If you were to visit most secondary schools in the state of Utah you would find adjacent to each school a smaller building with a well-defined pathway linking the two edifices. Everyone calls the smaller building simply, Seminary - Mormon seminary - that is. By all outward appearances the seminary buildings are physically separated from the public schools, as the 1952 federal law requires, but internally the relationship between church and state is so entangled it should be a major cause of concern among minorities and civil libertarians.

First of all, LDS seminary is considered a "class" within the school day, and in most schools is listed in both the school Course Description Booklet and Class Schedule. Second, seminary classes have been programmed into each individual school and district computer system by school employees. In addition, the seminary class is pre-printed on each student's registration computer sheet, and is programmed as a class option during phone-in registration. Third, seminary classes are listed as Release-Time (RT), but only Mormon tenets are taught under this supposedly generic title. Fourth, the schools regularly provide a prepared list of all Release-Time students to the LDS seminary staff for their registration and scheduling purposes. Fifth, because RT is considered a class, school counselors are required to inform all students in general registration meetings, and also individually, of the availability of the Mormon seminary program; and along with registrars and secretaries, are also responsible to register students for seminary. (Approximately 70% of Utah public school children are LDS, but in some counties, the figure runs as high as 95%.) Counselors are also required to officially drop a student from a Release-Time class if a seminary principal or teacher makes a request. Sixth, classrooms in the seminary building are sometimes used for academic classes such as Algebra, when there's a shortage of classrooms in the public schools. Many seminary classes are also used by the public schools as homerooms to disseminate school information to students.

It seems worthwhile to examine the Utah State Constitution regarding the Released-Time Classes for Religious Instruction, if a challenge to the program is to ensue. In Article X Sec. 3. Utah Code 53A, Standards and Procedures R277-610-3, the rules state: (Italics have been added for emphasis)

A. Religious classes shall not be held in school buildings or on school property in any way that permits public money or property to be applied to, or that requires public employees to become entangled with, any religious worship, exercise, or instruction.

G. Schedules of classes for public schools shall not include released-time classes. . . . Scheduling shall be done on forms and supplies furnished by the religious institution and by personnel employed or engaged by the institution, and shall occur off the premises of the public school.

J. Public school equipment or personnel shall not be used in any manner to assist in the conduct of released-time classes.

K. Institutions offering religious instruction shall be regarded as private schools completely separate and apart from the public schools. Those relationships that are legitimately exercised between the public school and any private school is considered an appropriate relationship with institutions offering released-time classes, so long as public property, public funds, or other public resources are not used to aid such institutions.

It's obvious the Release-Time (Mormon Seminary) program as it is presently practiced in the schools is not in compliance with the law, and is being misinterpreted and misused by the state and local school districts. Some counselors have expressed their discontent to the ACLU, but none has been willing to formally file a complaint because of the repercussions they would suffer as a result. One counselor said,

"I feel like I'm a sponsor for the Mormon church when I have to tell the kids about seminary. The Release-Time class represents solely the philosophy of the LDS church. We shouldn't have to register students for any kind of religious instruction. Period! And if I were to challenge the school sponsorship of the seminary program, the community would consider me an antagonist toward the church, and I'd be treated as such. Also, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to get a promotion or obtain another position within the school district because I'd be considered a non-team player. I'm not against religion when its operation is contained within a private setting; I just don't believe that public schools should cross over the 'wall of separation' by requiring counselors to register students for classes in religious instruction. I feel I'm being forced to betray my conscience when I am used as a recruiter for religion."

Sandra Day O'Connor, Supreme Court Justice, spoke on the University of Utah campus on February 12, 1993, and when asked about the proper relationship between church and state, said: "Our Constitution has ruled out government sponsorship of religion. Endorsement sends a message that those who don't believe in a particular way are outsiders, and adherents are insiders. Government endorsement of religion also weakens the political community and degrades religion."

James is a good example of a student who experienced the feelings that come from being treated as an "outsider". A counselor relates his story:

"James, a student body officer, came to my office during his senior year in high school and was quite upset because the seminary principal had recently cornered him in the hallway near the outside door of the high school leading to the seminary building. James had not registered for Mormon Release-Time that year and the seminary principal was admonishing him for his decision. As James put it, I felt humiliated because the bell had just rung and the other kids were passing us in the hallway hearing our conversation. I didn't know what to say, so I just listened until he let up. I don't think this should ever happen to anyone. But if I were to complain, it might get out, then I'd be treated differently."

Elizabeth is another example of a student who suffered the pangs of feeling excluded. Her mother writes: "During a conversation with Elizabeth, I asked her if she thought having the seminary building next door made a difference in the atmosphere of the high school. She replied with an astounding, Yes! Seminary creates a cliquish social environment. The most circulated question during the school day is, What did you do in seminary today? Everyone talks about seminary. It was a common bond that I couldn't feel part of." Elizabeth left high school after her junior year and attended the University of Utah her senior year because she couldn't endure the isolation she felt in her high school.

Joan, a Catholic and an honor student, remembers the day when her boyfriend told her he couldn't date her because his seminary teacher had recently cautioned the class not to date non-Mormons because they weren't worthy of entering the highest degree of heaven. Joan was hurt by the "unworthy" implication directed at her and people of other religions, and saddened by the intolerant position of the LDS church. She remarked, "At my young age, I wasn't thinking of marriage; I just wanted to feel part of a social group and have some fun." Joan was never asked on a date in high school, even though she was popular and pretty.

The public school's excessive entanglement with so-called Release-Time must cease, not only because it creates an environment of group favoritism, which causes human suffering, resentment, and divisiveness, but it coerces state employees to work on behalf of religion, a fact which some feel, treads on their freedom of conscience.

It is difficult to even think about challenging the Release-Time Program because of the personal anguish and professional roadblocks it would cause. If any brave soul were to challenge the Release-Time Mormon Seminary Program in the Utah public schools he/she would undoubtedly be fighting an uphill

battle because of the LDS church's dominant influence within the school system. Justice Harry Blackmun in a 1992 Supreme Court decision warned against this inducement:

"When the government arrogates to itself a role in religious affairs, it abandons its obligation as guarantor of democracy. Democracy requires the nourishment of dialogue and dissent, while religious faith puts its trust in an ultimate divine authority above all human deliberation. When the government appropriates religious truth, it transforms rational debate into theological decree. Those who disagree no longer are questioning the policy judgment of the elected, but the rules of a higher authority who is beyond reproach."

It's a sad state of affairs when American citizens live in fear of punishment and ostracism if they dare to question the status quo. It's a reflection of just how tyrannous the majority has become.

Justice Kennedy spoke of the subtle pressures when religion is established in the public schools. In the 1992 Supreme Court decision, Lee v. Weisman, the Justice wrote:

"As we have observed before, there are heightened concerns with protecting freedom of conscience from subtle coercive pressure in the elementary and secondary public schools . . . What to most believers may seem nothing more than a reasonable request that the non-believer respect their religious practices in a school context, may appear to the non-believer, or dissenter, to be an attempt to employ the machinery of the state to enforce a religious orthodoxy."

Challenging the system can be emotionally wrenching, time-consuming and expensive, especially when a long established practice such as seminary has become institutionalized in the schools. However, it needn't be if the state school system would pay attention to well-intended suggestions and have periodic "reality checks" to see if they're protecting our freedom of conscience - a right guaranteed by the First Amendment, because regardless of religious convictions, the law is boss, even in Utah.

It would be refreshing to believe that the Mormon church and the Utah State School System would be able to see the inequity and illegality of the LDS Seminary Program as it is now being practiced, and thus be able to disengage from using the public schools to help operate its religious instruction. It seems wise and prudent to be able to correct one's own institutional shortcomings without being forced to do so by the civil courts.

--Nancy Moore