Finding Common Ground: A Guide to Religious Liberty in Public Schools

Finding Common Ground by Charles C. Haynes and Oliver Thomas is a First Amendment guide to religion and public education published by the First Amendment Center. The text of the Williamsburg Charter, a 1988 reaffirmation of the First Amendment, may be found in the appendix.

Dr. Charles C. Haynes is senior scholar at the First Amendment Center and director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life. Haynes is the author or co-author of six books, includingFirst Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in American (2006) and Religion in American Public Life (2001). His column, Inside the First Amendment, appears in newspapers nationwide. He is founding board member of the Character Education Partnership and serves on the Steering Committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and the American Bar Association Advisory Commission on Public Education. He chairs the Committee on Religious Liberty of the National Council of Churches. Widely quoted in news magazines and major newspapers, Haynes is also a frequent guest on television and radio. He has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal and on ABC s Evening News. Haynes holds a master s degree from Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate from Emory University.

Oliver Thomas is a lawyer, minister, author and former school board chairman. He has written and lectured extensively on the subject of religion and public education and has consulted with hundreds of school districts. He currently directs the Niswonger Foundation in Greeneville, Tenn. Mr. Thomas has been involved in litigation at every level of state and federal courts including the United States Supreme Court. His clients have included the National Council of Churches and the Baptist Joint Committee. In addition to representing numerous Evangelical groups, Mr. Thomas co-authored the A.C.L.U. handbook on church-state law. Before returning to his native Tennessee, Mr. Thomas taught at Georgetown University Law Center. He has lectured at such law schools as Harvard and Regent University. Mr. Thomas is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, University of Virginia and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where he was chosen as the most outstanding divinity graduate.