“GOD’S NOT DEAD 2” DILEMMA: SELECTED RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ISSUES OF K-12 SCHOOL TEACHERS

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs20182.38.51

Keywords:

religious liberty, K-12 schools, public employees’ speech rights, religious expression

Abstract

The aim of the research is to confirm whether “God’s Not Dead” (2016) production is an adequate portrayal of religious liberty of school officials in present-day K-12 schools in the United States. The author limited the discussion to the essential problem questions inspired by the production, such as teachers’ right to express their religious views both in the formal setting of a class discussion, and out-of-class informal exchange with students and fellow faculty members.
The problem was discussed against the backdrop of selected legal and legislative acts that determine the scope of teachers’ religious expression, such as selected courts’ decisions, official federal guidelines issued by the Department of Education as well as the guides published by non-government organizations. The results of the Bible Literacy Project as well as interviews with several school officials were utilized to further verify the basic concepts of the research. The source texts were analyzed using a close reading method.
The study seems to prove that due to the complexity of the legal system as well as the discrepancy between the lines of decisions reached in lower courts it difficult to unambiguously assess the probability of the scenario featured in the movie. However, observable trends in case law and governmental control over teachers’ in-class speech appear to imply that the script is definitely accurate in its portrayal of a legal liability of teachers, and possibly less so in respect of the favorable outcome of the dispute.

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Author Biography

Iwona Zamkowska, Kazimierz Pulaski University of Technology and Humanities in Radom, Poland

Iwona Zamkowska, PhD., is affiliated with the Kazimierz Pulaski University of Technology and Humanities in Radom. She holds a position of an associate professor at the Faculty of Philology and Pedagogy. Her current primary research area is the problem of religious liberty in public education in the United States of America. In 2017 she was awarded a title of the doctor of philosophy for her dissertation “The Problem of Religious Liberty in the Educational System of the United States from the 1980s to the Present” at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. She is involved in pursuing the cause of religious freedom globally as an active member of the Voice of Martyrs Poland.

References

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. Bible Literacy Project, Inc. (2005). Bible Literacy Report: what do American teens need to know and what do they know. Front Royal, VA. Retrieved from http://www.bibleliteracyproject.org/Secure/Documents/BibleLiteracyReport2005.pdf

. Turpen F. (ed.). (2006). Teachers and religion in public schools. Pasadena, California: Christian Educators Association International “Light in Learning Press.” Retrieved from http://www.clsnet.org/document.doc?id=130

. Cronk, H. (2016). God’s not dead 2.

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. Religious liberty, public education, and the future of American democracy: a statement of principles. (1995). Nashville, TN: The Freedom Forum First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED387420.pdf

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. Stacey V., R. (2008). Accommodation of school employee religious expression and practices. In: L. Soronen (ed.), Religion and public schools: striking a constitutional balance. Austin, Texas: NSBA Council of School Attorneys, 55-67. Retrieved from https://www.nsba.org/sites/default/files/reports/Religion-and-Public-Schools-Striking-A-Constitutional-Balance.pdf.

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. White Kirsch, E. (2010). First Amendment protection of teachers’ instructional speech: extending Rust v. Sullivan to ensure that teachers do not distort the government message. Cleveland State Law Review, 58, 185–216. Retrieved from https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.bing.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1069&context=clevstlrev.

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Published

2018-09-05

How to Cite

Zamkowska, I. (2018). “GOD’S NOT DEAD 2” DILEMMA: SELECTED RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ISSUES OF K-12 SCHOOL TEACHERS. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 9(2), 38–51. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs20182.38.51

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018): Journal of Education Culture and Society

Section

ETHICS

License

CC-BY

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