An answer to prayer.

Federal Court Says Alabama School Officials Must Stop Meddling In Religious Matters, But Gov. James And The Religious Right Won't Say Amen

Public school administrator and parent Michael Chandler fought for more than 10 years to end school-sponsored religious worship in northern Alabama, and now that a federal court has agreed with him, he feels vindicated.

"I felt all along that we were going to be on the winning side," said Chandler, an Americans United member who works at Valley Head School in rural DeKalb County. "The state had to change. And now change is coming."

The catalyst to this change was a federal court injunction ordering the state of Alabama to cease the unconstitutional practices of coercive prayer and other officially sanctioned religious activities in public schools. Chandler and other critics note that these school-organized practices have been commonplace in Alabama public schools for years, despite the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings striking down government-sponsored religious worship in 1962 and '63.

U.S. District Judge Ira DeMent handed down the ruling on Oct. 29 in the case of Chandler v. James. The lawsuit, brought on Chandler's behalf by Americans United and the Alabama branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, sought to end the disregard for the law governing the role of religion in the public schools.

Chandler said he had made countless attempts for over a decade to bring the schools into compliance with the Constitution, but school officials ignored his concerns. Left with few alternatives, Chandler's frustrations culminated in a lawsuit against Gov. Forrest "Fob" James and other state and local officials, charging the public schools with violating the separation of church and state.

Chandler's action, in the face of massive public opposition, was spurred by personal experience. In 1995, one of his son Jesse's teachers regularly led the class in devotionals from the Bible and asked student volunteers to do the same. Also common were school-sponsored religious devotions at mandatory school assemblies and events such as football games.

Officials in DeKalb County had also allowed the Gideons access to public school grounds for the distribution of Bibles to students and had even invited fundamentalist Christian evangelists into classrooms to give sermons - practices that led some civil libertarians to assert that Alabama was perhaps the most egregious offender of church-state laws in the nation.

Chandler agrees. "The law is the law," he told Church & State. "Public schools were breaking the law, and I was not willing to accept that."

Judge DeMent's ruling orders an end to a variety of unconstitutional activities. DeMent issued a permanent injunction on Oct. 29 forbidding Gov. James and other state and local education officials from enforcing Alabama's 1993 "student-initiated" prayer law or taking any steps to promote religious worship in the public schools.

The ruling also enjoined all school-organized or officially sanctioned religious activities in classrooms or over the schools' public address systems, including vocal prayer and Bible reading. He barred official invocations or other prayers at assemblies, sporting events, graduation ceremonies or other school occasions.

DeMent forbade outside groups from distributing Gideon Bibles or other religious literature at schools, including the throwing of Bibles through school bus windows, a practice initiated as a way to skin laws restricting the distribution on school grounds.

To ensure compliance with his ruling, DeMent ordered the appointment of a monitor to go into the schools and check for violations. He also ruled that mandatory training sessions for faculty and administrators in DeKalb County must be held to help school officials "familiarize" themselves with the principles of the First Amendment and the "general issue of school officials' tolerance for diversity in religious opinion and duty of neutrality in matters of religion when acting in their official capacities." The ruling even directed a U.S. marshal to "personally serve a copy of this permanent injunction" to James, the state attorney general and the superintendent of education for Alabama.

However, to help alleviate any confusion that may result from his ruling, DeMent also went into detail explaining the variety of school religious expression that is completely legal. For example, the ruling noted that schools can still use religious materials in an objective, academic manner, students are free to wear clothing or jewelry with religious messages or symbols and students can distribute religious materials to classmates during non-instructional time. The ruling also specifically states that the rights of students to engage in religious activities such as prayer during personal time would not change as a result of the court order.

Defenders of church-state separation were delighted with DeMent's action.

"This is a very sweeping ruling," said Americans United Legal Director Steven K. Green. "The judge clearly means to remind Gov. James and school officials that the church-state separation provisions of the U.S. Constitution apply in Alabama."

"No one wants to take anyone's right to pray away," said Chandler, who received the Americans United Religious Liberty Award for his stance. "The state really just had to understand that they can't get involved with religious matters, which they were. Enough was enough, and the judge put his foot down."

Donald Sweeney, a lawyer for several Alabama school boards, said the opinion should give guidance to educators who were unsure of the proper use of religion in classrooms. "Before this opinion, some schools were following the law in good faith, others were not," Sweeney told the Associated Press. "No longer will well-intending persons, political or otherwise, be able to argue to our principals or educators that 'the law is not clear,' or 'the law doesn't apply in your city or county so do what you want and what we want you to do. You won't get in trouble.'"

To no one's surprise, opponents of church-state separation blasted DeMent's ruling. Dean Young, founder and executive director of the Christian Family Association, a state Religious Right group, observed, "It is a sad day in this state and nation when a single judge can force his opinion on the people of Alabama when the vast majority of the citizens of this state disagree with that opinion. This is unconstitutional, and the people of this state should not stand for it. The Founding Fathers of this nation never intended for there to be such rulings." Young then concluded that America is a "Christian nation."

Young was joined by U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) in criticizing the order by DeMent. "I am very troubled by this ruling," Sessions said in a press release. 'This is one more example of the effort by the courts to eliminate the natural expression of religious belief from public life."

Alabama State Sen. Roy Smith (R-Gadsden) even called for DeMent to resign and rescind his Chandler ruling. Smith sent a letter to DeMent on Nov. 5, urging him to leave the bench "to preserve the integrity of your court."

"Criticism such as this borders on the absurd," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. 'The Religious Right may suggest that our public schools are for indoctrination instead of education, but this ruling emphatically tells them 'no.' Many are arguing that people in Alabama disagree with this ruling. Forty years ago, many people in Alabama may have also disagreed with rulings that told public schools that separate is not equal, but the rights guaranteed by our Constitution are not open to popularity contests."

The far right in Alabama would love to portray DeMent as a "liberal judicial activist," but the facts say otherwise. The judge is a Republican appointee named U.S. Attorney by President Richard Nixon and placed on the bench by President George Bush. He is also a Methodist who keeps a copy of the Bible on his desk for frequent reference. A former law partner, Ron Wise, told the Birmingham News that DeMent's Bible has "more yellow stick-em's in it than a legal brief."

That, however, has not moderated the criticism. Gov. James, a Republican wildly popular with the Religious Right, originally withheld comment after DeMent's order was issued, telling the Associated Press he needed more time to read the ruling before making a public statement. James had participated in the Chandler suit by writing a 34-page legal opinion sent to DeMent in memo-form on June 23.

In the document, James explained his understanding of the Constitution's religious liberty provisions. He not only argued that the First Amendment would permit the kind of activities currently employed by the schools in Alabama but asserted that the Bill of Rights does not apply to the states anyway - a legal theory far outside the mainstream of current judicial thought.

James' memo was considered so off the wall that his own attorney general, Bill Pryor, refrained from being associated with the document.

Pryor announced on Nov. 3 that he planned to appeal DeMent's order, telling the Montgomery Advertiser that the ruling was "overly broad." He charged that certain sections of the ruling "actually violate the First Amendment and do not conform to the most recent decisions of the Supreme Court."

The next day, James issued a press statement condemning DeMent's order. He said the ruling meant "that in times of national emergency, such as when President Reagan was shot and wounded in 1980, this judge (DeMent) will fine or even put in jail any teacher who stops class to pray for the life of the President. This ruling cuts at the heart of all that is good in America and brings shame on our nation.

"The integrity of the legal system is destroyed by judges who see their duty as owed to the U.S. Supreme Court and not to the U.S. Constitution," James continued. "I will resist Judge DeMent's order by every legal and political means with every ounce of strength I possess."

Regardless of the strident rhetoric coming out of Montgomery, Chandler feels guardedly optimistic. "After 11 years of trying, and of being ignored, I finally felt relief," he said. "Surprisingly, I've even been receiving letters and calls of people congratulating me. People may be afraid of being supportive in public, but I wasn't alone in what I thought was wrong."

However, looming over Chandler's victory was a controversy that no one had predicted. A group of parents in Etowah County, Ala., heard about DeMent's ruling and tried to undercut it. They filed suit against the county's board of education, and on Nov. 4 a local judge issued an immediate restraining order against implementation of DeMent's order, insisting that it would have no force in Etowah County. That judge was Roy Moore.

Moore came to national prominence last spring as the official who placed a hand-carved plaque of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom and opened jury sessions with Christian prayers. His notoriety grew after announcing that he would not remove the religious text from the wall, in defiance of a court order from Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles Price on Feb. 10 who insisted that the display be taken down. Moore received enthusiastic backing from James, who pledged to call out the National Guard and the state police to prevent the Commandments from being taken down.

Moore quickly became a darling of the Religious Right. He was brought to Washington and was named the "Christian Statesman of the Year" by far-right TV preacher D. James Kennedy. Moore's supporters even created an internet web site where he sold deluxe replicas of his hand-carved Commandments for $149.95, with all proceeds benefiting his cause.

Legal observers were astounded by Moore's audacity in attempting to overrule DeMent. Charging DeMent with "hostility toward religion," the state judge said the federal court "has not only exceeded its authority under the United States Constitution, but has also imposed its own value system on our society by the 'mandatory in-service training sessions.'" In the process, Moore essentially was provoking a constitutional showdown.

"Some Alabama officials seem to be trying to secede again," said Lynn. "All government officials in this country are bound by the U.S. Constitution and the rulings of the federal courts. No one is above the law.

"Judge Moore is showing his true colors as an extremist on the farthest fringes of legal opinion," Lynn continued. "His restraining order is flat-earth jurisprudence. Even the slowest freshman in law school knows that state courts cannot overturn or block enforcement of federal court rulings."

The same day as Moore's unorthodox legal maneuver, James was asked if he would defy the federal court order and pray with students in a public school if invited. Once again showing a willingness to ignore laws he disagrees with, James told the Associated Press, "I'd have no qualms about that at all." (He was also asked if he would be willing to use physical force to defend school prayer as he would in defense of Moore's Commandments, to which he said, "I'm not ready to answer that question until we see how this plays out.")

Then the protests began. More than 400 students at Boaz High School gathered at the start of the school day on Nov. 4 to voice their criticism of DeMent's ruling. At Sardis High School, 60 students walked out of classes to protest. At West End High School, 200 students left class for 10 minutes to show their opposition. In all, hundreds of Alabama public school students, throughout the state, took to public protests with persistent chants of, "We want prayer."

"If you want to find someone praying, you might as well come on our way," West End senior Rob Scholl told the Birmingham News. "We ain't going to give up. They'll have to kill me before I'm going to stop praying."

Some of the bluntest criticism of the student protests came not from national watchdog groups but rather from a local newspaper. The Birmingham Post-Herald printed an editorial on Nov. 7 calling the protests "misguided."

"Protest demonstrations are an American tradition. But if you're going to protest something, you really ought to get your facts straight," the Post-Herald wrote. "Misled by adults who persist in distorting what the courts have said on the issue - two prime offenders being Gov. Fob James and Etowah County Circuit Court Judge Roy Moore - the students have demanded the restoration of fights that haven't been taken away from them.

"The students who have been demonstrating should look beyond the governor's rhetoric and Moore's borrowing of the long-discredited tactic of segregationist state judges who issued injunctions in the 1950s and 1960s against federal court orders," the editorial continued. "If they study his order and some American history, the students would find that DeMent's ruling actually protects their rights."

However, national Religious Right groups joined in with misleading rhetoric. Jerry Falwell described the DeMent order as "shocking" and "the end of prayer in Alabama, eliminating all voluntary religious speech."

In James Dobson's Weekly Pastor's Briefing Gary Bauer of the Family Research Council described the ruling as "draconian" and a "diktat" (a German word describing a harsh settlement imposed unilaterally on a defeated nation). The Bauer observation was headliner, "Dictatorship in Alabama?"

"Those looking for further evidence of the liberal judicial power grab underway in our country need look no further than Alabama," Bauer said.

Not to be left out, Christian Coalition Chairman Pat Robertson joined in with falsehoods of his own. On his "700 Club" television program on Nov. 10, the tele-vangelist ran a "news story" that said DeMent had "banned all religious activity in public schools" and that the ruling "essentially keeps kids from praying in school, even on their own." The program even featured a quote from Young of the Christian Family Association saying that Alabama children are "scared to voice their opinions for fear federal marshals will arrest them."

Robertson's association with the case grew when the American Center for Law and Justice, the legal group he founded, entered the case at the request of Attorney General Pryor. Pryor has appointed Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, as deputy attorney general for Alabama. (Some critics questioned the deputizing because Sekulow is not a resident of Alabama and is not licensed to practice law in the state, both requirements for the post.)

After being deputized, Sekulow issued a press release criticizing DeMent's ruling and predicting that it would result in students not being allowed to read the Bible during free time, prohibit students saying grace before lunch and would even prohibit students from distributing religious materials to other students. In an appearance on the "700 Club," Sekulow added that the ruling would forbid extracurricular Bible clubs and students from praying outside of schools.

However, opponents insist that nothing in the actual ruling suggests any of Sekulow's accusations are even remotely accurate.

"This is the worst kind of grandstanding," Lynn said. "Sekulow knows what the truth is, but has instead decided to contribute to the confusion surrounding the ruling by completely fabricating what Judge DeMent said."

On Nov. 13, DeMent issued an opinion and findings of fact on the Chandler case. The 86-page ruling cited a long list of unconstitutional activities in the DeKalb County schools. DeMent denied a request for an injunction against Judge Moore's action, probably because Pryor had announced that the case in Etowah County had been voluntarily dismissed pending an appeal of Chandler to the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lynn said Americans United will defend DeMent's ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. "I am surprised and disappointed that this clear case of protection of students' religious freedom is being turned into a circus with Pat Robertson's lawyers, a local judge who thinks he can ignore federal court orders, students protesting a ruling they don't understand and an extremist governor considering a stand in defiance of the law," Lynn said.

"Judge DeMent's ruling," Lynn continued, "lays down sensible guidelines for religious activity in public schools, barring anything that smacks of coercion or school sponsorship but protecting truly individual, voluntary actions. Public schools in Alabama, and indeed all over America, would do well to read, study and follow it."