Leaders of a Morgan County group say they are willing to move their Bible classes from an elementary being sued by a parent who says the school pushes children into the program.
The lawsuit claims Neil Armstrong Elementary School violates a constitutional separation of church and state by allowing the nonprofit religious group to operate classes from a trailer on school property.
The mother, unnamed in court papers, also says educators monitor enrollment in the program and single out children who don't participate.
District officials declined to comment Tuesday. But leaders of the religious group said they would move off campus to forestall a court battle.
"We will not have any controversy," said Mary Parker, an adviser to Morgan County Schools of Weekday Religious Education, which provides the optional classes for about 1,500 area third- and fourth-graders for an hour a week during the school day. "If we had to move them, we would. I hope it doesn't come to that."
Past legal cases have said such courses should not be offered on school grounds.
In the suit filed in federal court last week, the mother says her 8-year-old son came home crying because a teacher had asked why he wasn't in religion class, according to court records. The boy reads books in the school library while the other students attend Bible class.
Indiana law says public schools can release children from school for voluntary off-campus religion classes if their parents request it. The law is backed by a 1952 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"They are permissible as long as the school is not involved in any way," said Jacquelyn Bowie Suess, an American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana attorney who filed the complaint on behalf of the mother. In Mooresville, "the problem is that it's taking place on school grounds, and that the school is so involved with it."
Mooresville school officials directed questions to the school's attorney, Steve Harris, who declined to comment.
Parker said the trailer is "on the edge" of the school grounds for the children's convenience, but the group pays for utilities and other costs. She said children attend only if their parents sign permission slips.
"We've had to turn kids away who wanted to come and their parents didn't want them to," she said. "It is not, 'You will go to this.' I think there is a lack of understanding of what's going on."
So-called religious "release time" programs cropped up after the Supreme Court ruling more than a half-century ago. Legal experts say the programs are more common in rural areas of some states.
A handful of Indiana counties, including Owen, Allen and Morgan, still offer them. About 89 percent of eligible children in Morgan County sign up for the religion classes.
The groups survive largely on church donations and say they teach religious principles, rather than doctrine, in schools.
Parker said students learn about the Old Testament in the fall semester and the New Testament in the spring. The suit says instruction includes the life of Jesus, the Psalms and the history of the Bible.
The classes have been challenged in Indiana before -- a federal court ruled in 2001 that Perry Township Schools could not allow a religious group's trailer on school property -- but lawsuits are unusual.
"In greater likelihood, the community is at least largely homogeneous religiously, so you potentially have fewer challengers who might object to the religious instruction even if the public school arguably was doing more than simply permitting the program to take place," said Daniel Conkle, an Indiana University law professor.
State law is clear that schools can't pressure children to join the private religion classes, Conkle said. The law is murkier about whether keeping track of enrollment is acceptable.
"I'd have to see more details about that," Conkle said, "but some cooperation is inevitable."
The lawsuit has irritated some Mooresville parents, who think it's an overreaction.
"There may be peer pressure from other students, but I don't believe that the school is pressuring students to join," said Lonnie Morrow, whose son signed up for the religion classes. "If they knew they were doing something against the law, they wouldn't be involved in it at all."
What the suit says
In a lawsuit filed in federal court last week, an unnamed mother asked Mooresville schools to stop on-campus religious instruction at Neil Armstrong Elementary School. The suit also asks the school to bar any employee from supervising, directing or being involved in the program in any way during school hours.
The suit argues that by offering the program in a trailer on campus and overseeing enrollment, Armstrong violates the constitutional separation of church and state.
The group behind the religion classes
Weekday Religious Education, a nondenominational Christian program, works with public schools to offer religious education to third-, fourth- and, in some areas, fifth-graders. Teachers come from local churches.
What does it teach?
Morgan County leaders said their curriculum covers the Old and New Testaments in once-a-week classes that last an hour. The exact offerings vary, but in Allen County, where organizers say nearly 80 percent of eligible children participate in classes for an hour a week, the curriculum includes:
• 3rd grade: Creation and the story of Noah, the parables of Jesus, being aware of God's presence, and knowing and following Jesus.
• 4th grade: Children study the key figures of the Old Testament, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and David, and learn and keep the Ten Commandments.
• 5th grade: The life and teachings of Jesus, as well as why the Bible is the inspired word of God and how to live by it.
• Textbook: The Good News Bible, which relies on clear, current English language.