Students and Parents Object to Religious Songs in Ohio Public Schools

June 1, 2001

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On June 1, 2001, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "some students and parents object to the singing of explicitly religious lyrics in public schools. These critics -- including the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which filed a lawsuit against Columbus schools last month on behalf of three families -- think the practice violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause." The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Ohio chapter's president said he has no problem with the songs as long as they are initiated by students rather than by the administration.