The Christian Educators Association International wants teachers to be able to share their faith like they share a math lesson: confidently and comfortably.
"We're not talking about proselytizing. That would be illegal," Finn Laursen, CEAI's executive director, told The Washington Post. "It's a mission field that you fish in differently."
CEAI offers teachers tips on the best ways to bring their faith to the classroom without breaking the law, such as by organizing a local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or playing Christian music in their classroom before the first bell.
Their efforts have received mixed reviews, which should be expected given past legal battles, the Post reported.
Parents, teachers and policymakers have clashed over the appropriate way to present religion in history or sociology classes, and lessons on Islam have been particularly problematic, Deseret News National reported last year.
As a result of ongoing and contentious debates, some people might assume that it's best for teachers to keep their faith and their professional life separate, said Charles Haynes, a First Amendment expert at the Newseum Institute's Religious Freedom Center, to the Post. But that's not how education law is designed.
"Many people believe that public schools should be religion-free zones, but that's simply not the case," Haynes said. "While the Constitution says that government cannot establish religion, it also says that the government cannot inhibit religious freedom a provision that allows students and to a lesser degree, teachers to express their faith in school," the Post reported.
In addition to helping its members express their faith, CEIA is working to reform education policy. The organization, as well as eight member teachers, are the plaintiffs in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 11.
The group of plaintiffs, which also includes two teachers who aren't affiliated with CEIA, argue that they shouldn't have to pay mandatory fees to a teachers union, even when the fees go to support collective bargaining costs that affect them, The Huffington Post reported. The Supreme Court's ruling could affect all 25 states that require "fair share" fees for union employees.
"We're not talking about proselytizing. That would be illegal," Finn Laursen, CEAI's executive director, told The Washington Post. "It's a mission field that you fish in differently."
CEAI offers teachers tips on the best ways to bring their faith to the classroom without breaking the law, such as by organizing a local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or playing Christian music in their classroom before the first bell.
Their efforts have received mixed reviews, which should be expected given past legal battles, the Post reported.
Parents, teachers and policymakers have clashed over the appropriate way to present religion in history or sociology classes, and lessons on Islam have been particularly problematic, Deseret News National reported last year.
As a result of ongoing and contentious debates, some people might assume that it's best for teachers to keep their faith and their professional life separate, said Charles Haynes, a First Amendment expert at the Newseum Institute's Religious Freedom Center, to the Post. But that's not how education law is designed.
"Many people believe that public schools should be religion-free zones, but that's simply not the case," Haynes said. "While the Constitution says that government cannot establish religion, it also says that the government cannot inhibit religious freedom a provision that allows students and to a lesser degree, teachers to express their faith in school," the Post reported.
In addition to helping its members express their faith, CEIA is working to reform education policy. The organization, as well as eight member teachers, are the plaintiffs in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 11.
The group of plaintiffs, which also includes two teachers who aren't affiliated with CEIA, argue that they shouldn't have to pay mandatory fees to a teachers union, even when the fees go to support collective bargaining costs that affect them, The Huffington Post reported. The Supreme Court's ruling could affect all 25 states that require "fair share" fees for union employees.