Books, ghosts 'n goblins

Simpson, Michael D

There's trouble brewing in the schools.

Turning the tables on church-state separationists, the religious right has filed a series of lawsuits claiming that various public school districts have violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by promoting witchcraft, which they call the religion of "Wicca."

How? By teaching witchcraft, requiring students to recite "Satanic chants," and sponsoring Halloween celebrations.

In three important decisions handed down this year, the courts have flatly rejected these claims.

In Brown v. Woodland Joint Unified School District, fundamentalist parents--supported by the American Family Association--sued a California school district alleging that use of the Impressions Reading Series in elementary school compelled their children "to practice the 'religion' of witchcraft in violation of the federal Establishment Clause."

In a decision announced on June 15, 1994, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit disagreed.

Impressions is a series 59 books containing approximately 10,000 literary selections and suggested classroom activities.

According to the court, Impressions uses a "whole language" approach to reading instruction with the goal of "inducing children to read more quickly and with greater enthusiasm through the use of high quality literary selections."

The literary selections are followed by suggested learning activities, such as having children "compose rhymes and chants." Several of the selections discuss "the folklore of diverse cultures," including "charms, spells, wizards, and witches," and some of the activities have students "role-play sorcerers and witches and cast spells."

The parents claimed that, because the challenged selections "engage children in witchcraft rituals and cause them to pretend that they are witchcraft practitioners," the Impressions curriculum endorses and promotes Wicca.

What's worse, the parents argued, exposing their children to "witchcraft rituals" could lead to their involvement in demonic sects later in life.

Eye of newt, and toe of frog,

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog.

Without deciding whether Wicca or witchcraft is a "religion" under the First Amendment, the Ninth Circuit upheld the school district's right to use the Impressions series.

The court emphasized that the objectionable passages "reflect a broad range of North American cultures and traditions." and the fact that students "discuss witches" or even "create poetic chants" doesn't mean they're practicing witchcraft or engaging in "religious rituals."

"If an Establishment Clause violation arose each time a student believed that a school practice either advanced or disapproved of a religion, school curricula would be reduced to the lowest common denominator, permitting each student to become a 'curriculum review committee' unto himself or herself," the court concluded.

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,

Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing.

Also this year, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a similar challenge to the use of Impressions in a small Illinois school district.

The plaintiffs/parents in Fleischfresser v. Directors of School District 200 claimed that the reading series promotes "religious concepts found in paganism and branches of witchcraft and Satanism" and requires students "to prepare and cast chants and spells and to practice being witches."

Nonsense, the court said. Impressions is nothing more than "a collection of exercises in 'make-believe' designed to develop and encourage the use of imagination and reading skills in children that are the staple of traditional public elementary school education....That this particular series relies on witches and goblins in a few stories to develop the children's minds," does not make it an establishment of religion, the court said.

The parents in Fleischfresser also claimed that use of Impressions violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by "indoctrinat[ing] children in values directly opposed to their Christian beliefs by teaching tricks, despair, deceit, parental disrespect, and by denigrating Christian symbols and holidays."

Balderdash, said the court. The Impressions series serves the legitimate governmental functions of "providing quality public school education" and teaching "the value of tolerance of divergent political and religious views."

And it doesn't matter that the fundamentalist parents might be offended by some of the objectionable passages.

Quoting from a 45-year-old Supreme Court decision, the circuit court cautioned, "If we are to eliminate everything that is objectionable to any religious group or inconsistent with any of their doctrines, we will leave public schools in shreds."

For a charm of powerful trouble,

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

So what about school sponsorship of Halloween celebrations?

In 1986, NEA was named as a defendant in a federal, class-action lawsuit seeking to enjoin Halloween celebrations in Arkansas's public schools.

The plaintiffs in the case included an Arkansas minister, "all Christian children" in Arkansas, and "Jesus Christ." Named as co-defendants with NEA were the United States and Arkansas Departments of Education, the Communist Party, and "Satan."

Although the Eighth Circuit summarily affirmed the dismissal of that lawsuit, the issue was fully litigated in a different case decided earlier this year by the Florida District Court of Appeals.

The plaintiffs in Guyer v. School Board of Alachua County complained that the "depiction of witches, cauldrons, and brooms" in Halloween decorations placed in the county's public elementary schools, as well as the practice of "teachers dressing up as witches in black dresses and pointed hats" on October 31 each year, endorsed and promoted the religion of Wicca in violation of the Establishment Clause.

In rejecting the plaintiffs' challenge, the court noted that the contemporary Halloween celebration is a "secular event without religious connotations."

While it is fairly clear that the courts will uphold the use of the Impressions series and the celebration of Halloween against Establishment Clause challenges, that does not end the debate.

Opponents of public education still may be able to convince local school boards voluntarily to ban the reading series.

All the more reason why NEA members have to be vigilant and respond forcefully whenever censors come to town. Otherwise, "Macbeth" itself may be banned.

Brown v. Woodland Joint Unified School District (1994)

Court Decisions on Religious Liberty

Background Information

Douglas E. Brown and Katherine E. Brown, parents of two students and members of the Christian Assembly of God denomination, objected to the use of portions of Impressions, a teaching aid, in the first through sixth grades in the Woodland Joint Unified School District

Impressions is a series of 59 books containing approximately 10,000 literary selections and classroom activities. Selections are associated with suggested learning activities, such as having children compose rhymes and chants, act out the selections, and even discussions the selections' characters and themes. The selections were chosen to reflect a broad range of North American cultures and traditions.

The parents challenged 32 of the Impressions selections, arguing that these portions promoted the practice of witchcraft. Most of these selections asked children to discuss witches or to create poetic chants. Some also asked students to pretend that they are witches or sorcerers and ask them to role-play these characters in certain situations.

After their complaints, the School District appointed a review committee, which included a Christian minister, to review Impressions for any emphasis on witchcraft or the occult. The committee decided that it did not have evidence or expertise to establish a connection between Impressions and occult practices. The School District accepted this report and refused to exclude the 32 disputed selections.

Court Decision

The question before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was: do the classroom activities in a California public school district require children to practice the "religion" of witchcraft in violation of the federal Establishment Clause and the California Constitution?

The Browns argued that the selections violated the second prong of the Lemon Test, which prohibits any government activity which has the primary effect of advancing or hindering religion - whether intentional or not, and even if those effects are secondary effects of government acts. According to the Browns, that is what happened when children read about witchcraft and are asked to act out scenes from such stories.

The 9th Circuit Court rejected this argument, citing both its own and Supreme Court precedent, both of which state that merely reading about religious history is not a prohibited religious activity. Although the children were also engaged in activities rather than merely reading, the Court also held that a practice's mere consistency with or coincidental resemblance to a religious practice does not have the primary effect of advancing religion. Citing the Supreme Court's decision in McGowan v. Maryland:

...the "Establishment" clause does not ban federal or state regulation of conduct whose reason or effect merely happens to coincide or harmonize with the tenets of some or all religions. In many instances, the Congress or state legislatures conclude that the general welfare of society, wholly apart from any religious considerations, demands such regulation. Thus, for temporal purposes, murder is illegal. And the fact that this agrees with the dictates of the Judaeo-Christian religions while it may disagree with others does not invalidate the regulation. So too with questions of adultery and polygamy. The same result could be said of theft, fraud, etc., because those offenses were also proscribed in the Decalogue.

The Court also held that, because of the nature of the overall program, a neutral observer would be unlikely to conclude that the selections are endorsing religion.

The fact that the challenged selections constitute only a minute part of the Impressions curriculum was found to further ensure that an objective observer in the position of an elementary school student would not view them as religious rituals endorsing witchcraft.

Significance

This Circuit Court decision reinforced the established precedent that mere similarity to actual religious beliefs or observances is insufficient to declare something unconstitutional.

Student ghosts unmasked in Newton

Primary school cancels Halloween celebration

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | October 28, 2005

NEWTON -- When students at Underwood Elementary School walk to their classrooms on Monday, there will be no witches, SpongeBob SquarePants, or Johnny Damons there to greet them.

No skeleton paintings or Frankenstein tattoos, either.

The school's principal said yesterday he acceded to the complaints of a handful of parents who said that because the school's traditional Halloween celebrations offended their religious beliefs, they would not send their children to school if the revelry continued this year.

''Not everyone is going to agree with the decision, and I really understand that," said principal David Castelline, , who last year grew a beard and dressed up as Johnny Damon. ''But I felt the goal was really important to make it a respectful and open and welcoming place for all members of our community."

Castelline, who met yesterday with the Parent Teacher Organization to explain his decision, said three teachers told him they had children in their classes who were not going to come to school if the Halloween celebration was held. The celebration, which has been going on for at least 14 years, involves teachers dressing up and lining the hallways and children making Halloween-related arts and crafts.

''When I hear that kids won't come to school because of what we're doing on Halloween, I have a problem with that," Castelline said.

Of nearly a dozen parents interviewed outside the school yesterday, none supported the decision to cancel the celebration. Several parents said they are considering staging a protest by donning costumes on Monday and standing in front of the school.

''If they can cancel Halloween, what about Columbus Day and Valentines Day? We get Jewish holidays and Christmas off, so what's next?" asked Andrea Newman, whose two sons attend the school. ''All it takes is one person to be offended, and our school will ban it."

Castelline said the school instead planned to hold a ''celebration of fall" next Friday. Later in the year, he said, the school plans a costume celebration in which teachers and perhaps students will be encouraged to dress as their favorite literary characters.

No one in Massachusetts is tracking Halloween school celebrations, said a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, so it is difficult to track how many schools forgo the holiday.

Joel Packer, spokesman for the National Education Association, said the controversy is part of a contentious nationwide trend in which schools are trying to shorten or cancel holiday celebrations, either for religious reasons or to put more time into classroom work. Halloween is one of the few holidays that can fall when children are in school, he said, which puts school districts more on the spot.

A recent survey issued by a shopping mall management company found that 23 percent of Americans planned to take part in a school Halloween party this year.

Wilhelmina Ripple --author of several holiday books, including ''Halloween School Parties: What Do I Do?" --said school districts nationwide are changing the name of parties to make the celebrations more palatable for those who want to avoid having school-endorsed ghouls and goblins.

Parents interviewed yesterday said they didn't mind not being able to celebrate the holiday, but they complained that it was political correctness run amok, particularly at a school where one-fifth of the student body is nonwhite and the website is in both English and Chinese.

''The beauty of having diversity is to celebrate different cultures and holidays," said Renee Levin. ,

''It's not good," said her 7-year-old son, Jake, who is planning to dress up as a Ninja and go trick-or-treating after school. ''Last year we got a Halloween party and it was really fun."

Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.