The Live It Challenge - Students Rights

Student Rights Info

Be Strong and Courageous!

Student Rights

Talking about God or reading the Bible during free time is almost always okay. When students are told that they can’t read the Bible at school or use the Bible in a homework assignment, the reason they’re often given is that the school must maintain “separation of church and state.”

But that’s just not correct. As long as you are acting voluntarily and not disturbing class, then most of the time you have constitutional rights to express a personal, faith-based viewpoint. They also have the religious freedom to pray or read the Bible—as long as these activities are done voluntarily, led by students, and not done in a way that interrupts school lessons.

Bring their Bible

Just as students can bring other favorite books they are reading to school, they can also bring their Bibles or other religious books and read them during free time. You can even use the Bible in a class assignment as long as you do so in a way that is relevant to the subject the teacher has assigned and meets the requirements of the assignment.

Pray

You can silently or quietly pray before eating lunch, gather in groups to say a prayer around the flagpole before or after school, or pray before or after a sporting event. Student prayers are considered to be private, personal speech. You are allowed as long as they are student-led (rather than being adult-led or school endorsed), aren’t disrupting academic instruction, and are voluntary.

Share Bible verses

In general, you can voluntarily express your personal and religious beliefs to their classmates through verbal or written expressions, as long as they follow their school’s policies and do not engage in these activities during classroom or instruction time. Schools can enforce reasonable limits on times and locations for where students are allowed to distribute materials. But these regulations must be applied equally to all students. That means schools cannot impose an outright ban on religious-themed materials if they already allow students to distribute non-religious materials.

Participate in Christian-themed events

Students and Christian clubs have equal access rights to participate in student-led events. School officials must remain neutral in how they treat students’ activities and free-speech expressions. For instance, school officials can’t allow one student group’s poster having to do with a secular subject to be put on a wall, but then turn around and deny permission to students who want to display Christian event posters just because they refer to Scripture or students’ religious beliefs.

Legal support

In some circumstances, you may need additional help when communicating your rights to your school.

If you encounter challenges or have trouble getting approval for Bring Your Bible to School Day, call 1-800-TELL-ADF. ADF, short for Alliance Defending Freedom, offers pro bono legal assistance as deemed appropriate for Bring Your Bible to School Day students who encounter unconstitutional roadblocks to their free speech rights.

ADF has also provided a legal memo which explains your student’s rights to participate in Bring Your Bible to School Day. You can download it and provide it to school officials to give them a heads up of your student’s intent to participate in Bring Your Bible to School Day before the event.

Why It Changes Everything!

The Live It Challenge presents Bring Your Bible to School Day—coming this October! This exciting event empowers Christian students to make an impact living out their faith by bringing God’s Word with them to school!

Supercharge Your Family’s Spiritual Growth

How can you deepen your faith, and the faith of your family? By reading the Bible together! Start reading the Bible as a family, and you might be surprised how God uses it to impact you!

Thanks for Joining The Movement!

Don’t miss out! Sign up to receive fun challenges, updates, and more!