Minnesota institutions are struggling to define the line between church and state as the spiritual make-up of the population changes. Many Muslim immigrants to Minnesota come from countries in which Islam plays a key role in government. Because of the Muslim requirements for daily prayer and ceremonial washing, schools and other public institutions that have significant Muslim populations have a troubled path to accommodate the religious needs while remaining on the right side of the U.S. Constitution’s provision against any publicly subsidized enterprise from even appearing to favor one religion over another.

Students push past each other in the crowded hallway of Ubah Medical Academy Charter High School in Hopkins. Like most groups of high school students some appear weary, others are animated as they tunnel their way through the maze of teen bodies to get to the next class. Except for the clear distinction that nearly the entire student body is East African, and all of the girls wear layered hijab coverings that flow from their heads down to brush the floor, the halls of this school are not that different from any other public school.

School Co-director Heather Mansour came to the Academy in 2004 after teaching at two schools in St. Paul. She said despite the predominance of Muslims at Ubah, the allowances for religious customs are similar.

“I taught in a middle school and a high school. We had East African students in both and we made the same accommodations," she said. "We would provide a place where students needed to leave the class to go do their prayers. During Ramadan we had a place students could go if they were fasting. Nothing different in the two schools that I worked at in St. Paul.”

By law, public schools cannot promote or discourage religion. It can be a tough line to define and groups on all sides frequently attempt to push the line. At Ubah Academy, students can attend a Friday prayer assembly. No staff are involved and those who don’t wish to participate can go to a study hall.

When organizers were first starting Ubah Academy and its sister elementary and middle schools, board chair Abdirashid Warsame said the parents—many of them refugees of civil war and violent tribal conflicts—were mostly concerned about their kids getting a good education to create a better life. But they also wanted the school to be a safe place for students.

“He will not be teased, he will not be talked about how he dressed," Warsame said. "When I walk into your school will I see a learning environment? And they keep checking on us," Warsame said.

That type of teasing doesn't happen at Ubah Academy. At a designated time once a day a handful of students will go to the back of the classroom and quietly say prayers for a few minutes while the teacher continues lessons. There’s no need to leave the class since daily prayers are the norm, not the exception.

But such familiarity can also invite problems if it goes unchecked. Recently, accommodations for Muslims at two public Minnesota institutions drew unwelcome fire after public accusations they crossed the line between accommodation and promotion. Normandale Community College’s president shut down a non-denominational meditation room after complaints it had become a de-facto mosque making non-Muslims uncomfortable any time they visited the space. And even after the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy charter school in Inver Grove Heights made changes required by the state Department of Education, the Minnesota ACLU filed suit alleging state money was going to support a religious institution. Chuck Samuelson is ACLU’s director.

"The way the school is financed, and who they rent from and how they're organized is a systematic attempt in our opinion to create what would be--if we were talking about Catholic church--it would be a perochial school," Samuelson said.

As a public charter school, TiZA is required to adhere to the same constitutional provisions as any other pubic institution. An investigation by ACLU found close ties among the school and the Muslim American Society, the religious organization that sponsors the school and operates a mosque in an adjacent building.

“They need to stop renting from the mosque," Samuelson said. "They need to rent separate from the mosque and they need to be run separately from the people who run the mosque."

Samuelson said in addition to the more than $6,000 per student TiZA receives from the state from the standard education formula, the school also gets what’s known as lease aid to offset the cost of operating the school building. ACLU’s suit alleges that money makes it’s way to the Muslim American Society through a series of shell institutions, all run by a handful of people. TiZA officials insist they’re complying with the law and they have nothing to hide, but have refused to grant interviews or allow any members of the press inside. They did not comment for this story.

On the other hand, the Ubah Medical Academy’s school sponsor, instead of a religious organization, is the state-supported Century Community College.

Certainly, Islam is not the only religion to encounter church and state separation problems but the Muslim faith manages to endure as a target in America particularly by political conservatives. Even though schools that cater to Catholics, Baptists or other Christian denominations have similar problems, the incidents with Muslims in Minnesota made national news.

Taneeza Islam is director for the Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, and an investigator for the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department. The negative stereotypes ascribed to Muslims is one reason Taneeza Islam said schools like Ubah Academy and TiZA are popular with immigrants.

“It’s a comfort zone," she said. "And I see that happening more and more in Minnesota because there’s a lot of young Muslims. There are a lot of schools with majority Muslim populations. That’s a great environment for kids to be in. Parents feel comfortable in that environment where they know that kids are growing up with other kids that believe and practice the same as they do.”

That doesn’t mean, Muslims are trying to be afforded more than they are allowed under the law, Islam—an attorney—said.

“The issue that I see is the general public doesn’t understand A) what the law is and B) how the law is applied," she said.

The push and pull between religion and government is constantly seeking balance in the United States. John Witte, director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University in Atlanta said public classrooms are frequently the setting for such discussions.

“Eighty percent of case law that reaches the US Supreme Court and 60% of case law that reaches the lower federal court deals with the question of religion and education," he said.

More than 40 Supreme Court cases between 1940 and the 1980s, Witte said, tended toward very strict separations between worship and teaching. Many of the cases pertained to the role of Christianity in schools.

“They were quite adamant that religion had no place in the public school—religious text, ceremonies, symbols and even moments of silence were not permitted in public school and government should be distinct from private religious schools particularly in funding or facilitating their activities," Witte said.

But Witte perceives the Court, over the past 20 years, is easing the strict separation argument because of what he says is an understanding that Americans have a strong inclination toward public expressions of religion and creating a bright line between the two is difficult.

“The court has been much more accommodating of various kinds of private, voluntary religious expression in the public school, especially in non-curricular times," he said.

The Constitutional questions over religion in the past typically involved Jews, Christians—particularly Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Amish and Catholics--and Native Americans. Athough there’s little case law so far involving Muslims in America, the growing population of immigrants who practice Islam promises to make the faith a new proving ground for legal boundaries in this country.

by Art Hughes

Additonal Media