Charles+Haynes+columns
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Employers' religious tolerance falls short
By Charles Haynes Millions of American workers take their religion very seriously. Unfortunately, many of their employers don't.
04.30.00
Add America to the stories of Easter, Exodus
By Charles Haynes At the start of a week holy to both Christians and Jews, I sat down at a table with representatives from both groups to talk about the state of moral and spiritual education in our nation's public and private schools.
04.23.00
Another Columbine school finds answers in character
By Charles Haynes One year after the tragic killing of 12 students and a teacher, pundits and experts struggle once again to explain the unexplainable.
04.16.00
Florida developing constitutional Bible courses
By Charles Haynes Good news from the front lines of the Bible wars in public schools. Florida's Commissioner of Education just released new guidelines that will transform how the state's schools develop and teach Bible electives.
04.09.00
Circuit Court allows prayers at graduation if students lead
By Charles Haynes To pray or not to pray? That's the question facing school officials as they take up the seasonal debate over prayer at graduation ceremonies.
03.26.00
Religion in politics needs bounds
By Charles Haynes James Madison, whose birthday we mark this week, would hardly be surprised by the ugly injection of religion into the current presidential campaign. After all, the First Amendment that he helped draft separates church from state, but not religion from politics or public life.
03.19.00
Students have a right to religious expression in public schools
By Charles Haynes Students in public schools aren't shy about saying what they think. And some of what they think is religious.
03.12.00
1990 case left religion vulnerable to government intervention
By Charles Haynes When the Supreme Court severely weakened protections for the free exercise of religion in 1990, the public barely noticed. But now land-use disputes in many towns have alerted Americans to just how vulnerable to government intervention and control our religious rights are.
03.05.00
Revisiting some issues of interest
By Charles Haynes Letters in my mailbag frequently begin with the phrase "whatever happened to …." It's big news when conflicts erupt and lawsuits are filed. But where do the stories go from there?
02.27.00
'Hang Ten' movement ill-advised
By Charles Haynes From state legislators to presidential candidates, America's politicians are eagerly jumping onto the Ten Commandments bandwagon this month. Putting the commandments on the wall of every public-school classroom seems to be a politically popular move in the post-Columbine era.
02.20.00
School Bible courses require planning
By Charles Haynes It's easier to agree on the importance of studying about religion in the public schools than to do such studies right.
02.13.00
Charitable choice needs devil's advocate
By Charles Haynes Remember the debate several years ago about "charitable choice"? That's the provision in the 1996 welfare reform act that allows religious institutions to receive government money to deliver services to the poor.
02.06.00
E-mailed 'Prayer' full of mistakes about laws
By Charles Haynes A simple click of the mouse is all it takes these days to spread false and misleading information to countless people everywhere. Welcome to the Internet revolution.
01.30.00
FCC should let broadcasters be
By Charles Haynes When is religious speech "educational" and when is it not? Should a federal agency have the authority to make such a distinction?
01.23.00
School officials ease up on uniform enforcement
By Charles Haynes It was a great day for religious freedom this week when Aaron Ganues returned to school — without a uniform.
01.16.00
School policy controls religious leader's visit
By Charles Haynes Public schools are getting the message that students have the right to engage in religious activity and discussion on campus, as long as they aren't disruptive or coercive.
01.09.00
21st-century America must build ties, not rifts
By Charles Haynes By any measure, the 20th century was the "American century." From the victories over fascism and Soviet communism to the unleashing of the atom and the mission to the moon, the United States dominated the world stage for much of the last 100 years.
01.02.00
Rhode Island was first to grant religious freedom
By Charles Haynes With the new millennium fast approaching, top-10 lists of the "greatest people" and "most important events" are springing up everywhere.
12.26.99
Guidance on religion in schools
By Charles Haynes On Dec. 18, President Clinton took an historic step that dramatically advances the cause of religious liberty in public education.
12.19.99
How plastic reindeer tarnish sacred symbols
By Charles Haynes When do the créche and menorah — sacred to millions of people — become mere secular symbols? When the government erects holiday displays every December.
12.12.99
Holidays provide schools occasion to teach about religions
By Charles Haynes For too many school districts, this season of 'peace and goodwill' is disintegrating into a month of fights and lawsuits.
12.05.99
Religious liberty in America requires acceptance of diversity
By Charles Haynes Much has been made of the changing face of America — the rapidly growing racial and cultural diversity now found in every region of our nation. As year 2000 approaches, there is considerable hand-wringing among commentators about the potential for ethnic and racial strife in 21st-century America.
11.28.99
Both sides emotional over Bible in school
By Charles Haynes Want to know what people really think about the Bible and public schools? Tune in to talk radio. Callers aren't the least bit shy about telling you exactly where they stand and how wrong other people are.
11.21.99
Guidelines clear up use of Bible in schools
By Charles Haynes After more than 150 years of "Bible wars" in public education, peace may finally be at hand. On November 11, a remarkable coalition of 20 religious and educational groups released The Bible and Public Schools, the first-ever consensus guidelines on the place of the Bible in the curriculum.
11.14.99
Religion has mattered in elections from Day One
By Charles Haynes The 'character issue' appears to have put religious faith front and center in the 2000 presidential race.
11.07.99
Zachary's defeat is a loss for student's free speech rights
By Charles Haynes Little Zachary lost again last week in a case involving his first-grade teacher telling him he couldn't read his favorite story to the class because it was from the Bible.
10.31.99
Right way, wrong way to settle school religious-liberty disputes
By Charles Haynes Want kids to learn about the First Amendment? Just tell them that they can't express their religious faith in school. Presto, you'll have instant constitutional experts.
10.24.99
Character education can transform students and schools
By Charles Haynes Most Americans will tell you that character education in schools is a good idea. According to pollsters, 90% of us want schools to teach core moral values.
10.17.99
Parental involvement proves key to educational reform
By Charles Haynes Bad parents, like bad kids, get lots of attention. School officials spend much of their time dealing with problems caused by parents who are abusive, neglectful or uncaring. Maybe that's why some administrators and teachers get defensive about campaigns for more
10.10.99
Schools should let even young students start prayer groups
By Charles Haynes Contrary to what you hear on talk radio or read in direct-mail fundraising letters, public high schools aren't religion-free zones.
10.03.99
Striking all religious speech from schools not necessary
By Charles Haynes Censoring religious speech by students may be legal, but is it the right thing to do?
09.26.99
Amendment not necessary for freedom of religion
By Charles Haynes 'Istook is mistook.' Or so reads a button worn around Washington these days.
09.19.99
School must arrange calendars for practical, not religious, reasons
By Charles Haynes For American Jews, these first days of school are also the High Holy Days, the beginning of the spiritual year.
09.12.99
Letters show commitment to religious liberty in U.S.
By Charles Haynes Judging from the mail I receive, Americans may differ deeply about religion, but most share a strong and abiding commitment to religious liberty.
09.05.99
Safe schools should be safe for religious expression, too
By Charles Haynes With the tragic shootings in Columbine still fresh in their minds, school officials across the nation are pulling out all the stops to ensure school safety, including crackdowns on gang activity.
08.29.99
Evolution deadlock needs a new script
By Charles Haynes Headlines declared 'a creationist victory' after Kansas Board of Education voted to eliminate evolution from science standards. But is it really?
08.22.99
No cheap, fast solutions for school safety concerns
By Charles Haynes You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief among teachers and administrators when the final class bell rang last June.
08.15.99
Nation's founders debated 'soul liberty'
By Charles Haynes Not since the days of Massachusetts Bay Colony has the place of the Ten Commandments in public life been so hotly debated in America.
08.08.99
Bill calls for concessions to religion in workplace
By Charles Haynes Some Americans can't work on Saturday. Others need to leave work early on Friday. This isn't because they would rather fish or play golf; it's because they must observe the Sabbath as required by their faith.
08.01.99
Bill affecting religious freedom now in Senate's hands
By Charles Haynes If you care about your religious freedom, pay close attention to what's happening in Congress this month.
07.25.99
Church-school teamwork helps students
By Charles Haynes When the Chicago public schools reached out to the religious community in 1996, more than 200 religious leaders showed up at the first meeting.
07.18.99
Cooperation key to helping youths
By Charles Haynes Public schools need all the help they can get these days. Confronted by every imaginable social problem and educational challenge, educators are reaching out to many community groups — including religious organizations.
07.11.99
U.S. House should honor the First Amendment this July 4
By Charles Haynes In honor of Independence Day, here's a modest proposal for the U.S. House of Representatives: Instead of telling schools to post the Ten Commandments, why not require the posting of the First Amendment in government buildings — starting with the halls of Congress? Highlight the section that prohibits government from establishing religion.
07.04.99
Witches test our religious tolerance
By Charles Haynes Most Americans are all for religious liberty — at least until it protects a religion they don't like. Then all bets are off.
06.27.99
Letting kids leave class for church fuels debate
By Charles Haynes Releasing students during the school day for religious instruction off-campus is nothing new. The practice — often called "released-time" — was declared constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court almost 50 years ago.
06.20.99
Prayer issue mars graduations
By Charles Haynes Prayer at a high school graduation sparked not one, but two protests in Calvert County, Md., last month.
06.13.99
New Age lawsuit raises serious issues
By Charles Haynes Some called the lawsuit wacky. Others thought it was a waste of time. But a federal judge just gave a partial victory to the three Catholic families who sued a New York school district for promoting New Age religion and occultism in the curriculum.
06.06.99
Battles still ahead for religious liberty in public schools
By Charles Haynes With the end of the school year in sight, it's a good time to take stock of religious liberty and public schools.
05.30.99
Lists of significant religious developments vary
By Charles Haynes Does religion still help shape world events? Or is religion something that mattered in the distant past but no longer influences the direction of history and society?
05.23.99
U.N. misses the point in U.S. religion study
By Charles Haynes If you want to 'see ourselves as others see us,' read the new report from the United Nations on the state of religious liberty in the United States.
05.16.99
Page last updated: 10/2/2013 6:24:31 AM
