The odyssey of religion in schools.

When Odysseus sailed on his famous trip home from the Trojan Wars, he faced more obstacles than Clark Griswold on his way to Wally World: Cyclopes, Sirens, cannibals and various angry gods and goddesses to name a few.

A couple of my favorites (facing Odysseus, not Griswold) were Scylla, a monster who delighted in snacking on passing sailors, and Charybdis, a powerful whirlpool. These two faced each other across the Strait of Messina through which poor Odysseus had to pass to return home. Modern historians pooh-pooh the danger of Scylla and Charybdis, arguing that Scylla was simply a bunch of submerged rocks and Charybdis a confluence of currents barely worth mentioning. (Frankly, modern historians--at least the economic determinists--seem to think it's their job to ruin good stories and sully the human spirit. Personally, I'll stick with the monster and the giant whirlpool that sucks you to the bottom of the sea.)

I bring up Scylla and Charybdis because of the famous adage, "Trying to steer a course between Scylla and Charybdis." Steering such a course means having to carefully find your way between threats on either side. It's akin to eating Thanksgiving dinner seated between your mother-in-law on one side and great aunt Mable on the other. If you try too hard to avoid Charybdis, you'll end up in the maw of Scylla. Maw-phobic? Then you're in danger of sailing too close to Charybdis and winding up at the bottom of the sea.

Monsters Looming

This adage works wonderfully well to describe the situation of the school administrator when faced with the issue of religion in the public schools. The two "monsters" that loom on either side are the two great religious freedoms found within the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: "The Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

As an agent of the government, a public school therefore must neither endorse any particular religion or religion in general (the establishment clause) nor impinge upon any person's freedom to exercise his or her religion (free exercise clause). Unfortunately, at times, an issue arises that leaves little room between these two requirements.

A teacher at an elementary school not far from my district recently asked to lead an afterschool religion club in her school. The unfortunate school administrator looked at the request and decided he couldn't allow it because the teacher is an agent of the government, but at the same time he had to allow it because the teacher has the freedom to practice her religion. The administrator is headed either down the esophagus of Scylla or to the seabed beneath Charybdis.

The school district, declaring it impossible for elementary school children to distinguish between their teacher during the day and after school, denied the request based upon the establishment clause. The teacher sued. The federal district court decided, in Solomonic fashion, she could lead such a class but just not in her own school where students identified with her as a regular teacher. That makes sense. However, I wouldn't have thought of that solution in the time it took Odysseus to return to Penelope.

Double Dilemmas

A few months ago, not one but two religious questions were raised in the Mitchell School District, a suburban district of 3,500 students near Sioux Falls, S.D.

The first issue passed pretty much unnoticed. Several students asked to hold a "Meet you at the pole" rally around school building flagpoles. I watched the event at the middle school as about 40 students joined hands in prayer for about five minutes before the beginning of the school day. It was student-initiated and the school neither endorsed nor discouraged it. It was free exercise with no establishment.

That same week, the Gideons planned a distribution of Bibles at our three elementary schools. A critic of their plan pointed out to me that having school district personnel assisting students to cross the street to receive their Bibles and having school administration involved in the logistics effectively endorsed religion, even though we did it only for the sake of student safety.

Based on a review of past court decisions, the critic's interpretation was correct. So we ended the practice. That doesn't mean the Gideons can't deliver their Bibles into the hands of children. It just means they can't do it at school with help from school personnel.

Every time I make such a decision, I hear the same complaint. When I try not to establish, I am interfering with someone's free exercise and when I protect someone's free exercise, I am establishing religious belief.

Or as the ancient Greeks used to say: Swallowed if you do, sunk if you don't.

Joseph Graves is superintendent of the Mitchell School District, 800 W. 10th Ave., Mitchell, SD 57301. E-mail: [e-mail]