News Release

June 1, 1999

Centerville, Utah

Contact: Paul W. Mortensen, 801 292-7059

An Earth Day ceremony at W. Russel Todd Elementary School in Fort Duchesne, Utah arranged by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Games (SLOC) violated the separation of religion and government, concludes a report issued by the Jefferson 21st Century Institute.

The ceremony, attended by over 150 third graders from Uintah, Duchesne and Daggett counties, represented the kick-off of SLOC's environmental program. Prominent in the ceremony were prayers by the Rt. Reverend Carolyn Tanner Irish, Episcopal Bishop of Utah, and Clifford Duncan, a Ute Indian. Students heard other statements of devotion to Mother Earth and observed ceremonial dances and songs honoring the earth by Indians from Shoshone-Bannock, Ute and Navajo tribes.

Irish's and Duncan's prayers included blessings of trees provided by SLOC which were to be planted by the children. Participants were advised that "trees are sacred to many cultures around the world" and that SLOC's "Tree-cology" tree planting program was selected in part because of the historic role trees have played in human religion and mythology. SLOC announced that it shares Indian spiritual values regarding the environment.

"The ceremony clearly conveyed the message that Native American religion and other religions based on eco-spirituality are preferred," said Paul W. Mortensen, executive director of the Jefferson 21st Century Institute. "Not only was the ceremony improperly sponsored by a public school, but a representative of the Governor's office participated," he continued. A federal judge recently ruled that an Earth Day ceremony conducted at a high school in New York violated the Establishment Clause, according to the report.

The Institute's report calls for school systems, which scrupulously bar other religion, to cease embracing Native American religion, eco-spirituality, eco-mythology and other New Age religion. It concludes that the religious emphasis of SLOC's Tree-cology program makes it unsuitable for public schools and that schools need to establish controls to prevent school districts and individual teachers from inserting New Age eco-spirituality into classrooms.

The Institute's report is available from its web page, www.j21c.org.

The Jefferson 21st Century Institute is a non-partisan non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the separation of religion and government.

JR990601