education - Pulaski, VA] official site. Accessed January 21, 2008.]
**Staunton, Virginia

In Indiana, classes are offered to children in the third, fourth, and fifth grades. Classes in the third grade focus upon introducing students to a "personal relationship with Jesus Christ". Third graders also learn about "Hebrew traditions", among which are "Sabbath, the Greatest Commandment, synagogue school and Jesus visiting Jerusalem". Fourth grade classes incorporate lessons about the patriarchs and other figures from the Old Testament. In the fifth grade, students are taught that the Bible is the "inspired Word of God." Classes in Indiana use the Good News Bible.

Criticisms

Dahlia Lithwick, in her article for Slate magazine, summarized several criticisms of the Weekday Religious Education program as administered at that time in Staunton, Virginia. Among these criticisms is that communities in which WRE classes are taught ostracize those students who elect to opt out of the programGraham, Chris. [http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$31696 Board preserves WRE] . "Augusta Free Press", February 15, 2005. Accessed July 27, 2006.] ; that WRE classes subtract from classroom time, making education mandated by federal programs such as the No Child Left Behind Act more difficult; that WRE inherently discriminates against those who aren't Christians; and that WRE promotes an Evangelical denominational or sectarian viewpoint.

References