Consider the uproar that would result if a Utah public school district were asked to interrupt school classes to deliver entire student bodies to assemblies wherein a Catholic priest would conduct Latin Masses in front of an altar, a picture of the pope and a mural of St. Peter's Basilica. The public would immediately recognize that serious questions regarding the separation of religion and government were at hand.
In no time, ACLU attorneys would remind school district officials that Utah law expressly states, "Public schools may not sponsor prayer or religious devotionals." The media would editorialize its concerns and insist that plans for the Masses be dropped. Indeed, no school district would seriously consider such a request in the first place.Next consider just how a troupe of Tibetan Tantric Buddhist monks sponsored by actor Richard Gere recently came to perform prayers and religious devotionals in Grand County and Salt Lake City schools. In Grand County, entire student bodies from the district's four public schools were assembled in Moab's Grand High School auditorium to observe the monks conduct prayers, sacred music and sacred dance rituals in front of an altar, a picture of the Dalai Lama and a large mural of the monk's monastery, all of which were prominently displayed in the center of the stage.
Subsequently, at West High School in Salt Lake City, during school hours, the monks conducted a four-day ceremony dedicated to the "female deity aspect." This particular ceremony consisted of the creation of a sacred mandala sand painting, which was heralded by sacred chants and music offered before an altar.
How do school officials rationalize sponsoring Tantric Buddhist devotionals where no Catholic, Presbyterian, Jewish or Mormon devotional would ever be allowed? The answer is, "semantics." Whereas the latter forms of devotion are labeled as "religion," the Buddhists' devotionals have been carefully labeled as "sacred performing arts" and "artistic culture" with the word "religion" never used. Parents of Grand County students, assured by school officials that their children would be attending a "strictly cultural" presentation, were not advised that the "culture" would consist exclusively of devotional sacred chants and sacred dances offered before an altar.
Accordingly, Grand County school administrators should have recognized the monks' activities as devotional and excluded them. Instead, however, administrators herded whole schools of elementary- through high school-age students to the auditorium to observe the devotionals. Children of parents who objected to the rituals were relegated to "supervised activities" while their administrators, teachers and fellow students attended the state-sponsored religious ceremonies.
At West High School, officials did not assemble entire student bodies and faculties for the monks' sacred chants and dances as occurred in Grand County, perhaps because of timely receipt of a warning letter from this organization.
This four-day activity was advertised as open to the public by an article in the Deseret News Religion/Ethics section and by notices placed at the West High School entrances, which were read by students as they entered the building. In the school room, the public, including students required by law to attend West High School, could handle and purchase music CDs and tapes such as "Tibetan Sacred Temple Music" and "Sacred Tibetan Chants." Also for sale to the public were incense, beads and books, such as "Oceans of Living" by the Dalai Lama.
When queried, Salt Lake City School District officials did not signal that this was a precedent for Mormon missionaries to rent school rooms during school hours for praying, singing, creating religious art and offering to the public religious music and texts. Rather, officials stated that they considered the Tantric Buddhist activities to be matters of native culture.
Richard Gere's Tantric Buddhists are but one of many religious movements active in America that are choosing to label themselves as "cultural," "ethical" or "philosophical" in order to skirt the prohibitions of the Establishment Clause. The Jefferson 21st Century Institute serves to identify these charades and to alert and educate the public. The institute has issued a full report on the Buddhist monks' Utah activities, which is available at the institute's Web page, www.j21c.org.
Paul W. Mortensen, a practicing attorney, is executive director of the Jefferson 21st Century Institute, a non-partisan organization dedicated to the separation of religion and government.