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First Amendment Center Online
Web site features comprehensive research coverage of key First Amendment issues and topics, daily First Amendment news, a unique First Amendment Library and guest analyses by respected legal specialists.

Inside the First Amendment
Free weekly column about free expression provides perspective on cutting-edge issues involving freedom of speech, press and religion. It reminds readers of the importance of protecting First Amendment freedoms. It has appeared in 200 newspapers nationwide.

Freedom Forum/American Press Institute First Amendment Seminars
The Freedom Forum and the American Press Institute are collaborating on a program to enhance newspaper professionals' understanding of and appreciation for the First Amendment.

Moot Court competition
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — the cornerstone of American democracy — is the focus of the National First Amendment Moot Court Competition. Recognized as one of the nation's finest constitutional law competitions, this annual event features a current First Amendment controversy.

Justice & Journalism
A series of discussions between judges and journalists on access, news-media accountability and other issues. Related resource: A Journalist's Guide to the Federal Courts.

Freedom Sings™
A critically acclaimed multi-media experience featuring an all-star cast of musicians and an 'only-in-America' story line. This entertaining, irreverent and inspiring program — packed with live music, video and graphics — is touring the nation, appearing at conferences and colleges. Freedom Sings tells the story of almost three centuries of banned or censored music in America and invites audiences to take a fresh look at the First Amendment.

National FOI Day
Annual program of speaking and discussion by specialists in various aspects of freedom of information, updating developments in FOI over the preceding year.

The Copyright Office Comes to Music City
Annual discussion, co-hosted by the First Amendment Center, on the state of copyright law with members of the U.S. Copyright Office, copyright attorneys and individuals with various roles in the music and publishing industries.

First Amendment education programs

Through its education programs, the First Amendment Center works with schools and communities throughout the nation. The center's school-reform initiative, consensus guidelines and conflict-mediation efforts are designed to promote strong public support for First Amendment principles and ideas. The center's religious-freedom programs educate Americans about the history, meaning and significance of the First Amendment's religious-liberty clauses. The programs help Americans find common ground across religious differences using the guiding principles of religious freedom. First Amendment Center education and religious-freedom programs include:

  • First Amendment Schools
    This multiyear collaboration between the First Amendment Center and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is designed to transform how schools teach and apply the guiding principles of the First Amendment. The initiative is developing model schools throughout the nation to encourage all schools to become laboratories of democratic freedom. (See Web site at link above.)

  • Finding Common Ground
    From court-ordered training for teachers and administrators in northern Alabama to mediation between religious conservatives and schools in northern California, the center uses First Amendment principles to resolve conflicts over religion and values in public schools.

  • 3Rs — Rights, Responsibilities & Respect
    The First Amendment Center sponsors statewide "3Rs" programs in California and Utah that help school districts develop religious-liberty policies and prepare teachers to address religion and religious diversity in the classroom. Similar initiatives are under way in many local districts in Texas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New York and other states.

  • Consensus guidelines
    The center produces consensus guidelines on First Amendment issues in education. In January 2000, the U.S. Department of Education disseminated three of these agreements to every public school in the nation. The center's publication Religious Liberty, Public Education, and the Future of American Democracy, is co-sponsored by 24 religious and educational organizations ranging from the Christian Coalition to People for the American Way.



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