Newton, USA - Rabbi Shmuel Miller walks through the halls of Newton South High School, wearing a yarmulke and carrying stacks of pizza and doughnuts. Along the way, the 38-year-old Miller with the reddish beard and an infectious smile asks students to join him at an after-school meeting of the Jewish Student Union.
Miller is among a growing number of religious leaders around the nation who are taking advantage of a 4-year-old U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows religious groups to meet in public schools when classes are not in session. As some principals are banning Christmas trees, menorahs, or Halloween costumes, others are warming to the presence of religious clubs in their schools.
"I certainly welcome it," said Deborah Dancy, principal of William Ellery Channing Elementary School in Boston's Hyde Park, where Child Evangelism Fellowship opened a Good News Bible Club this year. "The children who participate in the program are much more courteous, cooperative, and respectful. Anything we can do to reduce discipline problems and develop character we are willing to do at this school."
In some cases, groups that monitor separation of church and state worry that the clubs are becoming too much a part of a school's fabric, because teachers are leading them or students are registering them as official high school clubs. The Supreme Court ruling didn't set restrictions on how the religious clubs should operate in public schools, leaving the rule open to interpretation.
"The lines are getting blurrier, and that's most unfortunate," said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "One of the great strengths of American schools has been neutrality in religions."
Rabbi Miller said the Jewish Student Union clubs are invaluable in connecting him with teens who don't attend programs at synagogues.
Linnea Sage, 17, joined Newton South's Jewish club last year and has become the club's president.
"If you're just with friends, you'll discuss clothes, boys, and movies, but here, you can listen to people's ideas" about Judaism and Jewish culture, said Sage, who is Jewish.
Michael Welch, who was principal at Newton South when the club started, said he had been concerned the rabbi might proselytize.
"For the most part, it's an open, engaging group for kids to study Jewish culture," said Welch, now principal of Framingham High School. "I didn't see it as proselytizing at all."
Groups that favor separation of church and state say interpretation of the ruling will be tested by religious leaders, especially evangelical Christians who see public schools as fertile ground to deliver messages. The Child Evangelism Fellowship's Good News Clubs were the plaintiffs in the 2001 Supreme Court case filed against a public school in New York state. Since winning the case, the group has quintupled its presence in public schools, to 2,330 clubs.
Child Evangelism Fellowship officials say that biblical stories, memorization of Scripture, and singing religious songs are good character-building exercises. They deny they are proselytizing.