"Get God Back in School"
     But the influx of "Bible bills" reflects a growing sentiment to "get God back in school." Today’s classrooms are crammed with pastel-colored posters reading: "Believe in yourself" and "Winners never quit." But they are devoid of any tangible religious teaching. Simply put, pink self-esteem posters don’t measure up to the Commandments that were written in stone.
     "If there is no God, then all is permitted," wrote the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. The horrific stories of Columbine and Georgia’s own Rockdale County have given palpable weight to his warning.
     But "getting God back in school" isn’t as simple as passing a couple of bills at the State Capitol. Public schools need not be hostile to religious belief—as it seems many are—but neither are they free to endorse or promote particular religions. So the problem remains: genuine religious instruction is needed, but public schools must remain neutral.
     One solution to this problem has a nearly 100 year-old history: religious release-time programs.

Historic Roots
   The first release time (RT) program was proposed at a teacher’s conference in New York City in 1905. A teacher in attendance proposed that public schools close for one day a week so that parents could have the option to send their children to religious instruction outside of the school building.
     A decade later, through the efforts of Dr. William Wirt, an RT program was implemented in Gary, Indiana. Wirt, the Gary superintendent of schools, believed that the children weren’t receiving adequate religious and moral instruction. So he invited local ministers to hold classes within the schools and released from class all children who desired to attend.
     In the fall of 1914, over 600 students enrolled in the program. From there, RT programs spread all over the country. By 1922, 40,000 students in 23 states were participating; by 1947, 46 states had programs with more than 2 million students attending.
     In 1945, Vashti McCollum, an atheist, took legal action against the Illinois Board of Education about the constitutionality of the RT programs. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled against McCollum. But in 1948 the United States Supreme Court heard the case and ruled the program unconstitutional (McCollum vs. Board of Education Dist. 71.)
     After the McCollum decision, the release-time program was revamped in New York City. Students were excused from school to participate in RT programs off school property. Both the New York Court system and the United States Supreme Court (Zorach vs. Clauson, 1952) ruled the program constitutional.

How RT Programs Work
   RT programs typically work this way. Local school boards and church (or parachurch) organizations agree to offer a religious release class (or classes) as an elective course. During that class period, students leave school grounds for the religious course. The RT program cannot receive state funds and must have its own teachers and facilities.
     Today, it is estimated that there are over 1,000 RT programs in operation across the country with over 250,000 students participating from kindergarten through high school.
     For religious families, RT supplements teaching received at home or in church. For students who might not otherwise receive religious instruction, RT also serves as an outreach. A national survey of RT programs shows that 58 percent of students in the programs are unchurched.
     That’s about right, says Sid Webb, director of the Gilmer Christian Learning Center (CLC) in Ellijay, Georgia
     "About half our kids are from non-Christian homes," says Webb. "We used to focus on teen-specific stuff, you know, relationships, dating, and peer pressure. But we’ve found those only hold the kids’ attention for so long. They really want to know what the Bible says."

Ellijay’s RT Program
   The Gilmer CLC began in 1985 when a group of local businessmen heard about a RT program in Gainesville, Georgia. After a few years of prayer, the businessmen approached community and school leaders about starting a RT program in Gilmer.
     "Getting the program going was both a community and a Christian effort," explains Webb. "Realistically, church pastors rarely have enough time. You’ve got to get both Christian businessmen and other community leaders to drive the program."
     The Gilmer CLC, in many ways, is the ideal RT program. The CLC owns land between Gilmer County’s only high school (Gilmer High) and the nearby middle school. The program has three full-time staff members and a van to transport kids from the school to the learning center.
     "I signed up because I thought it would be an easy way to get an ‘A’," says one of CLC’s students. "But it’s not easy. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be."
     The CLC curriculum covers a little of everything, from angels to church history to suicide. In the CLC classroom, Webb turns on a big-screen TV that was donated by the CLC board of advisors. A 3-D computer display of London’s Westminster Abbey flickers on the screen. Using a computer mouse, Webb steers around the famous cathedral—giving commentary about how Christians built cathedrals to represent different aspects of the faith.
     "The number one question I get from kids," says Webb, "is whether or not we’ll recognize people in heaven. This community knows death too well. The kids want to know if they’ll ever see the loved ones they’ve lost."