by Americans United for Separation of Church and State

About the author: Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonprofit advocacy organization.

As church-state separation battles have escalated in recent decades, so too have misconceptions about the role of religion in public schools. Some Religious Right activists charge that the courts have misinterpreted the First Amendment to remove all traces of religion from the classroom. Has God been expelled from our schools? Has the Bible been excluded from school curriculum"

In reality, the answer to these questions is “no.” In order to begin to clear up some of the misunderstanding about religion’s place in our schools, it is important for Americans to have the facts.

The debate regarding religion in our classrooms is by no means a recent...