State ban on teachers'

religious garb set to end

   SALEM — At press time for Christian News Northwest, the only remaining action needed to lift Oregon’s longstanding ban on public school teachers wearing religious clothing was an exepcted signature from Gov. Ted Kulongoski.
    Once signed into law, this action would repeal Oregon’s blanket prohibition dating back to 1925 of the wearing of religious apparel by teachers in public schools. In its original intent, the law was anti-Catholic — enacted to guard against priests and nuns wearing vestments or habits while teaching. Oregon is currently one of just three states with such a prohibition, in addition to Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
    The legislation was supported by the Northwest Religious Liberty Association, which is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church; Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon; Oregon Family Council; Portland State University Muslim Student Association, the Urban League, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, the Northwest Religious Freedom Center, the Anti- Defamation League, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Rep. Dave Hunt, Oregon Speaker of the House, was chief sponsor of the bill, along with the state’s Education and Labor Departments.
   “The period of state history in which this law was passed was shackled in discrimination and intolerance,” said Hunt (D-Clackamas County). “The repeal of this ban allows Oregon to finally break free from its archaic chains. Public school teachers should have identical rights of religious free exercise as any other employee. And we must also ensure religious neutrality in our schools.”
    Once the law goes into effect, the state's labor and education agencies will have a year to write rules to permit religious dress but protect religious neutrality for students.
    HB 3686 also adds a new statute to make certain that no accommodation of religious clothing by a school district or public charter school obstructs a religiously neutral work environment.
    Both houses of the Legislature voted overwhelmingly last month to lift the ban. Christian teachers have long been allowed to wear crosses in Oregon public schools, but head scarves and turbans are not permitted.
    According to the newspaper, opponents to lifting the ban are concerned that a teacher wearing a head scarf or other faith-based garment could upset students and undermine their families’ right to raise them in a chosen faith or no faith. Several senators predicted a spate of lawsuits resulting from the new law..