Finding Common Ground

A Guide to Religious Liberty in Public Schools

Finding Common Ground by Charles C. Haynes and Oliver Thomas is a First Amendment guide to religion and public education published by the First Amendment Center. The text of the Williamsburg Charter, a 1988 reaffirmation of the First Amendment, may be found in the appendix.

The book can be downloaded as an Adobe Acrobat file from this page.

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• Download the Acrobat file of individual sections of Finding Common Ground:
• Front cover (83.6 KB)

• Front matter
  Title page, table of contents, about the authors, foreword (60.7 KB)

• Chapter 1
  "From Battleground to Common Ground" (260 KB)

• Chapter 2
  "Religious Liberty, Public Education, and the Future of American Democracy" (260 KB)

• Chapter 3
  "A History of Religious Liberty in American Public Life" (670 KB)

• Chapter 4
  "The Supreme Court, Religious Liberty and Public Education" (386 KB)

• Chapter 5
  "Strategies for Finding Common Ground" (123 KB)

• Chapter 6
  "A Teacher's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools" (472 KB)

• Chapter 7
  "Religion in the Public School Curriculum" (348 KB)

• Chapter 8
  "Religious Holidays in the Public Schools" (136 KB)

• Chapter 9
  "Student Religious Clubs" (237 KB)

• Chapter 10
  "Student Religious Expression in Public Schools: United States Department of Education Guidelines" (113 KB)

• Chapter 11
  "Student Religious Practices" (296 KB)

• Chapter 12
  "A Parent's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools" (209 KB)

• Chapter 13
  "Character Education" (364 KB)

• Chapter 14
  "First Amendment Schools: Educating for Freedom and Responsibility" (282 KB)

• Chapter 15
  "Sample School District Policies" (151 KB)

• Appendix A
  "Contact Information for Organizations Signing Consensus Statements" (40 KB)

• Appendix B
  "Williamsburg Charter" (93 KB)

• Index (27.7 KB)

• Back cover (84.2 KB)

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