School prayer and discrimination : the civil rights of religious minorities and dissenters / Frank S. Ravitch.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ravitch, Frank S., 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Prayer in the public schools--Law and legislation--United States.

Prayer in the public schools.

Prayer in the public schools--Law and legislation.

Religious minorities--Legal status, laws, etc.

Religious minorities.

United States.

Religious minorities--Legal status, laws, etc--United States.

Freedom of religion--United States.

Freedom of religion.

Physical Description:

xiii, 273 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Northeastern University Press, 1999.

Summary:

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.

The author confronts the discrimination issue head-on, citing recent dramatic incidents of intimidation, harassment, and physical violence toward both religious minorities and those who oppose religious observances in the schools. He examines the legal, political, and social realities that create such occurrences, concluding that discrimination is likely to become more widespread, particularly as the religious right aggressively promotes the expansion of organized religious exercises in schools. Following a survey of current civil rights statutes and their limitations in dealing with this issue, Ravitch presents a draft of a statute that directly confronts this form of discrimination.

Contents:

Chapter 1 From Riots to Harassment 3

Chapter 2 The Christian Right and the Public Schools 19

Chapter 3 The Current Legal Status of Public School Religious Exercises 44

Chapter 4 The Social Context 74

Chapter 5 Where Do We Go from Here? 88

Chapter 6 The Utility of Antidiscrimination Law 103

Chapter 7 The Limitations of Using the Constitution 128

Chapter 8 A Model for Protecting Religious Minorities and Dissenters 144

Chapter 9 The Proposed Statute and the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses 176

Chapter 10 Can Existing Law Help? 192

Chapter 11 Somebody Make It Stop 206.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-263) and index.

ISBN:

1555533922

OCLC:

40135378