Liberty

On May 22, 1959, Harlow Chamberlin, a Miami father of three, filed a lawsuit against the Dade County School Board to challenge the mandatory prayer and Bible readings in public schools. He and his wife, Marjory, worried about the impact on their children—Richard, Betty Ann, and Sandra—who were subject to take part in practices that conflicted with the family’s beliefs.

“It should not be necessary for our children to be taught beliefs in public school that we don’t hold,” Chamberlin said. “Our little Sandy was frightened and confused when the teacher started talking about angels and the devil.”

Other parents soon joined the case, raising the same concern: that forcing religious practices in public schools infringed upon the rights of both religious and non-religious families.

With the support of the ACLU of Florida, the Chamberlins pressed forward through five years of litigation. The case climbed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in 1964 overturned a Florida Supreme Court decision permitting the practice.

This landmark ruling struck down state-sanctioned prayer and Bible readings in Florida’s public schools, ensuring that public schools remain spaces of learning—not religious coercion—and protecting the dignity and beliefs of all families.

In 1984, Rev. John Mellish, pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Margate, was held in contempt of court after refusing to disclose what had been shared with him during a confessional. Prosecutors pressed him to reveal private conversations with a parishioner accused of a violent crime, but Mellish refused—arguing that to do so would violate the sacred trust between clergy and congregant, and break his oath to God.

For his stand, he became the first member of the clergy in the United States to be jailed under such circumstances. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail before being released on bail. The ACLU of Florida took his case, underscoring this was about defending liberty.

“Some people have called us the Anti-Christian Liberties Union, but this case proves that isn’t true,” said Allan Teri, then-chair of the ACLU of Broward Chapter. “What we’re interested in is not religion, but people’s right to practice religion without government interference.”

The case helped persuade Florida legislators to pass protections ensuring spiritual counseling between clergy and parishioners would remain private. And in the end, justice was still served: the parishioner was convicted without Mellish’s testimony. This case became a defining moment for liberty—affirming both the First Amendment and the principle that the government must not intrude on religious practice.

In 2024, Florida passed HB 931, a law authorizing public school districts to allow uncredentialed volunteer chaplains on campuses. The ACLU of Florida, joined by chaplains, faith leaders, and civil rights organizations, opposed the measure as an unconstitutional intrusion on students’ religious liberty.

Faith leaders themselves warned schools that chaplains are trained for pastoral counseling in their faith communities—not to serve in place of licensed mental health professionals or to take on roles in public schools. “

I have a master’s of divinity degree, and I would hesitate to go into a school as a chaplain,” said Rev. James Golden, an ordained African Methodist Episcopal minister. “That school might have Jewish children, Muslim children, Hindu children—and I have not been trained to meet their spiritual needs.”

Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel for the ACLU of Florida, underscored the concern: “Allowing chaplains to assume an official position in a public school, even if voluntary, creates an environment ripe for coercion and indoctrination of students.”

Though the law has not been struck down, its implementation is optional—and many districts, citing these dangers, have declined to move forward. This resistance reflects a fundamental truth: keeping church and state separate is what ensures every student, regardless of belief, feels welcome and protected in their public school.