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Court Rejects Establishment Clause Challenge To Waldorf Schools

By Howard M. Friedman

Yesterday's Sacramento Bee reports that on Friday, a California federal district court dismissed a lawsuit that had been in the courts for 13 years challenging two California school districts for using the Waldorf teaching method in two of their schools. The suit alleged that the school districts violated the federal Establishment Clause and the church-state separation provisions of the California constitution. People for Legal and Non-Sectarian Schools argued that the teaching method, based on the philosophy of Rudolph Steiner, is religious. (See prior posting). At the non-jury trial, plaintiffs presented only a single witness and four admissible exhibits. The court held that plaintiffs had failed to establish that Steiner's philosophy of anthroposophy is a system of belief and worship.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on November 07, 2010 (boomark / email).