bibleJanuary 16 marks the anniversary of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom, legislation drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1786. Designed to protect the civil rights of people to express their religious beliefs without discrimination, Jefferson considered it one of his greatest achievements.
President Clinton declared the first nationwide observance in 1994 and encouraged Americans to “reaffirm their devotion to the principles of religious freedom". Eric Beuhrer, president of Gateways to Better Education wants people to know that despite the rhetoric of groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, schools do not have to eradicate all mention of faith. Unfortunately, he says, schools commonly don’t know what is allowable and often choose to restrict students’ protected speech. Kids and teachers have a lot more leeway than most people think. Not only do kids have the legal right to include their faith in their homework and their artwork, they can express it through prayer and to their classmates. The Department of Education has deemed such activity legal.
Educators are often hesitant to pursue the topic of Religious Freedom Day in schools, fearing it will open up a Pandora’s box of problems. “This is not religious-diversity day”states Buehrer. “It’s not about parading every religion through the school. It’s about the students’ freedom to express themselves in their homework, artwork, oral presentations and personal interactions with other classmates”.
The Department of Education has issued guidelines explaining students' religious liberties. Briefly they are:
1. Students can pray, read their Bible or other religious material, or talk about their faith at school, when not engaged in school activities or instruction.
2. Students can organize prayer groups and religious clubs and announce their meetings to the same extent that they are allowed to organize other non-curricular student activities.
3. Students can express their faith in their classwork and homework which should be judged by ordinary academic standards.
4. Teachers can organize prayer groups with other teachers where the overall context makes clear that they are not participating in their official capacities.
5. Students may be able to go off campus to have religious studies during school hours.
6. Students can express their faith at a school event or their graduation ceremony - where student speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, that expression is not attributable to the school and therefore may not be restricted because of its religious or anti-religious content. 
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