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The symbolic issues pale, however, compared with the heated debates about what can take place in the nation's public schools. This has always been the central battleground for church-state conflict in America. On the one hand, children are viewed as more impressionable and vulnerable to peer pressure than adults and so should be protected from anything resembling religious indoctrination.
But on the other hand, many devout parents are eager to instill in their children the moral strength that they hope will deliver them from evil, whether it is sex, drugs or secular humanism. Such families also believe that faith is central to serious intellectual activity and should not be relegated to Sunday school. So the debate over what teachers can teach, what books may be used, what songs sung, even what clothes children may wear at school strikes at the heart of many families' sense of spiritual freedom.
The content of curriculum and textbooks has been closely examined on both sides. Fundamentalists are often criticized for wanting to teach creationism or for incorporating Christian "propaganda" into history and literature classes. But they respond that the intrusions and distortions can cut both ways. One 1985 government-funded study of public school textbooks found that social-studies textbooks rarely mentioned religion at all, even when discussing events in which churches were a driving force, such as the abolition of slavery. Many books omitted the deep religious motivation of Martin Luther King Jr. Others failed to say to whom the Pilgrims gave thanks on Thanksgiving.
Over time, many schools have come to avoid mentioning religion at all, fearing that the subject was too controversial and invited lawsuits. But in recent years the balance has shifted in areas where accommodationist sentiment has grown. Two years ago, North Carolina's board of education launched a revision of the state curriculum to include religious references in classes on history, social studies and culture. Other states, such as Arizona and California, have introduced similar programs, though all have been careful to distinguish between exposing students to the history and beliefs of various religions and advocating any creed.
Strict separationists have worked not only to keep religious practices out of the classroom; they also want to prevent religious activity anywhere on school grounds. Frequently under litigation is the issue of what religious materials may be distributed on those precincts. Earlier this year, a federal judge ruled that school officials in Wauconda, Ill., could stop a junior high school student, Megan Hedges, from distributing copies of an evangelical Christian newspaper, Issues and Answers. The court agreed with school administrators who did not want to appear to endorse the publication, which includes articles with headlines like SATANISM BRED IN SECULAR SCHOOL SYSTEM.