March 17, 2005 | Read Time: 1 minute
In a victory for the Bush administration and its efforts to help religious groups, a federal appeals court has ruled that the AmeriCorps national-service program did not promote religion and violate the Constitution by using federal money to support its participants as teachers in inner-city Catholic schools.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed a lower court’s ruling last year that the arrangement was unconstitutional because it violated the separation of church and state.
Under federal law, the Corporation for National and Community Service — the agency that administers the federal AmeriCorps program — cannot spend its money “to provide religious instruction, conduct worship services, or engage in any form of proselytization.”
Option to Teach Religion
The court case stemmed from an AmeriCorps program sponsored by the University of Notre Dame that trains participants and places them in Catholic schools, where they teach a variety of subjects, including science, mathematics, and English. AmeriCorps members who accumulate at least 1,700 hours of teaching service may obtain $4,725 in financial aid that can be used for education-related expenses.
Under the program, participants may choose to teach religion in addition to secular subjects, but they cannot count that time toward their teaching hours and cannot wear the AmeriCorps logo during that time.
The American Jewish Congress, which pursued the court case, said that the AmeriCorps program had the effect of advancing religion and violated the First Amendment’s ban on the establishment of religion.
The federal appeals court disagreed, concluding that the AmeriCorps program was “neutral” toward religion and did not violate the Constitution.
For a copy of the ruling by the appeals court, go to http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200503/04-5317a.pdf.
