Congress shall make no law....
People tend to forget that only COngress is prohibited from doing one thing and that is "making a law". The Constitiution does not guarantee the seperation of Church and State. It specifically prohibits the Government from establishing a state sponsered church, as was the case in England several hundred years ago, and prohibits it from interfering with the free exercise of religion. The Federal Government should not be interfering with education because it's not one of the responsibilities outlined in the Consititution. Everything that is not specifically delegated to the Federal Government is the responsibility of the states. By doing this the Government is officailly endorsing Atheism, which, I seem to recall hearing recently, has been declared a religion. Recognising that something exists is not endorsing it. Also, which religion is it that the Government is being accused of endorsing?
I wonder where the ACLU is when local governments have Halloween parades. Halloween is a holiday in the Wiccan religion and is in fact their most revered holiday. Wicca is considered a religion by all definitions, therefore a town sponsored Halloween parade should set off the same ACLU alarms as any other government "endorsement" of religion.
I see the point. The argument has sound basis.
But, if we are going to have a supreme court that will reverse the rulings that led to protection from the state's actions then we will have to have not just a school board making some changes but it will need to be an entire rewriting of laws and state constitutions- a massive effort otherwise we will lose many precious freedoms. The long term result may be good but in the interim many abuses will become legal.
Now, with regard to this specific case, it would appear to me that if federal constitutional protection is ever thrown out by the Supreme Court that the Pennsylvania constitution would permit elective religious instruction in public schools as long as it wasn't required.
Religious Freedom
Section 3.
All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship or to maintain any ministry against his consent; no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishments or modes of worship.
http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Constitution.html