A bad idea resurfaces

One hundred years ago, Cleveland Heights fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders had a new opportunity. Their parents could request that they be excused from school for an hour each week to receive religious education at a nearby Protestant church. Each grade level had a different course, and students from each public school attended a different church. No transportation was provided. Presumably, only Protestants participated. The Cleveland Heights Commission on Religious Education, a coalition of 10 Protestant congregations representing five denominations—Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Evangelical—sponsored the classes and paid the teachers.

The program was not designed to increase understanding of religion in all of its forms, which would have made it more palatable in a nonsectarian public institution. It was to promote religious ideas, even though those ideas are not uniform among Protestants. Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, who chaired a committee of local rabbis, and Catholic Bishop Joseph Schrembs opposed the plan. They did not offer comparable opportunities for children of their faiths.

Cleveland Heights historian Marian Morton shared a 1924 article from the Cleveland Heights Press that excerpted Silver’s letter to the Board of Education opposing the plan. Silver argued, “I believe that religious instruction is essential to sound morality and good citizenship, but I cannot accept the idea of making the public school as such the vehicle of religious instruction.” He worried that the program would infringe on religious liberty and that heightened focus on a student’s religious affiliation at school would prove harmful to school unity.

I don’t know how long religious instruction during school hours survived in our community, but this bad idea is back! In March, state Rep. Gary Click introduced House Bill 445, which would require public school districts across Ohio to adopt a policy authorizing students to be excused from school for religious instruction.

Even if students are not technically studying religion on school grounds, it amounts to public school-sanctioned religious education if they are doing so during school hours. Replacing part of the school day with religious instruction makes religion part of the curriculum.

Despite its early venture into religious education, I am happy to say that our school district has been scrupulous about respecting the diverse religious identities of its students. This recognition is essential to the unifying intentions of a public system. Principals and teachers have been careful not to promote religious thinking or assume a common heritage. Respect, not indoctrination, is key.

Click is a pastor using his place in the legislature to get state support for his faith, and he isn’t alone. State Sen. Matt Huffman has successfully led the charge to expand access to vouchers. Almost all of the 715 private schools in Ohio that are eligible to receive publicly funded tuition payments are religious schools, and more than half, like Huffman himself, are Catholic.

Click’s proposal is another way state leaders are taking the state backwards, dismantling core constitutional values and remaking education policy to fit religious goals. Whether using public funds to pay for religious education or using school time for public school students to study their religion, lawmakers are tearing down the wall that separates church and state and dismantling the core features of a system of public education.

Districts have had the option to establish the policy that Cleveland Heights adopted 100 years ago, but Click now wants it to be required.

Constitutional government is core to my belief system. I am saddened to see the way the legislative super-majority is willing to sacrifice this governing structure to achieve its religious goals. Policies driven by religious fervor exemplify why we need to protect Ohio’s Constitution.